Grooming in Lovell

 We went to Lovell this past weekend to visit family.  While we were there, I groomed 4 dogs...but only remembered to take a picture of the last dog. :(

The dogs not pictured were a lion cut on Grandma's Pomeranian (turned out sooo cute!), my cousin's big Hovawart (biggest dog I have ever given a shave to), and Mom's Yorkie (my Daisy's "boyfriend").

This is my Uncle's dog, Abby.  She is a Cocker Schnoodle (try guessing which breeds her parents are).  I liked getting to practice putting a skirt on a dog.  You can kind of see it by her chest, but the light wasn't great for showing the defined line between the shaved fur and the skirt.  I was really happy with how her eyebrows and beard turned out.  I was able to trim her beard really strait because she sat so good for me.  She did a really good job of standing still!

It was nice to come home with a skill that could benefit my family, and help pay for gas at the same time!  :)  It was a good trip, and I was really happy with how the grooming turned out for all four dogs.

Cats, Cocker Spaniels, and More!

This is Sequoia.  I have posted his picture before.  I have groomed him a few times now, and this week I felt 100% confident about his groom.  It was a great feeling!  It's nice having repeat customers, because then I already know what the owner expects, and what to expect from the dog. 

This is Boss (I love that name for him).  He was shedding really bad, so his owner brought him to me to get rid of some of his extra fur.  I combed him for over an hour, and when I was done, there was a hairball in my garbage as big as Boss!  That should help cut back on the hair he leaves around the house!

BEFORE:  This is Gus the Cocker Spaniel.  I love the color on this boy!  His owner is a friend, and I asked if I could groom him so I could try out a new technique I learned for Cocker Spaniels.  She kindly agreed to bring him in for a complimentary grooming.  :)

AFTER:  Doesn't he look handsome?!  My favorite part is his ears and his eyebrows.  He was such a good boy!  And so patient for me, while I "practiced" on him!

BEFORE:  This is Buddy.

AFTER:  Look what I found under all that fluff!  Shaving Buddy didn't even phase him.  He wanted to sit for most of his grooming.  I think he thought he was having a spa day!  His long ears just looked too good on him, so I combed them out, but otherwise didn't mess with them! 

This is Buddy's "sister" Lyla.  She's a mini-aussie, and has the most beautiful colors!  I couldn't get over how pretty she was.  She deserved two bows for being such an awesome and obedient client!

Mohawk, anyone?

 I like to see before and after pictures, so I decided to try and be better about taking the "before" pictures.  Usually I'm halfway through shaving when I remember to take a picture.  But I remembered the before picture with my second dog today:

This is Jack.  His owner told me he was so shaggy she could mop the floor with him.  She wasn't kidding!

Jack's owner requested he have a mohawk.  She didn't specify that she only wanted the mohawk on his head...

So she got a pretty good laugh when she came to pick him up, and the mohawk went all the way to the tip of his tail!  I offered to shave it off, but she must have liked it because she had Jack keep it.  Not bad for my first mohawk!

This is Cookie the American Eskimo.  No fancy hairdo for this little guy!  He's still a bit wet because he prefers to air dry, and today's weather was perfect for that!

Lion Cut

So today I went to the shelter to groom a badly matted cat.  Since the shelter is an already stressful situation for some of the cats, having to shave them can sometimes stress them right over the edge.  So the Vet at the shelter kindly sedated this beautiful cat for me so we could both have an enjoyable grooming session!  So please excuse the fact that she is still asleep in these photos.  :)

 

I was able to shave her in half the time it used to take me to shave a cat when I first started grooming.  I kept as much of her "mane" as I could because she really has such beautiful colors.  I decided I wanted to add a little bit of flair to her that might get her noticed, and therefore adopted out quicker, so I gave her a pom-pom tail.  She looked ready for Spring weather by the time I was done with her!

Here is a close-up of her pretty tail.  I was so happy with how this grooming turned out!  Every time I groom I am building more confidence in my skills.  I am really loving this job!

This Week's Dogs

So it's been a good week for me with grooming, and I thought I would share some photos from some of the dogs I groomed this week.

This is Megan.  She is an Affenpinscher who came in for her first grooming with me.  She was a sweetheart, but oh boy did that black hair get EVERYWHERE! 

This guy, Red, came in with Megan.  He's also an Affenpinscher.  He was loving his groom so much, that he tried laying down on the job a few times.  :)  They both did a great job getting groomed.

This is the "before" picture of Ben.  The shelter called me to come groom him because he was so badly matted.  Once I started grooming him, I realized how bad the mats and burrs really were.  Poor guy.

Here is Ben's "after" picture.  Don't mind that groggy look he's got, he is still a bit sedated.  When I started grooming him, he did so well, but I could tell the mats were so bad that it was really hurting him.  The vet at the shelter sedated him so that I could groom him without hurting him.  I wanted to keep his handsome mustache, but the poor dog had burrs all the way up to his lips.  I decided it would hurt him less to just shave it, so this is the result!  He is a sweetheart of a dog, and I hope he finds a home soon!

This is Jack, the long-haired Jack Russell Terrior.  His coloring reminds me so much of my Yorkie!  Jack was awesome today in my shop!  We gave him a summer shave, but the owner requested that his face and tail be left long.  He looked so handsome when I was done!

While Jack was waiting for his owner to pick him up, he decided to crawl into one of my smallest crates.  He could just barely fit in it, but once he was there, he wanted to stay put!  It was too funny, so I had to snap a picture of him. 

This is Buddy the Cockapoo.  This was my second time seeing him, and he did even better than the first time!  His owner said he needed some "hair on his head for the ladies," but to shave the rest of him short.  After I was done grooming him, Buddy got to show off his new do to my dog, Daisy.  Daisy approved!

The BIG Dogs!

 These are some of the bigger dogs I have recently groomed:

This is a Springer Spaniel who had really matted ears.  The owner and I thought she would have to have her ears shaved, but since she was so patient with me, we were able to get the mats out with a mat cutting tool.  She was so happy and patient with the whole grooming process!

This Golden Retriever was so sweet!  He had no problem getting groomed - he chose to lay down for most of it!

Labs are one of my favorite breeds to groom.  They have such calm and gentle personalities.  This lab mix was no exception!

 Although big dogs are harder to groom, simply because of their size, I have decided that they make up for it with their personalities!  They are so gentle and willing to please, it makes my job fun!

These are some of the animals from the dog and cat shelter that I've been able to groom.  There is something about removing all the bad (mats, seeds, burrs, etc.) that is so therapeutic for me.  I hate seeing the animals in such rough shape when I get there, but I love being able to leave them better than I found them!

Anyone looking for a new pet should check out the Sheridan Dog and Cat Shelter.  They have some great pets needing forever homes.

 This is Boy after we'd removed the largest mats from his back.

Boy isn't sure about his new smooth shave...but I think he looks better!  I was able to leave most of the hair on his tail, and the gal at the shelter told me later how he was prancing and swishing that tail after they put him back in the adoption room.  She said he was so proud of his new "do!"

This is a chow chow named Zeke.  He came into the shelter with so many burrs and mats in his tail that he couldn't even lift it!  I couldn't believe all the gross things I found in that tail!  He was not a happy boy.

Cel Hope from the dog and cat shelter took this photo of Zeke playing outside.  It makes me happy to see that lovely tail blowing in the wind now!

This kitty came in to the shelter with so many large mats that she wouldn't even eat because it hurt too bad to move.  A couple weeks before this picture was taken, I removed all the large mats.  They were so close to her skin, and the skin was so irritated and sore from the mats, that we decided to give her a couple weeks to rest the skin before we shaved her and removed the rest of the small mats.  This is what she looked like when I came back a couple of weeks later.

Here she is after we shaved her to remove the rest of the mats and even out the skin.  I don't typically give the lion cut to a cat with this length of hair, but it looked better than the patchy look she had before!

This kitty they lovingly nicknamed "two-tail" because of that mat sticking up on her back.  It literally looked like she was hiding another tail back there!  Poor girl. 

As soon as she realized I was trying to help and not hurt her, she was so patient with me.  She sat great for me while I shaved off all the mats for her!

 

 

These pictures of  Sophie were taken by Cel Hope at the dog and cat shelter.  This schnauzer came in with so many mats (especially in her armpits), that I am sure it had to be uncomfortable for her to move.  I was so glad they called me so I could help clean her up a bit.

 This is how Sophie looked after I was able to groom her!  Cel said that her whole attitude changed after being groomed.  Now she is running and playing like all dogs should!  Schnauzers are one of my favorite breeds to groom.  I was so happy to be able to groom this pretty girl!