Three Doggy Haircuts

It had been a long winter and a long time since my dogs had haircuts. They were uncommonly shaggy, to the point where I could barely discern a face underneath Seamus' black wool:

So on Sunday afternoon I spread a tarp on the floor, grabbed my expensive pair of "dog scissors" and started snipping:

Seamus was more relaxed than he had ever been before for a haircut. This may have been due in part to his accumulating life experiences, but I suspect it was also a function of his just having grown older, slower and fatter. Much fatter - his fat jiggled and bounced beneath his skin as I clipped him. It's a good thing that spring has arrived and we can get out on a few trails. Both Seamus and I need the exercise:

And when we were all done, Seamus looked much more comfortable. His collar had even become loose from the removal of all that wool. Fergus and Daphne were fascinated by the whole process and had tried to put themselves in the middle of the action all during the haircut. And several of the cats played beneath the tarp at the same time. I'm not sure how much the tarp helped as I had dog hair everywhere by the time I was finished.

But Fergus also had become a woolly little sheep:

I set Fergus on top of the dryer and clipped him there. He got quite nervous and began panting, but he's also been through this often enough before to know it won't kill him. When we were all done, Fergus posed with the puppies to show off his new haircut. In this picture you can also see the mess which was accumulating through the house:

I saved Wally for last because his haircuts are the easiest. His straight hair snips off with little difficulty and the resulting unevenness in his coat doesn't look too bad. But before we began he also had become a rotund little hairball:

After his haircut, Wally was quite shy and worked to avoid having his picture taken. I finally caught him resting on the rocking chair. Well, now that the haircuts are done, it's time to begin the hiking season: