Crazy Saturdays

Saturdays can get crazy.

Between regular grooming appointments, the self-serve, and walk-in nails jobs, it can get nuts.

This was our Saturday....

7:50am ~ Arrive at the shop.

                 First customer pulls up as I am getting out of the car.

                 A German Shepard in to be shaved down.

7:52am~ German Shepard customer asks if it is okay to come in and follows me in

                the shop.

                I waited on this customer with my coat still on, and only half of the lights

                on in the shop.

                I take a very nervous, large German Shepard back to a kennel, because

                the other 8am customer walking in the door with his two dogs.

7:53am ~ I take in the other two dogs (they are regulars) while the German

                Shepard owner fills out a new customer form.

7:55am ~ I spend the next 20 minutes talking to the German Shepard owner

                about shaving his dog.

                He had come in a week before and my husband and I spent awhile

                trying to talk him out of shaving his Shepard.

                The owner has two babies at home and a wife that doesn't want to deal

                with the Shepard's shedding hair.

                 I remind him of everything we talked about before.

                 I also remind him that his dog is going to look totally different and

                 be a different color.

                 Last but not least, I tell him that all of his dogs beautiful black and tan

                 coat will be gone.

                 For a second he looks as if he might change his mind.

                 "Will his coat grow back?" he asks me the same question that he has

                asked me before.

                "It should, but there is always the chance that it will not grow back the

                same. " I explain to him again.

                "Shave him."

8:15am ~ Finish talking to the Shepard owner.

                 Finally take off my coat and start getting ready for the day. 

8:20am ~ Customer calls wanting to know if we have any openings today for a

                groom.

                 I tell her; "no, we are booked."

                 She asked if she can bring her dog in to get the nails clipped and a 

                 trim around the eyes.

                 "Sure, bring him in, I'll do that while you wait." I told her.

8:22am ~ I bathe a Pomeranian for my daughter while she dries her first dog of

                the  day.

8:40am ~ Jess finishes her first dog of the day, a LabX.

8:45am ~ Customer shows up with walk-in nails and trim.

9:00am ~ Finish nails and trimming up dogs face, feet, and rear.

9:05am ~ I finally get the Shepard in the

                tub.

                 I was half way through the 

                 bath before I was able to talk 

                 the Shepard into standing up

                 without freaking out, or

                       tearing up my tub anymore
                 than he already had.
             

9:30am ~ Start drying the Shepard after another minor freakout while being 

                moved to the drying table.

10:00am ~ My husband comes into the bathing room to tell me that a customer is

                  up front to apologize

                   for her dog biting me last Saturday.

                   This is a every 3 week customer.

                   I found a sore on the inside of his foot last Saturday when he snapped

                   at me for accidentally brushing over it.

                   He had never snapped at me before.

                   The husband had picked up the dog last Saturday.

                   It was very nice of her to come by like that, even if I was covered in

                    the Shepards undercoat while she was talking to me.  :)

10:05am ~ Drying Shepard again.

10:10am ~ Stopped working on the Shepard to talk to a new customer about

                   what she wanted done to her dog.

                   Again, still covered in Shepard hair.

10:20am ~ Finished drying the Shepard.

                  Will never get all of his hair out of my eyes.

10:25am ~  The Shepard is dry, combed out and

                   ready to shave. :(

                   I couldn't help but stand there for a

                   minute looking at this beautiful 

                   Shepard, and wishing that I could

                   have talked him out of shaving the 

                   dog. 

                   It is a sin to shave this beautiful coat.

10:40am ~ Customer shows up with three Yorkies.

                    Three Yorkies that we assumed she was not bring in today.

                    This customer called earlier in the week wanting to know an exact

                     price for her dogs grooming before she came in for the appointment.

                     When told that we could only give a ballpark price until we saw the

                     dogs, she got upset and said that she could not bring her dogs if she

                     did not know exactly how much they were going to cost.

                     She got upset and hung up on my husband.

                     This customer has no showed on us three other times.

                     We filled her three appointment slots with the Shepard.

                     SHE SHOWED UP!

                     Yes, we took them.

                     No, I am not going to talk about it. :|

11:40am ~ Walk-in for nail clipping.

                    A little Shih-tzuX.

                    Overgrown nails, but a good dog.

                    Another customer who wanted me to take the nails shorter than they

                    could go.

11:45am ~ Helped Jess with one of the unexpected Yorkies.

                   A screamer for the nails.

                   As a matter of fact, all three Yorkies were nail screamers.

11:50am ~ Finally finished clipping the Shepard.

                   I wanted to cry.

                  He looked awful.

                  I'll talk about him in another post.

11:52am ~ Grabbed a doughnut for breakfast/lunch and get next dog into the tub.

11:55am ~ Bathe and hand dry YorkieX.

Noon: ~ Jess changes towel that the Yorkie she just finished peed on.

12:03pm ~ Jess changes the towel again after the same Yorkie poops in his

                  kennel.

12:35pm ~ Finish scissoring the YorkieX.

12:40pm ~ Fluff ears and face on Shih-Tzu and clip.

1:10pm ~ Finished Shih-Tzu.

1:15pm ~ Fluff and finish Peke/Malt.

1:35pm ~ Stopped working on the Peke/ Malt to take Shepard up to his owner.

                  "WOW! He looks different!" the owner said, looking shocked.

                  All I could think was 'I told you so!'

                  When will owners listen to us and take our advise?

2:00pm ~ Finish and take Peke/Malt up to the 

                owner.

                She makes another appointment 

                for 6 weeks.  

2:16pm ~ Fluff dry and thin out the Golden with

                 the Coat King.     

 2:44pm ~ Finished Golden.

2:46pm ~ Clean up more poop from the same Yorkie.

2:52pm ~ Fluff up and clip Bichon.

3:40pm ~ Finished Bichon.

                 Spent way too long on the head.

                 I don't like big, full heads on Bichons

                 whose bodies have been clipped 

                 short, but it is not my dog.

Meanwhile, Jessica has been finished her dogs since 2:45.

She beat her record today and groomed 10 dogs.

A LabX, a Pom, a Westie, a Shih-Tzu, two Shelties, and four Yorkies.

That Shepard took me way too long.

3:45pm ~ Three dogs left to pick up.

3:52pm ~ Shelties picked up.

3:55pm ~ Cleaning up.

4:18pm ~ Pooping and peeing Yorkie finally picked up after calling owner at 2:45

                 to tell her that her dog was done and that we would be closing at 4pm.

4:20pm ~ Still waiting for Self-Serve customer to finish up.

4:23pm ~ Clip nails on Self-Serve customers dog.

4:29pm ~ Self-Serve customer leaves.

4:30pm ~ Shop closes.

Not bad for a morning that felt like it would never end.

Happy Grooming, MFF