About Me:

I am a professional Pet Groomer. I have been grooming for 28 years. This Blog is a kind of diary of my work. I wish I had started years ago, writing some of the experiences I have had while grooming. Most days are fun, some can be sad, some can be just down right crazy. If you are a pet owner and come across this blog, I hope it helps you understand how your pet is groomed. If you are a Pet Groomer, I hope you can relate to some of the stories. Maybe even learn a grooming tip or can leave a friendly grooming tip for me. There is always something to learn, no matter how long you have been grooming.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

A Sweet Maltese

A few months back, during the summer, a long time customer called.
I groomed her Maltese for about 10 years before he passed away.
That was 9 years ago.

She called us this summer to let us know that she was going to get a new Maltese.
She also wanted to find out if she could get back on our client list.
Of course we would take her back, she was a really good customer.





She called a few weeks ago looking for an appointment for her new Maltese.

Isn't she cute?
She is very sweet.

I was not at the shop when the owner dropped her off.
I was picking up another dog, so my husband took her in.





Because I was not there to take her in , I was not able to ask a lot of questions about the dog before I groomed it.

I had a lot of questions, because this dog was matted.

This owner had always taken really great care of her other Maltese.







 This dog was not just a little matted, she was pelted.








Her entire body was a cast.


Someone had been brushing the top of her coat but that was all.

Only her face was mat free.

I wanted to know when the owner got her.
How long she had her.

My husband didn't ask and didn't know.




I wanted to know if someone had been bathing her.
My husband did ask that, and was told that the owner had not bathed her since she got her.


I couldn't imagine that this owner would not have brought this dog to me if she had had her for a while.



  I decided to bathe her first, in hopes that I could get the mats to loosen up, away from the skin, so that I could hopefully get a #4F blade through her.

I also did not want to wet shave a white dog whose skin seemed so thin and delicate.

The matting was just way too tight to wet shave for me.






I could tell that someone had most defiantly been bathing this dog with the mats in her.

The mats were what I call tight bath mats.
(Mats that had been washed and left to tighten up while the dog air dried.)







I soaked her in Best Shot Shampoo and Creme Rinse.

I tried to work the mats apart, and loosen them up while she soaked in the shampoo.

These mats weren't going anywhere.







My only hope now was, that the HV drier would loosen the mats away from the skin a little.

The mats did not budge.. at all!


 








There was no possible way of saving any of this little girls coat.

I really hated that I was going to have to shave this dog.




Stubborn me had to make sure that I could not get a #5F blade through the coat.

I knew that I was going to have to use a #7F, but I was hoping the #5F might get through.

Nope.

It took me about five minutes just to get the #7F blade started through the coat.





Oh, and she also acted like she had never had a clipper touch her before.

I had to let the clipper lay against her till she got used to the vibration before I could start clipping.

Once she accepted the sound and feel of the clipper, she did great.






Her coat was coming off in one piece, and she was going to look pink.

These photos were not only for my blog, but they were also to show the owner.






She was being so good.

She was feeling better too.






I saved the matted coat for the owner to see and feel.

Because the coat is clean, I am thinking about framing it and keeping it to show other customers that want to fight me about matted coats.






When the owner came to pick her up, I started asking questions.

As the owner talked, I got mad.

She got this dog around the end of October.
She drove a few States away to get her.
The Maltese is 2 years old.

The breeder was showing her but said that she did not like the way the dog ran in the ring, so she was no longer going to show her.
???



When my customer went to pick the Maltese up, the breeder told her that she (the breeder) normally grooms all of her dogs, but because my customer was buying the dog, she (the breeder) took the dog to a groomer and had her groomed right before my customer came to pick her up.

That was in late October.
The matting on this dog took way longer than 2 months to get that matted.
My customer thought that the coat on this Maltese was just a lot thicker than the coat on her other Maltese had been.
She had been trying to brush the dog because the breeder had told her that the dog should not be clipped short.
She said that the dog would get upset with her when she tried to brush its coat.
Ya think?

I have a hard time believing that this breeder and possibly a groomer would bathe a dog and leave the mats in the coat.
But, there was the proof.
A pelted Maltese that had just been sold to my customer.
A pelted coat that took a long, long time to get that way.

How in the world could someone hand a dog over to a new owner in that shape?

My customer was so upset that she did not realize that the dog was that badly matted.
She was a regular customer with her other Maltese, and always kept him in great shape.
She was also embarrassed that she didn't realize that the coat was matted and not just thick and different from her first Maltese.

I told her that I thought that this may have been the first time that the dog had ever been clipped with clippers.
I also told her that her new dog may be embarrassed by its new hair cut.
I told her not to laugh at the dog, but to keep telling her how pretty she was.
I did not find any sores under the matting, but told her to watch out for the dog going home and rubbing on furniture or the carpet.

My customer was very happy with the cut.
She made her next appointment for a bath and neaten up in 8 weeks.
She plans on keeping her around 2 inches long.

It is good to have a regular customer back.
This Maltese is very lucky to have a new home with this owner.  :)

Happy Grooming, MFF

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

It Begins...

It's that time of year.

After the holidays.

The no shows start again.

No one would dare miss their appointment before Christmas.
Even on those overbooked days, where you secretly hope that just one might not show, because you are already running behind.

Yesterday we had 3 no shows.
Three!
The first day back.


To top that off, some of my regulars are showing up matted.

You know the ones.

In September or October the owners start to panic that their dogs are going to get cold because winter is coming, so they ask you to leave their dogs longer than usual.
There is only one problem...by January they come in matted and now you have to take them short.

I am able to talk most of my  regular customers into cuts that are just a little longer than their summer cut, and they can usually get through the winter without too much matting.

Then there are some of my newer customers that have to learn the hard way.


 This guy didn't even get a full hair cut the last time he was in in October.
He was a bath and neaten up because his Mom wanted him to grow out for the winter.

He had already been clipped short once during the summer because of matting, but his Mom had been doing a pretty good job of keeping him brushed out.

Until now.

He was pretty matted.
More on one side than the other.





  Why is that?

I can't figure it out.

I see it a lot.

A dog will be tightly matted on one side and other side is not bad at all.

The mats on this side of the dog were really tight.








We bathed him in BestShot Shampoo and Creme Rinse.

The HV dryer loosened up the mats pretty good.

Most of the mats on the one side of the dog brushed out easily while I was fluff drying.












But the mats on the other side of the dog were just too tight.





So I started clipping him with the tan colored comb (13mm) on my Moser.

The clip comb was sliding right under the mats.
I was happy.
I didn't have to take him any shorter than I did the last time he was matted.

Only I goofed...

I know better...

Ugh...




  I clipped the good side first.
 Of course the clip comb glided through.

The clip comb did not glide through the badly matted side.

It stopped.
It would not go under the mats. :(









I  just could not get it safely past the tight matting.

I had to use a shorter blade.

I tried the #3F blade.

That blade slide right under those tight mats.

Only....





...I made more work for myself.

I had to go back over the good side again with the #3F blade.

I don't know why, but I seem to do this to myself a lot.

Even when I demat a dog, I seem to demat the easier side first, thinking 'that wasn't so bad'.
Then, I turn the dog around to work on the other side...and it is worse.



I know better.

Get the worse side done first.  :/



 Anyway, here is the dog that they wanted to grow out for the winter.

Body: #3F blade and scissor to finish.
Tail: body blade
Ears: Light demat and neaten
Head: Skim  the top and sides of the head with 13mm clip comb and scissor to finish. Scissor over the eyes, and take about 1/2 an inch off of the beard.

The owners like the face on the fuller side.



Today everyone showed for their appointments.  :)

I groomed the sweetest little Maltese today.
I will tell you her story tomorrow.
I will say, that I was very pissed off at the breeder who sold one of my good customers the Maltese.
I think that you will be angry too when I show you the pictures tomorrow and tell her story.

See you then.  :)

Happy Grooming, MFF

Monday, December 26, 2011

Our Holiday...by Peanut



Hi, My name is Peanut.

I am two years old.

My Mom writes this blog, but after I saw that silly cat write a post, I thought that I would write one too.

I am going to write about what Mom let us do today.


She took us down to one of the horses fields so we could go crazy.

We have a small yard behind the house, but it is just a poopy yard with no grass.
Mom says that she can't grow grass around the house because of all those trees.

The trees work for me. 
It's a boy dogs heaven out here.  :)





 It is nice to be able to run around in the grass too, but those big, giant things called horses get the grass.

Mom won't let use run around in the woods like the neighbors dogs do.
She said that she doesn't like the neighbors dogs coming on to our property and driving us crazy, so she is not going to let us run around on their property.

Anyway, we sat patiently and waited while Mom took off our leashes when we got into the horses pasture.





Then she said 'GO'!

We took off.

Grass, grass, grass!





At first 'Hanna' was just standing off to the side watching 'Lily' and 'Hunter' go nuts.

She can be an old fart sometimes.








Then she decided to play too!









And run.






Sometimes she would stop to watch the rest of us younger ones run around.







Wait for me!!





This is so much fun!

And guess what?

There was still some manure that Mom forgot to pick up.

Boy oh boy, I thought I was going to be able to take a little roll, but Mom would not let me!  :(







There goes that crazy 'Hunter' again.







Wait for me!

Wait for me!








Here comes the old girl too.








Run, run, run, run....







Here I come!

Here I come!








Every time I caught up with those guys, they take off again!









'Hunter' will play with me.





"Hey!"

"What is that?"

"Oh her!"

"She is going to stay over there, right Mom?"

I don't like when she watches us like that.







Come on.

I am getting tired of chasing you guys.






That doesn't mean to start chasing ME!

"I give!"
"I give!"
"'Hanna'...I am sorry I called you an 'old fart'."








Time to put our leashes back on.







"Can we run back to the house by ourselves Mom?"

"There are no Deer around."






"Yaaaaaah!"

"We can walk back to the house without Mom holding our leashes!"







"Oh Mom, why can't I go in the pond?!"







"Look Mom!"

" 'Lily' is running around the pond to the horses."







"Come on guys."

"This way to the house."







"Wait!"

"We have to stop and check out the chickens before we go back inside."







Time for a nap.

Those big guys always take the loveseat.

That's okay, I have my own nice bed under Moms desk.  :)






That was fun.

Maybe I'll write a post again sometime.  :)

This was 'Peanut' reporting on a fun holiday!

Peanut, MFF