Happy Thanksgiving

Only half a day of grooming today.

Home to start cooking for a house full of people tomorrow.

Finished the apple pie.

 Well sort of an apple pie.

I like to change things up and make up my own recipes.

This is a deep dish cinnamon apple pie with chunks of crust and cinnamon butter on top.

For the first time ever I decided to Brine my turkey.

I have never done this before, because my turkey was always frozen.

This year I had to get a fresh turkey because I went to the store too late for a frozen turkey to thaw.

Well lets just say, I screwed that up from the very start.

I forgot to estimate the time it would take for the brine to cool down to room temperature after I cooked it and before I could submerge the turkey.

So my turkey will Brine for only 12 hours instead of 16 hours.

Oh well, we'll see how it turns out.

I also finished preparing the fixings for my sausage dressing tonight.

The flavors will set over night and I will add the bread and cornbread tomorrow morning.

While waiting for the sausage, carrots, onions and celery cook, I decided to be really bad and...

..throw some chocolate chip cookies in the oven.

These were the cheat roll from the grocery store.

The roll only makes about 2 dozen, but that is enough to keep my kids and husband happy tomorrow morning while I am too busy to make breakfast.

Who's going to complain about chocolate chip cookies for breakfast.

Bad Mommy!

They are not as good as home made, but they will do.

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow American groomers!

Next comes the crazy Christmas grooming rush.

We are booked until the first week of January, so answering the phone for the next few weeks will be a nightmare.

No time to worry about that now.

We have tomorrow and Friday off. :)

Happy Grooming, MFF

Which face?

Today 'Marshal' came in for a grooming.

Who is 'Marshal' you ask?

He is the cutest, sweetest, gentlest little Powderpuff Chinese Crested.

I have been grooming him for a little over a year.

He is even cute just after his bath and blowdry.

'Marshal' has been a range of different cuts.

Sometimes I have hand scissored him.

Sometimes I have had to clip him very short because of matting.
Sometimes he gets a bath and neaten.

His owners do really try to keep him combed and brushed out.

They do a great job for awhile, and then, they lose control, bathe him with his mats, and we have to start all over again.

Today 'Marshal' came in for a bath and neaten, I had to clip him with a #4f last time because of matting.

'Marshal's' Mom can't seem to figure out what kind of face she likes on him.

The first few times that I groomed him, they wanted the face short, round, and tight around the mouth.

I have to say, I Love this face.

I think it fits him and makes him so cute.

Today the husband came with a picture.

"This is the way we want the face to look." he said.

Now I have mixed feelings about people bringing in a picture and asking me to groom their dog to look like the dog in the picture.

Sometimes it isn't even the same breed!

Most of the time it is of a dog that has thicker, longer, and prettier hair then their dog.

I don't really mind.

I just try to groom their dog as close as possible to the picture.

I have always been able to keep the picture to refer to.

Not today.

His picture was on his cell phone.

I had exactly 2 minutes to look at the picture and commit it to memory.

HaHa...what memory?

Anyway, the picture, at least, was of 'Marshal'.

That helped.

It was a picture of 'Marshal', about 3-4 weeks after one of his last groomings.

His head had grown out, and had a shaggy look.

They also wanted me to make his head look more square.

Okay, so a square, shaggy head.

Shorten the ears, but make them look shaggy too.

The last time someone asked me to leave a shaggy, full head, the owner came in for the next groom and complained that the head look messy last time.

May I ask, what do you think a shaggy, full head is going to look like?

Ugh, people!

If only the dog could leave their owner home.

Wishful thinking.

So, to get a shaggy look, I decided to use my thinning shears.

I am not a big fan of thinning shears to scissor a head.

Most of the time, I can achieved the same effect with regular scissors, with a lot less scissoring and time.

I love thinning shears for dematting, blending, and thinning.

I have heard of groomers that use thinning shears to do Poodle topknots.

I tried it once.

I gave up after about 2 minutes and my fingers felt like they were going to fall off.

Way more scissoring then necessary to me.

I figured that thinning shears would give the shaggy look they wanted.

They also wanted the corner of the eyes shaggy, but at the same time, no hair in the eyes.

There was a lot of combing...

and scissoring...

and combing...

and scissoring...

 

and blending...

and blending....

and shaping...

Don't scissor too much..keep it shaggy.

Don't scissor too much..keep it shaggy.

 Keep it shaggy.

 

I have to say, it was all I could do not to pick up scissors and sharpen everything up.

 I felt like I was never going to finish his head.

Snip, snip, snip, snip...

I also scissored his ears with the thinning shears.

Okay, time to stop.

I'll be here all day.

It will never look finished to me.

Did I mention that I don't like trying to scissor shaggy.

It does look messy.

Ta Da!

Don't look too long.

Is that messy enough..I mean shaggy enough?

I think that I may have shaped it too much.

Yes, he is still very cute.

Yes, the husband was happy.

