Today it was Julio's turn to visit my grooming table. He is a mostly white shih tsu and has as usual earned the title of awesome good dog on his service chart. Today I groomed him with a #10 all over with tight feet as usual. His owner requested a shorter length ear and tail so I took off a good 3 inches from both. I trimmed his face a little shorter as well to even things out. He is a very calm dog on the table but once on the floor after the groom he is all wiggles and loves a good lovey petting. Good fun!

Ziggy visited my grooming table today. He is Jack Russell type dog with all the terrier terrorist attitude going on. He also has a skin condition which means for him...NO BATH. He gets a straight #10 all over shave off with his face left naturally wispy for character. He was particularly grumbly today so I knew that when I got to his front legs to be cautious. I managed to get both of his back legs, feet, between the toes and nails without incident. I even got his left front leg, foot, between the toes and nails done with out much of a fuss. However...that was that...he had zero patience left for his right front leg. I had already muzzled him before I started his left front leg...I know him well. I continued to work away at his right front with several pauses for him to calm his hissy fit and got it done. He simply has front leg issues and that is all there is to it. I choose to work calmly and steadily allowing him just enough time to settle when he begins with his flailing and such. With him, as with most difficult cases, maintaining a calm yet assertive state of mind and not turning to heavy restraints and an aggressive frame of mind seems to be the trick. I totally enjoy working on these challenging dogs and when it all over and they are on the floor...it is double joy to have them tail-wag their way over to me for petting.

Sunny and Emmy were back to my grooming table today. This time I went a little shorter at the client's request...#4 all instead of 5/8" all. They still look like cute plush toys at this length plus with some creative scizzoring I was still able to camoflage their wonky legs to look kinda straight. They are fun to have in the shop together...always one buzzing around underfoot. It was definitely a feel good kind of day.

Daisy visited me at my grooming table today. She is an eleven year old golden retriever with sensitive skin and a very thick absorbant coat. Her summer time groom is a 5/8 " all with just a tidy of the tail. She is a very good dog and cooperates all the time. Today's groom went well as usual...however...I discovered that she has a serious infestation of what looks to me to be lice. I let her owner know so she could get some Frontline at the vet if it is confirmed to be lice. I am not a bug expert so I let her know that a vet should make the call. There were scads of the little suckers on her. Her owner is hoping that it is just something from the lake but well...we'll see...

Anyway I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning, and disinfecting the shop and my grooming tools with insecticide just to be on the safe side. They were definitely not fleas and my arsenal of doggy shampoo does not work on lice. Daisy is a delightful dog and I look forward to seeing her again....bugless I hope!

Today Kodi came to visit my grooming table. He is a 5 years old Chihuahua/TerrierX. Since I last saw him he has had some illness that has left him blind in one eye and somewhat paralysed on one side of the face. This is not an obvious thing but apparently when he drinks water and eats he slobbers all down one side of himself and randomly drools profusely. He did not show any signs of this during the groom...I did try not to stress him too greatly. His groom was a #5 all with a #7 on the inner legs due to matting. He was a bit growly at the start but settled in quite nicely as we got going along. A good little guy!!

Today Airie the Airedale came to visit my grooming table. She is 5 years old and very strong...luckliy she is also a very good girl to work with. She gets groomed once a year in the spring and keeps her coat through the summer and winter. She's a very outdoorsy dog and needs her winter woolies. I gave her a breed trim with a #10 body and trimmed her legs to a #4 length with blending. Lovely dog!

Buddy is back from Arizona to spend his summer at the lake...and back to visit my grooming table. He is a 13 year old diabetic ShihTzu. He has issues with his legs and feet and ear plucking which require muzzling. For most of the grooming process he just grumbles away with the occasional toothy grin. When he first started to see me I was warned of the extremely difficulty other groomers had had with him in the past. I find him to be not all that bad really. If I had to I know I could forgo the muzzle as he is simply not the worst I've had to work with. But why wrestle with a frail old guy!? His trim today was a tidy up with a 3/4 inch comb on the body, scizzored legs and a short round face.

I also groomed up my Rexy dog...Pom/PoodleX. Now he is a difficult dog! He bites and growls and snaps and flails....from start to finish with the odd calm moments now and then. The bath bugs him, the dryer bugs him, he has front leg and feet issues. Now though it seems I just have to put the muzzle on the table and go ahead with the nail trimming unscathed. He looks at it and knows what it's for I guess. What a funny little dude.

Yesterday I had a new visitor to my grooming table. Axel is a young PoodleX neutered male. He had a home groom thing going on with lots of scizzor divots. I groomed him with a #10 blade all over with tight feet and a fu man chu type moustache and beard as requested by his owner. He is a delightful little fellow...totally at ease with the whole grooming process. Apparently he has 2 ShihTzu buddies that will come to visit me for grooming when the time is right. I look forward to seeing them all.

I finished off my little mini-rush with a visit from Yuki, a sweet little Chihuahua X. I gave her a 5/8" trim on her body and scizzored and blended her wispy legs. She sheds like there is no tomorrow. It was a veritable hair blizzard in the shop while I blew her coat dry. She is a delightful little dog and very brave through the whole process.

I had a busy couple of days...at last...in the grooming shop. First to visit was Louis...a delightful yet somewhat nervous black Lab. He got a good bath and brush with nail trim. Lots of undercoat and loose shedding hair came flying out of his coat. He's one of those talkers that sounds like a chimpanzee when he is nervous and excited about something but he settles well.

My next visitors were Fluffy and Princess...two ShihTzus with lots of mats in their coats. Fluffy, the male and by the way sire of Princess, was the worst matted. He did not look very fluffy when done but it's a chance for the owner to start over and hopefully keep his coat in better shape. I was able to get under the mess with a #4 blade on the body but the legs came down with a #5 blade. Princess got the trim that her owner hoped for...5/8 " all over. Her coat was in much better condition. They have another ShihTzu that I have not seen as yet...the mommy dog. They were quite well behaved on the table...with the exception of the nail trim and ear pluckage. Then I needed my helper to perform the football hold as they were as wily and wild as any ShihTzu can be!