Goodbye, Kya :(

 Yesterday I found out that one of my clients is moving.  She was my very first paying customer after I opened up my shop in Sheridan.  I will miss her and her two dogs.  Here is her dog, Kya, who was the very first dog groomed at Parkside Grooming:

I will miss this sweet girl!

 Ralph came back in for a visit this week.  His owner requested that his body be "short like a doberman," but to keep the length on his face and head.

BEFORE

AFTER

 Sonny and Jack come in every 6 weeks for a good brushing, nail trim, and bath.  Sonny gets extremely nervous with everything we have to do during his groom.  Jack, however, is starting to warm up to me.  He even let me shave a little bit off this time!  These boys are a Cairn Terrier/Dachshund (Sonny on the left), and a Cairn Terrier (Jack on the right).

Sonny didn't even want to look at me for the picture, poor guy, but I think he is slowly starting to get used to being groomed.  I love these boys!  I think next time we are going to take more off with Jack's shave, now that we know he tolerates the clippers well.  He will look like a whole new dog!

I had a new client come in this week, and her dogs totally made my day!  She has Gidget the Peki-Poo, and Molly the Maltese/Papillon.  They were so sweet, and cooperative, and CUTE!  I had a great time grooming them, and was so excited when the client asked to schedule appointments every 4 weeks for both dogs.  It's going to be great getting to see these two every month!

Gidget BEFORE

Gidget AFTER

Molly AFTER (Is she not the CUTEST dog?!  I want one just like her!)

Sarah, a black lab, was one of my first clients.  She came back in this week for a good brushing and a bath.  One of my favorite things to do as a groomer is brush out all the loose fur as a dog is shedding her winter coat.  Knowing I am going to make that dog feel so much better and cooler makes me happy.  Sarah did awesome during her groom!  She even let me brush her tail, which is something she wouldn't allow the first time I groomed her.  Have I mentioned how much I love Labradors?  :)

Sarah

Teddy Bears and Doodles!

 Today was the most excitement I have had in the shop so far:  I had booked my day pretty full already, and then my mom's dog, who we are dogsitting for her, started having puppies!  She had some issues, so I had to help her with the first pup in between grooming 2 other dogs.  It was nuts, but it turned out to be a pretty good day!

Tucker the teddy bear visited me again this week.  He is a puffy cotton ball of a dog, and I adore him!  I mostly trimmed up his face and legs, and then just fluffed the rest of him.

BEFORE

AFTER

Aspen is a Golden Doodle.  She is one of the sweetest dogs I have ever been able to groom!  She was so willing to give me the leg or paw that I needed, and let me do my job without any fuss.  It was fun having her in my shop, and I can't wait to see her again!  Her owner emailed me a wonderful thank you note afterward, and even referred me on to a friend.  I love referrals! 

BEFORE

AFTER

 I am starting to get lots of repeat customers, and I love it!  Sox is a Maine Coon cat who is the most docile cat I have ever groomed!  He pretty much pretends he is sleeping the whole time I shave him. He didn't want to look at me for a picture, so his owner helped out with this beauty shot.ever   I also clip his sister, Chico's, nails whenever they come in.

AFTER (As is obvious by the ticked off look in Sox's eyes!)

 Murphy is a Chihuahua/Labradoodle mix.  I promise.  :)  He wanted to climb into my arms the entire time he was getting groomed, I felt so bad for him!  But in the end, I got him looking all tidied up!

BEFORE

AFTER

 

Ben is a Schnauzer who I groomed at the shelter a couple of months ago.  He is now in his forever home, and came in for a visit today.  He was such a good boy for me!  It was so nice to get to see him with his new owner, and see how happy the both of them are together. 

Daisy the Springer Spaniel came in to see me again.  She was a little more nervous than usual, but the shop was a little busier than usual today.  In the end, we got a nice summer cut for her.  Most importantly, the floppy mohawk is gone!  :)

BEFORE

AFTER

Leo the teddy bear is a 5 month old puppy who came in for his first groom today.  He was so cute and fluffy!  I gave him a nice summer trim that will keep him cool once it warms up.  For his first groom, he did really good!  I am so excited to see him again!

BEFORE

AFTER

Feeling Blue?

 My work week isn't over, but I had a fun day in the shop today and decided to post pictures:

This is Mookie's BEFORE picture.  He is a mixed breed, and has the cutest little personality!

And here is Mookie AFTER!  Look at those handsome brown eyes!  He is going to feel nice and cool for summer!  His owner loves his ears long, so I only did a minimal amount on his ears and face.  The main goal on his face was to be able to see his big brown eyes.

This is Mookie with his "sister" Beezus after they each got groomed.  I have never seen a Boxer with prettier markings than Miss Beezus!  They both did great, and were happy to play with each other until their owner came to pick them up. 

Jack is back!  In an earlier post, I wrote about how the owner was thinking a mohawk on Jack's head would be nice, and I thought she meant a full-body mohawk.  Well, she brought Jack back to get his mohawk dyed blue, and said that the full-body mohawk is a huge hit!  He was so good for me while I made him blue.  Not bad for my first dye job on a pooch!

Layla is an Aussie-Blue Heeler cross.  She was pretty shaggy when she came in (more like an Aussie), but as I shaved her, the blue heeler coloring became more and more apparent.  She is a beautiful dog, and will hopefully enjoy the warmer weather more now that she is shaved!

This is Jazzy's BEFORE picture.  She is one snuggly little Shih Tzu!

Here she is AFTER!  Who knew she had such big eyes under all that fur?!  She is young, so getting groomed was a big overwhelming for her.  As long as we stopped for breaks and she was able to snuggle up to me, she would then let me do what I needed to get her shaved.  She was such a sweetheart!  While we were waiting for her owner to come pick her up after her grooming was over, she fell asleep in my arms.  Poor girl was exhausted!  I get to see this little sweetie again in 6 weeks!

Some New and Some Old

 Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE my job?  :)  Seriously, I feel so lucky to get to work with such awesome animals!  Here are a few I got to see this week:

Bisch is back!  He barely looked ready for a groom!  However, he is a ranch dog, so he needed to be shaved down completely because he keeps getting straw and seeds stuck in his fur, and his owner was worried about it getting embedded in the skin.

Here is the "naked" version of Bisch!  He looks like a poodle, but I know he will feel so much better now that things won't be getting stuck in his fur all the time.  I did leave his ears and tail long, and used a new conditioner in them.  I couldn't get over how soft the conditioner made those ears!  I love when I get a new product and it works even better than I had hoped!

This little guy is Baxter the Pomeranian.  I normally don't shave Poms, but his owner likes him shaved for the Summer.  He wouldn't hold still for the picture because he was so glad to be done getting shaved!  Hopefully he will feel lots cooler this summer with his new hair do!

This is Penny the Brussels Griffon.  Her owner warned me that she tries to bite her groomers, so I was prepared.  However, she didn't put up a fuss at all!  She let me do everything I needed with her, and was so good for me!  Maybe it was her way of letting her owner know she wants to come back to see me.  ;)

Here is Penny after her groom.  I didn't shave her at all because her owner wanted to keep her long, but have her face cleaned up a bit.  I did what is called hand stripping on her body to give her a more clean and smooth look.  She was not happy about the bow in her hair, but I think she looks adorable with it!

Lyla came back to see me this week.  She was ready to get shaved for the Summer!

Here is the skinnier, but still beautiful, Lyla!  I left her head longer than her body because it looked so cute, and I wanted it long enough for the bows in her ears.  Her coloring is beautiful, and shaving it made the spots even more defined.  She is one gorgeous little girl!  A few hours after she went home, her owner called to tell me again how happy she was with how both her dogs looked after I groomed them.  What a nice compliment! 

Lyla's "brother" Buddy came with her.  His hair hadn't grown out too much since he last saw me, so I just bathed him and cleaned up his face and ears a bit, and trimmed his nails.  He hates getting his dew claws trimmed, so this time I did them while he was sitting in the tub.  Since he was so concerned about what was going to happen with the bath, he didn't even notice I was clipping his nails!  It worked out great!  He and Lyla are some of my favorite clients.  And lucky me, I get to see them every 6 weeks!

This is Einstein.  He is a Ragdoll Cat.  He has the most beautiful big blue eyes!  He wasn't crazy about me shaving him, so he wouldn't even look at me when I tried to get a picture.  But there was no biting, scratching, or hissing during his grooming, and that's what's important!  I left a mane on him, and the last 5 inches or so on his tail.  This trim is what is called the "lion cut."  I usually do it on long haired cats, but have also done a lion cut on my grandma's Pomeranian.  Einstein is one of the most easy-going cats I have groomed.

New Clients

 This week has been a really good one at the shop.  I was able to work the 3 days that work best for me (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday), and when I did have a cancellation, I was able to fill the spot so I still had a full schedule.  I mostly saw new dogs this week, but my last dog of the week was a familiar face, back for her second grooming from me.

Ralph is a terrier mix who came in for a little trimming up.  His owner just wanted him to look a little less scruffy, and more cleaned up.

Here he is AFTER his grooming, handsome boy!  I combed him out, and then trimmed up his legs and belly and cleaned up the fur on his chest.  I left his face alone because it was already so cute!  Can't wait for him to come back when he is ready to get shaved down for the warmer weather.

 

Zooey is a labradoodle puppy.  She was such a sweet little cuddler!  She probably wouldn't have needed shaved so young, except that her human "sister" has allergies, and Zooey is starting to shed in the house.  Zooey got through her first groom like a pro!  She didn't even try to eat my clippers (like most puppies do)!  I shaved off the extra fuzz she had, and bathed her with some hypo-allergenic shampoo.  Hopefully this will make things easier on her humans with allergies.

This is Baxter the Schnorkie BEFORE his groom.

And Baxter AFTER getting shaved.  His owner requested that he be cut more like a schnauzer, so that's what I did.  He was really fun to groom, and was such a good boy for me.

Today was Kyrie's second time coming to see me.  Can you guess what breed this pretty girl is?  A Belgian Tervuren.  Although, my 3 year old says that when she is wet she looks like "a poodle with a bigger head."  Kyrie did good for her second grooming, and hopefully she'll just keep getting more and more used to it!