Did I get it right?

I won't know until the wife gives it the o.k.

So which one do you like?

Shaggy?

Short and neat?

What a sweetie.

Oh, 'Marshal's' owners have one more special request.

Lightly clip the belly, and my all time favorite.

Leave hair on the end of his penis so that he does not pee on the back of his front legs, and because he does not like it naked.

I also angle the hair.

Make the customer happy.

Right?

I try.

Happy Grooming, MFF

It makes me sad...

I am not sure how to explain it.

I have had customers over the years that call me with all kinds of questions and concerns about grooming their dogs.

* Will grooming hurt?

* Will it take long?

* Can I stay?

* How often should I brush him?

They would wait by the phone, and come right away to pick the dog up.

THEN something happens.

* They have a baby.

* They get married.

* They get another dog.

* They ?????? whatever!

Their dog, who was their world, suddenly takes a backseat, for whatever reason.

This is 'Gigi'.

She is only around a year and a half old.

When her mom got her she was everything.

Mom would carry her in all cuddled up in her arms, and carry her out the same way. 

 'Gigi' is her Mom's second Shih-tzu.

Her first one passed away suddenly at only 3 years of age.

About 6 months ago 'Gigi's' Mom also got a Yorkie puppy.

'Gigi' took a backseat.

'Gigi' started coming in matted.

'Gigi' started coming in in a carrier, while the Yorkie came in cuddled in the owners arms.

'Gigi' came in for this grooming in her carrier, matted to the skin, standing in pee and poop.

The inside of the carrier was so dirty.

Let's just say, it did not get that way on the trip over to the shop.

Her new brother, the Yorkie, had a few mats on the hips that were easily brushed out.

I don't know where 'Gigi' stays to get so dirty.

In her carrier?

I am not trying to be judgmental.

Yes I am.

I can't help it.

I have seen it happen too many times over the years.

This little girl is starving for attention.

I can feel it.

I have always been able to feel, or sense when a dog is sad, or lonesome, or starving for affection.

And this little girl wants attention!

The mattes were so tight and so dirty, you just know that no one is picking her up and cuddling her because she smells.

After the bath my daughter was able to get a #5F blade through her mats.

'Gigi's' face had to be scissored very short.

The ears and tail were saved.

'Gigi' felt so much better.

'Gigi' still looks so sad.

Her brother the Yorkie looks happy and eager to go home.

We scrubbed her carrier, inside and out. 

She had no towel or blanket in her little carrier.

After I was done for the day, I took 'Gigi' out and carried her around the shop with me.

I played with her on the table.

I talked and talked and talked to her.

I got her to wag her tail.

I told her, "I wished I could take you home and love you."

Don't get me wrong, her owners are nice people.

They come in fairly regularly.

'Gigi' does have the type of hair that does mat easily..so does the Yorkie.

The Yorkie does not come in as dirty and matted as 'Gigi'.

The owner greets the Yorkie with happy squeals and wants to hold him.

'Gigi' goes straight into the carrier.

I think some people don't realize that they are hurting their dogs.

They feed them and get them groomed and think that that is enough.

It's not!

The dogs will always get loving from us, even the naughty ones.

Rant over.

Happy Grooming, MFF

Success!

Seven weeks ago I groomed a new customer.

She was a malti-poo.

Her owner had been bathing her.

Without brushing her first.

"She doesn't like to be brushed," her owner said.

She was now a pelted coat of mat.

 

I did not need to feel her, you could tell how badly matted she was just by looking at her.

Thankfully her owner understood that she was very matted too.

I gave her my usual talk.

I told her that her dog had to be shaved.

I used the word shaved so that there is no misunderstanding about what I had to do.

 

I explained to the owner that we would shave all of the mats off and start all over again.

I put her straight into the tub.

I used Best Shot and Best Shot creme rinse to try to help loosen the mats a little.

This is 'Kaiko after the bath and blow dry.

I was able to loosen the mats away from her skin enough to get a #5f blade through her.

Her face and the top of her head where so tightly matted that I was not able to save them and had to use the #5f on them also.

It is not very often when I have to shave a head.

Her Mom had been bathing her often.

'Kaiko' did pretty good.

Her Mom was right when she said that 'Kaiko' did not like being brushed or having her legs fooled with.

When 'Kaiko's' Mom came back to pick her up, we talked about how to get her to accept the brush.

We also talked about not bathing her with the mats in her.

Her Mom said that she wanted to get 'Kaiko' groomed regularly so that this would not happen again.

How many times have we heard that, and never saw the dog again till it was matted... again.

'Kaiko's' owner made an appointment for the next time before she left.

I can't tell you how many  times owners of matted dogs make another appointment, then when you call them to remind them about their appointment, they say the dog is still short and they cancel the appointment.

I figured it was a 50/50 chance of seeing 'Kaiko' again in 7 weeks.

Success!, 'Kaiko' showed up for her appointment today.

Her Mom brought her in for a Bath and neaten.

She only had one little mat in her ear.

Her Mom is working on getting her used to brushing.

'Kaiko' is slowly starting to grow out.

I hope that 'Kaiko' stays a success story.

It feels good when an owner actually listens to you and takes your advice.

'Kaiko's' Mom made another appointment before she left.

Happy grooming, MFF

That time of year AGAIN!

It all started about 6 years ago.

I think it was 6 years ago, I can't remember anymore.

It all started with an innocent article that I wrote in one of my newsletters.

Come to think of it, it wasn't even an article, it was a couple of paragraphs.

What the heck am I talking about?

Scheduling.

About 6 years ago I got what I thought was a bright idea.

My shop was very successful, and we were booking out almost three months in advance.

This was causing a problem for my faithful regular customers who came every 4-6 weeks.

It was also causing problems for me, because I was trying to fit everyone in to keep them on schedule.

So, I decided to write a couple paragraphs in my newsletter offering to pre-book 6 months of appointments in advance for anyone who was interested.

To my great surprise, about 60% of my customers took me up on this.

My daughter did the scheduling.

She likes doing that kind of stuff.

She is good at it.

She remembers everything, every dog, every customer.

I used to be like that.

I used to remember every dog I did, every customer.

Then I had kids.

My memory and my energy was sucked right out of me, a little more with each child.

I have three children and no memory left.

As for energy...what is that?

Well, our pre-scheduling worked pretty good for the first six months.

The only problem was, we were still taking call-in appointments.

The second half of the year was quickly getting booked, and we still had all of the pre-booked customers that needed to be booked for the second half of the year.

Did I just lose you?

I lost me somewhere in all of that.

So don't worry if you did not understand any of that, neither did I, and I wrote it!

Anyway, pre-booking became so popular, that the next year, 90% of our clientele wanted to pre-book for the whole year.

That is what we have been doing now for the last 6 years.

Every October I write a letter and attach a schedule form for my customers to fill out.

We mail these out at the beginning of October and give the customer till the end of October to return the form.

This is the pile of returned forms for next year.

We ask our customers to tell us how many weeks they want to go between groomings, and give us 3 choices of appointment times, and days of the week they want to come in.

We ask for 3 choices of days and times so we have something to work with, in case their first choice is not available.

My daughter still does the scheduling.

Every year I ask her if she wants me to do it.

Every year it is the same answer..."No, Mom. You can't remember half of the dogs. You would have to look them up, and you give them everything they want!"

Actually, I think she secretly likes doing the scheduling.

She likes organizing things, and planning things.

Of course our customers also drive my daughter insane.

It is amazing how someone can screw up filling out a simple form.

This customer was fairly simple, except for the fact that they gave us only one day to work with.

This customer sent her own dates along with her form.

I have set up a system were we pre-book our appointments by seniority, the customer who has been coming to us for the longest to the most recently new customer.

It always amazes me when someone will complain that some of their appointments are for 6 weeks instead of 5 weeks.

"I wanted my Fluffy groomed every 5 weeks. A couple of these appointments are for 6 weeks, she can't go that long," the customer will complain.

"Yes, that is because 5 weeks was booked when we got to your name, and you only gave us one day and one time to work with," I explain.

"But I have been coming to you for a long time." the customer insists.

Your right, I have been grooming Fluffy since the beginning of 2009, but I have customers who I have been grooming their dogs since 1985, before I even opened my shop. So, unfortunately there are about 300 other customers ahead of you." I say as nice as I can with a polite smile.

"Oh.., I didn't know you do so many dogs." the customer says.

"No, my shop is here only to groom your dog," I wish I could say instead of thinking it.

So my daughter has been working on the scheduling every night for almost a month, for a couple hours each night.

She just finished the other night.

Now it is time to transfer all of those dates to a large appointment card for the customer.

It is my turn to help fill these out (no memory needed) so that we can start handing them out to customers between Thanksgiving and New Years.

Then comes my daughters all time favorite time.

When the customers look at their schedules and want to change things because they forgot to tell us about a vacation time, or some other thing they just now remembered.

So time to tackle this stack of giant appointment cards.

Oh, and you would be amazed at how many customers lose these giant appointment cards.

One last thing that my daughter is very proud of.

A few years ago she decided to photo copy every one of the giant appointment cards after we fill them out and before we give them to the customer.

Why?

Because, one year we had a couple of customers come in on the wrong day or the wrong time and claimed that that was the day and time that we wrote down.

Now you must remember that my daughter just about has a photographic memory, and she swore that the customer was wrong, but she had no proof other than what was on our appointment book.

My daughter was never going to let that happen again.

So now if a customer tries to do that now, my daughter whips her binder out with all of the copies just to have the satisfaction of proving them wrong.

Of course Mom screws that up by taking the dog anyway.

Thank God that does not happen very often.

Happy Grooming, MFF