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Almost finished and Fergus' panicked facial expression has been replaced by one of resignation and depression.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:

Seamus Loses Volume (But Not Weight)

It had been bothering me for quite awhile that Seamus' already rather hefty body was growing wider and wider with the addition of an ever expanding coat of black wool. While I rather like his fully furred look, I knew I must give him a haircut soon. One Sunday afternoon I spread a tarp on the floor and called him over for a beauty treatment:

Seamus doesn't like getting a haircut. He enjoys getting my full attention, but not holding still for so long or being forced into strange positions. But he apparently had no bad memories from previous shearings:

I had the vacuum cleaner on stand-by as I began the clipping. Fergus watched with fascination as his big buddy was about to get a haircut:

I began on the most difficult part - his legs. I kept telling him to sit but he kept lying down. I was become increasingly irritated until I noticed that the slick tarp was making it impossible for big ol' Seamus to maintain his seated position because his front feet kept slipping forward. So I removed the tarp and braced myself for the horrible hairy mess I'd soon have to clean up on the carpet:

Luckily, Seamus is a placid and agreeable fellow. He didn't mind too much:

Being on a non-slippery surface made it more pleasant for both of us. Also, I left my expensive but useless electric clippers in their case and just used sharp scissors. That also made it easier:

When I was all done, I had a horrible mess. This is AFTER I'd cleaned up most of the hair with a leaf rake:

And here's the handsome fellow with his new coiffure. Clover looks on in admiration:

Winky (on the left) got a back-end hair trimming. This is more difficult because I must keep one hand on his neck to prevent being bitten. This leaves me only one hand with which to do the clipping. Daphne (on the right) is a Papillon and has the breed advantage of not needing haircuts. After owning Poodles, I've come to cherish the wash-n-wear coat of the Papillon breed: