At the Groomer's

SUMMARY: Actually at home in our driveway.

I am not a dedicated dog bather or brusher. Dogs usually get rinsed down with the hose if they're muddy. Bathed only if they get into something particularly awful (I typed "offal" originally, probably apt) that won't rinse off. They often get hosed down on warm days when they're exercising heavily (e.g., agility). But that's it--their coats remain pretty clean; dirt brushes off.

I live with hair everywhere when they're shedding, which sometimes seems like "always." When they look too scraggly, I'll spend half an hour brushing them, but my excuse is that, with my current knees and back, it's not comfortable for me to do much more than that. And it barely makes a dent, despite the pile of fur that can accrue.

I found out just a couple of weeks back that Tika's foster mom has started a mobile dog-grooming business, Campi's Mobile Pet Services (she has a facebook page but not a regular web site yet).

Since I hadn't seen her in ages and my dogs' coats were just too embedded with an overstock of fur, I decided, what the heck, and made an appointment for her to groom my dogs.

So, yesterday evening, the Merle Girls had their first pro groomings EVAH!

Tika, of course was absolutely delighted to see Gina again. (I took a video but it didn't turn out well, so here's a frame from that.)

I had no idea how they'd react to the grooming--being held in a standing position on the grooming table, and bathed, and blow-dried, and brushed enthusiastically...

But they were both absolute angels! No struggling or fighting or complaining... mostly... Didn't much like the part about getting wet, but didn't struggle much, either. Just looked SOOOO pathetic while wet, hoping for mercy or a quick death.

Tika looks like a hefty dog with her puffy coat, but when she's wet, you can see (a) how slender she really is and (b) all the tan in her coat that's usually mostly hidden by the black and gray tips!

I stood around, feeding them treats regularly, and Gina was so calm and in control that I think it made them calmer, too.

The blow-drying went very well indeed. Both dogs even seemed to enjoy parts of it, and you could see their coats becoming beautiful right before your eyes. That is, if your eyes weren't blinded by the fur flurries coming out of Tika's coat and coating everything, leaving a 6-inch carpet of fur on the floor that floated up with every movement.

I don't exaggerate much. Should've taken photos of THAT. Gina had to stop twice during Tika's drying/brushing and vacuum the whole floor.

Here are two Boost blow-dry shots.

And the results--don't know whether you can see it, but to me, these look like entirely new dogs. And they are SOOOO soft! And their coats are so even (no random attempts at shedding sticking out everywhere).  But the event tired us all out, too, and we slept well last night.

Please don't ever do this to us again.

PLEASE!