A Study In Canine Facial Expressions

In yesterday's post you saw the process of giving big ol' Seamus a haircut. He's over 130 pounds and about the size of a small pony. Not only does that make for an awful lot of black wool, it also means I can't lift him up onto anything. Fergus, on the other hand, is much smaller and can easily be placed onto the dryer. This gives me a clean white enamel surface on which to work. I snapped a couple of photos of the process, but what I noticed when I looked at the pictures was Fergus' facial expressions. His moods were as plain as could be. Here at the beginning, when I'd only taken a few snips, his expression is almost neutral. Well, perhaps it's a little discouraged and disgruntled, as if he's thinking, "Oh no, not this again!":

But a bit later on in the process, his eyes are wild and he's panting with his tongue hanging out. Poor Fergus is approaching crisis mode:

Almost finished and Fergus' panicked facial expression has been replaced by one of resignation and depression. Clearly he's not happy, but the crisis has passed and he's going to allow the worst to happen, whatever he thinks that might be. Don't worry, Fergus. We're almost finished here:

And soon the haircut is finished and Fergus gets to pose for the camera along with his fellow haircut-ees Winky (who got his snarls trimmed) and Seamus. Daphne, a puppy who has never needed a haircut (and hopefully never will), joins the group with a look of puzzlement on her face. This photo was taken, of course, after I'd cleaned up Seamus' black wool with a leaf rake and vacuum cleaner. But wait, there's one more dog who needed a beauty treatment. I'll post Wally's haircut pictures tomorrow: