My Home Has Become A Clip-Joint

Wally and Fergus just got complete haircuts since the trimming around their eyes went so well. Their hair was simply getting too long even though it's midwinter. Now they're svelte, well groomed show dogs - OK, I know what you're thinking but I told them they were looking mighty handsome now with their stylish new hairdos:

Fergus has a few stray clumps of curly hair sticking out here and there, but I'll bet he's more comfortable now than he was before. A dog groomer would not be impressed, but I don't know any, so I won't worry about it. You're lookin' good, Fergus:

I took the dogs outdoors for a brief photo shoot and giant old Seamus had to get in the act. His turn at getting a haircut is coming, but I'll pay a groomer to do that:

A Study In Canine Facial Expressions?

You may recall this photo from a recent post on hiking Monument Mountain. My sister said that Fergus' face looked very unhappy and she could tell I'd placed him up there against his will. I had lifted him up there and he did look unhappy, so I began to wonder:

Here's a close-up of that same facial expression. Is this a happy dog?:

But Fergus was always looking - well, concerned, so I clipped the hair away from his eyes to see if that changed his expression. His formerly hidden eyes then became big, round, bright, perky eyes:

But he also tends to look shyly away when a camera is pointed at him. So I concluded that Fergus is a happy dog who looks unhappy when there's too much hair in front of his eyes and even more so when a camera is pointed at him. I don't think I'll clip the rest of him in the middle of the winter, but I'll keep his face more neatly trimmed from now on. By the way, do you think there's enough dog toys and rawhide chewies on my floor?:

A Big Day For The Household Dogs

I work on Saturdays but have Mondays off. It's a nice arrangement for making weekday appointments and on a recent Monday I awoke with several appointments for dogs beginning at 7:00 AM for Seamus at PetSmart to get his second grooming session. Here's my big boy just before his haircut:

PetSmart doesn't open until much later, but someone is always there to unlock the door for those arriving for early morning grooming appointments. I was pleased to note that Seamus acted happy to be returning. He must have enjoyed his first grooming session. I'm not too sure the same could be said for the young lady who had to deal with him:

I coaxed Seamus up onto a grooming table to get a photo and he immediately went all rubber-legged on me. That's why he's difficult to groom. I don't know how they get him to stand up to clip his legs and belly:

Then I took Daphne and Clover to the vet's office. They too were happy to see everybody. They didn't know it yet, but this was their day to be spayed:

I left them at the vet's and went home to get some chores done. I felt guilty as I drove away, knowing that when I returned, my two little Papillon girls would be feeling pretty sore and woozy:

I picked up Seamus later in the day and he certainlylooked much thinner with all that wool removed from his wide body:

They left enough wool on his head and ears to give it the classic Poodle shape:

And Fergus posed with Seamus in front of the Rose of Sharon bushes. I'd just removed a ram's horn shaped toenail from Fergus' dew-claw, but he apparently hadn't suffered any ill effects:

Later on, I stopped back at the vet's to pick up Clover and Daphne. They were happy to see me but feeling woozy and sore, poor little girls. I brought in Seamus to weigh him and discovered that he'd lost 10 pounds, down from 130 to 120. He's still a chunky Poodle but at least headed in the right direction:

Once home, the two Papillons just wanted to sleep and feel miserable:

Bramble kept a watch on Clover, apparently worried that something was wrong with his canine friend:

Daphne didn't want to lie down. She just stood in one corner after another, all hunched over and feeling miserable. But by the next morning, both pups were back on their feet and rapidly returning to normal. A few days later, you'd never know that anything had happened. All is well once again:

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:

Wally Gets A Haircut Too

Wally's hair had also gotten much too long and he was much in need of a haircut. Wally is the easiest dog to groom. His hair just needs snipped with scissors and doesn't even much show when it's uneven. Any layers and odd tufts either grow out evenly or I snip in a day or two. Also, Wally is an agreeable dog in spite of his almost having been put to sleep at the Shelter for being snappy. I usually trim Wally first, but this time decided to save the easiest for last. He didn't seem to mind at all as I began:

Wally's short legs and snout make haircuts easier than the long, curly-haired Poodle legs and snouts. And he stayed calm even after I accidentally pinched him with the scissors:

There. All done and now we can take a picture of your new haircut, Wally. Notice that Daphne and Fergus came over to admire his handsome new look:

Wally seemed genuinely pleased, perhaps because he was more comfortable. I took off enough fur that I got to tighten his collar one notch:

I took one last photo of Wally's walk down the runway before life returned to normal. Hey, we've got to take our joy and triumphs were we can find them!:

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: