Tuesday's Tip #29 Flower Bows

Most of the time I make my own bows.

Sometimes I buy some at Hershey, if I really like them.

Most of the bows that I make are made from ribbon, but sometimes I like to make them out of flowers.

That can be a little time consuming because of having to remove the plastic stems from the artificial flowers.

Some were easy to remove, some not so easy.

I had to make sure that I bought flowers that did not have the stems glued in.

The other day while shopping for some of my supplies for Hershey, I ran across these...

A canister full of artificial flower pieces.

With no stems and all ready to make flower bows.

The canister holds 64 pieces.

I can make 32 sets for ears, or 64 flower bows  for topknots, or collars.

There were a few different types of flowers.

I picked the two bright colored ones.

Each canister was $7.99 at Micheal's Craft Store.

I think that that is around .12 cents a flower bow.

 Here is what you need to make  flower bows.

The flowers.

If you can't find the kind pictured here, you can take the stem off of regular artificial flowers (as long as the stem is not glued to the flower) and use those flowers.

 You will also need party beads.

Not loose beads.

You need the kind that are stuck to the string.

These ran me about $3.

I can get a lot of flower bows out of these six strings.

You will also need the small rubber bands for bows. 

 

 First, pick out your flower pieces.

I am going to use one flower piece for this flower bow, but you could also put two different colors together.

I will be putting the rubber band through the pre-cut hole in the flower piece.

Now, cut a two bead piece off of the necklace.

Cut the string as close to the bead as possible.

This is what you should have.

You want to put the rubber band on the string between the two beads.

You can lay the rubber band between the beads.

Or, you can loop the rubber band between the beads like you would do with a ribbon bow.

This way does secure the beads better.

Next, you stick the rubber band through the hole in the flower.

If you have trouble getting the rubber band through using your fingers, you can use hemostats or tweezers.

Carefully push the tweezers and the rubber band through the hole.

This is what the flower bow will look like from the back of the flower.

This is what the front will look like.

The beads hold the flower piece and rubber band together.

You can use an old magic marker or pencil to store the bows by pushing the rubber band down the marker, pencil or some kind of small tube.

You could probably get about 6-10 bows on a marker depending on the size of the flowers.

Then, when you are ready to use a flower bow, it is already made and you just slide it off of the pencil or tube.

Here are two of the flower bows ready to put in a dogs ears, or on a collar.

 Okay, I had to put one on my 'Hanna's' ear to show you what it looks like.

I had to push her hair out of the way.

She has so much hair on her right now.

I can't wait to shave her face at Hershey.

I love a clean face on a Poodle, letting her grow out is driving me crazy.

Anyway, isn't that flower bow pretty?

I hope that I didn't make it too complicated looking.

It is so easy to make these bows.

Oh, by the way, the craft store did not have the bead necklaces, I had to go to a party store for them.  :)

You could even do this with Christmas flowers or Holly at Christmas time.

That is it.

There is Tuesday's Tip.

Oh, one other thing...

I experienced my very first Earthquake today.

I was grooming a Bichon, and the floor started shaking under my feet, then the building started to raddle.

My first thought was 'Earthquake.'

My next thought was 'No, we don't have Earthquakes in Maryland.'

I stopped what I was doing and looked over to my son, because I had to make sure he was feeling the same thing that I was.

We both kind of looked at each other, as if to say, 'am I crazy or is the floor shaking?'

My daughter was talking to a customer...she felt it...the customer didn't.  ???

My youngest son didn't feel it either...he was too busy playing a video game.  lol

My husband was sitting at a red light on the way over to his parents house.

He said that the car started to shake.

He thought the car was breaking down till he looked over to see the car next to him shaking too.

I am sure that the people in California are having a good chuckle about our reaction to this little Earthquake, but I have to say, there is a reason why I don't live in California.

One small Earthquake in a lifetime is enough for this girl.

My grooming table better not be shaking tomorrow.  :)

Happy Grooming, MFF

Another Lesson Learned

We call our customers the day before their appointments to give them a reminder so that they do not miss their appointment.

I wish I could say that this little extra that we do for our customers has been a success, but it is amazing how many customers don't even listen to their messages.

We still get missed appointments even with a reminder.  :(

Anyway, that is not what this post is about.

Thursday my husband was making the reminder calls when one of the customers that he left a message for called back to confirm the appointment, but that was not all.

"My wife and I were very disappointed in the results of the grooming last time,"  the customer told my husband.

"I thought that I would call you and tell you, because my wife is too shy to complain," he added.

The husband was not clear on what they did not like with the last grooming.

Okay, let me give a little history on this customer.

The dog is a very sweet Airedale.

My daughter has been grooming him since he was a puppy.

As with almost all of the Airedale's that we have ever groomed, he does not come in often.

Two to three times a year.

The dog is now almost 3 years old.

The grooming is slightly different, as per owner instructions, each time the dog has been in.

We have not seen the dog in months.

The owner (husband) was not clear on what they did not like.

He could not quiet explain what it was that they didn't like.

They wanted me to groom the dog this time.

They didn't even know who had been grooming the dog, they only wanted me because I am the owner.

The owner of the shop does not always mean the best groomer.

To say the least, my daughter was very upset.

I think she was more upset that they wanted me to groom the dog, and not even give her another chance when she has been the only one to groom the dog, and they were happy all of the other times.

It was also a little hard on her because she has been grooming for 10 years and rarely ever gets a call back or complaint.

All that I could tell her was that the grooming couldn't have been that bad, they were coming in again.

I also told her that we would have to wait and see the dog, and talk to the wife.

When the wife dropped the dog off the next morning, I don't think that she was going to say a thing about the last grooming.

I had to ask her what was wrong the last time.

The main thing that she pointed out was the patchy areas on the legs.

Now remember, I said that we have not groomed this dog in months.

The missing patches of hair were not from the last grooming.

There are times where it is very hard to keep the mouth shut and be tactful.

This Airedale does have short patches of hair all over, mainly on the back legs, do to the brittle terrier hair naturally breaking off.

I wanted to say, "lady, give me a break, we didn't put that hole in your dogs hair. The hair has broken away on it's own."

 Instead, I started plucking at the hair and explaining about terrier hair and how easily it can be plucked or break off do to scratching.

The owner started plucking hair out of her dogs coat herself and said, "I know, I am plucking it out all of the time."

I just looked at her while she stood there plucking the hair...biting my tongue.  :/

The owner had pictures off of  the internet.

Pictures of other Airedales.

Un-groomed Airedales.

Airedales with a lot of hair on their legs, all kinky and curly.

Pictures of Airedales with long full beards and eyebrows.

If you scroll back up and take a look at the Airedale before the bath and any grooming, you will see that he has no eyebrows, and hardly any hair on his back legs.

Everywhere she wanted hair, he didn't have much.

I can cut it off...I can't put it on.

Most of the dogs hair was on its back, and they wanted that very short.

The more I talked to her and asked questions, it turned out that she did not even know what a true Airedale cut was supposed to look like.

I told her that we would not do the Airedale cut this time.

I told her that we would cut the dog the way that she wanted it.

So I started asking questions.

How do you want the head to look?...."Clip the top and sides, but leave the muzzle and bread very long and full like the picture."

Do you want the ears shaved like an Airedale? ..."I don't know."  (we did)

You want us to clip the body short? ..."Yes, only the saddle."

You want us to leave the hair full on the legs and hips? ..."Yes, like the picture."

After the bath and blow dry, I had to call the owner back, because the uneven patches on the legs were so bad, we would have to scissor to make them look nice.

Even the front legs had short patchy areas.

There were places all over this dog where there was hair broken off and missing.

When I called the owner I told her that the only way to make the legs look even was to clip them to the length of the shortest patch.

She understood, but did not want the legs that short, so we settled on scissoring the legs to even them up a little.

You can also see, where I put the arrows, is where the dogs harness has broken off a lot of hair.

 While my daughter was grooming the dog, I had a light bulb moment.

I asked my daughter if she remembered the legs being choppy like that the last time she groomed the dog.

She said that the legs were the same way the last time.

"Did we tell them about it?" I asked her.

"I don't think so, I assumed that they could see that the hair on the legs was not growing in evenly," she answered.

That got me to thinking...I can still smell the smoke.

How often do we as groomers see things on a dog, and just assume that the owner must already know about it?

Like the sore that we find on a leg that has certainly been their for a week or so....surely they would have noticed that.

Or, that big pancake of crap on the rear that has caused the rear to become raw ....surely they could smell it, if not see it.

Or, the pieces of sticker bushes and spiky hitchhikers stuck on the hair on the belly and legs that have created red sores....surely they pick up their dog and have felt them.

Never assume.

Tell the owner about everything you see.

Even if your can't possibly imagine how they could not know about it.

Tell them about every lump, wart, scab, tick removed, mat that you had to cut out, bald spot that you find, rash on a belly, sore under the eye do to eye crust, ect, ect.

Everything.

So the owner won't come back and tell you that do did an awful grooming because you did not make their dogs thin, uneven legs look full and thick.

This is the finished clip of the Airedale.

Please do not look too hard.

It is not a true Airedale cut.

It is what the owner wanted.

My daughter tried to create some kind of eyebrows.

She left the face and beard along.

She tried to even the legs out without taking off too much hair. (you can still see the holes)

She clipped the back and head with a #7F.

The owner said that he looked good, and that she liked it when she left.

She said the same thing the last time too.

As I told my daughter....

Do the best you can with what you have to work with.

Unfortunately, you can not please everyone.

Oh, don't forget.

Tell the owner everything, even if you don't think it is a big deal.

The owner may think it is a big deal.

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Happy grooming, MFF

"Shave My Dog" Release Form

I had a customer today that we have been grooming for a short time.

One of her dogs is a PomX.

He has a really pretty coat, and his owner always gets the dogs feathering trimmed up a little.

Today, when she came in, my husband  brought the dog back and said, "the owner wants him cut like Mr. V's dog."

"You mean the Pom on the wall out there," I questioned, looking shocked.

I have five large framed posters on my lobby wall full of pictures of customers dogs.

"Yes," my husband confirmed, "she wants him to look like 'Toby'.

"Does she realize that 'Toby' gets shaved down?" I ask him.

"Yes, she pointed right to his picture," he told me.

"You told her that that dog is shaved very short, right? I started interrogating him.

"Yes, I told her everything you always tell people about shaving these dogs," he said, getting exasperated with me.

"I even told her we could not put the hair back on if she didn't like it," he added with a smart grin on his face.

I still was not 100% convinced that the owner knew what she was asking for.

This is the picture she was looking at.

This is 'Toby', and his Dad likes him very short. 

He does not care if his dogs hair ever grows back.

This is the PomX that I groomed today.

I love his colors.

I love his long hair.

But...

He's not my dog.

The pom pictured on my lobby wall is clipped short with a #5F blade.

I could not bring myself to clip this dog in a #5F blade.

I really felt that the owner did not quite realize just how short 'Toby' is in that picture.

I chose to use a 12mm clip comb and scissor finish.

There were a few choppy areas where the owner had cut out some mats.

I blended them the best that I could.

I held my breath when my husband took him out to his owner.

She loved it.

Good.

I was worried the whole time I was grooming the dog.

 So, it made me think.

Maybe there should be a 'Shave My Dog' Release Form.

It would go something like this:

(the politically correct form) 

'Shave My Dog' Release Form

      I have asked the groomers at (your shop name) to 'shave' my dogs hair off. I understand that 'shaving' means to remove up to 90% of my dogs hair with a clipper and short blade. My dogs coat will be very short and smooth. My dog may even appear to look naked. I have studied the picture on this form, and understand what a 'shaved' dog looks like.

     I understand that 'shaving' my dog may change the color of the coat and, or texture of the fur, depending on the breed and coat type.

     The groomers at (your shop name) have also informed me that in some cases dogs that have been 'shaved' very short may suffer from one or more of the side effects listed below:

~ Clipper Irritation: After being 'shaved' to a very short length, some dogs with sensitive skin could develop a rash from clipper irritation.

~ Rug Burn: Some dogs may go home after being 'shaved' short and rub their face, rear, or body along a rug, chair, sofa, or bed causing rug burn, a red irritated area on the skin where they have rubbed.

~Scratches marks: Some dogs that have been 'shaved' short may go home and scratch with their freshly clipped nails and cause red welts and scratches on their body where they have scratched themselves.

~Embarrassment: Some dogs have been known to become embarrassed and hide after having all of their fur 'shaved' and removed.

I have read and understand all of the above. I have been informed by the groomers at  (your shop name) that my dogs coat is in good condition, and does not have to be 'shaved'. It is my decision to 'shave' my dog short.  I give the groomers at (your shop name) permission to shave my dog.

Owners name:________________Signature:____________________Date:__________

                                     

Then there is the form that is not so politically correct, and the one they really should sign:

     I have asked the groomers at (your shop name) to 'shave' my dog. I really do not know what the word 'shaved' means to a groomer, or what I am asking for, but I want it done anyway.

I can not call and change my mind five minutes after the groomer has already 'shaved' my dog.

They will not be able to put my dogs hair back on if I don't like it.

I can not freak out when I see my dog after it has been 'shaved', and I realize that I did not ask for the right thing. I can not blame the groomer for 'shaving' my dog because they could not read my mind and know that I really wanted 2" of hair left on my dog.

I also understand that I can not tell everyone that I see and know that it is the groomers fault my dog looks naked.

Owners Name:_________________________Signature:___________________Date:__________

Of course, I wrote these forms just for fun, but sometimes I wonder if I really should have a 'Shave My Dog' form.  :)

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Happy Grooming, MFF

I Have a Headache...

...and it is not from grooming.  :)

Well, it does have something to do with grooming.

I have mentioned a couple of times before that I will be competing at Groom Expo in Hershey PA, in the creative grooming.

The Expo is 3 weeks away.

My girl 'Hanna has been growing out since January.

This is her in February.

I love Poodle feet, but I have let her feet grow out, because shaving feet takes time in a competition, and I need all of the time I can get.

In February I started putting my design on her.

Sorry, this is all I can let you see.

I don't want anyone to see the final design until she is on the stage at Hershey.  :)

In March I did a little more detailed on the design.

Around that time, 'Hanna' was having trouble with her ears.

She ripped a lot of hair out of her ears, and really thinned the top of them out.

My daughter finally talked me into scissoring them short so that the ears could grow back out evenly.

It killed me.

I love her long ears.

Boy...I sound like my customers, don't I?

The problem is, her ears take forever to grow back.

If that was not bad enough, in June, 'Hanna' had a reaction to the Advantage spot on flea treatment, and lost a 3"x 5" patch of hair right between her shoulder blades.

I mean she was almost totally bald where the Advantage was put on.

Thankfully, it is in an area where it will not effect the design.

I just have to tell the Judges about it before the competition.

I have tested out the colors on her.

I have tried to time myself.

I had everything figured out.

I had an order in which I was going to groom her.

Then Barkleigh put out the Program for Groom Expo.

They changed the way they are doing the Creative competition.

The competition has always been a 31/2 hour competition, with a 15 minute 'Sally Break'.

This year the competition is starting earlier, at 10:30.

We will groom from 10:30 to noon, and then take an hour lunch break.

At 1pm we will start grooming again for two more hours.

I had to totally rethink the order in which I was going to do things.

I have to say that I am a little worried about 'Hanna' laying down for that hour and messing up everything I groomed in the first hour and a half.

Oh well, I don't expect to win anyway.

I know, I know.

That is not the way you are supposed to think, and if I think that way, why am I competing?

Because, I like the grooming challenge.

Even though it is stressful, it is fun too.

So why the headache?

For the next three weeks I will be painting, gluing and writing.

I have written my poem for the presentation.

I still need to tweak it.

I have to say that I hate the presentation part.

Well, I don't really hate it, but it is certainly not my favorite part.

It is not easy to stand up in front of all of those people and put on a presentation.

How do I do it?

I really don't know.

I just try not to think about it.

I have always had the motto for things I don't like, 'just get it done and over with'.

The grooming on stage is easy.

When I am grooming, I get into a zone.

My kids are always telling me that they have to call my name 3 or 4 times to get my attention.

So when I am up there grooming, I turn everything off except what I am doing.

It doesn't even bother me when people flash a camera.  :)

I will also be building my background.

I have drawn it, now I just have to try to bring it to life.

Sorry I missed the Tuesday tip.

I was gluing.

That is where I got the headache.

Glue spray.

Ugh.  :(

I was gluing again tonight.

What was I gluing?

Some of my props for the competition.

Think you can guess what it is supposed to be?

This is how it starts.

Then I start spraying on the glue.

And spraying.

And spraying.

Do you know what it is yet?

Now????

I'll give you a little time....

Tap, tap... are you still there?

Still don't have any idea?

No!

It's not a matted  model dog!

See, it has some blue on it.

Can you guess now?

No..

Really?!..

Is it that bad?

 Maybe now?

It was getting dark outside and I had to stop.

I have three made, and three more to go.

Okay! Okay!

Stop yelling.

I'll tell you what it is supposed to be.

A CLOUD.

Can you see it now?

Just humor me.

Please!

Just say, "Oh yeah, I see it now."

Thank you, that makes me feel a little better.

I have been taking pictures of the whole process.

The drawings, scissoring the design, testing the colors.

After the competition, I will blog about everything I did.

I have also decided to hold off on my Clipping True or False test till after Hershey, because I have so much to do in the next few weeks.

Some of the test answers may get involved and I want to take time on them.

I'll still blog as I get time. 

Hopefully no more headaches.  :)

Happy Grooming, MFF