Friday, May 14, 2004
New Mistakes, Just Like I Thought!!
Today, we had 2 poodles, a Mini and a Toy; a Mini Schnauzer; a Shih Tzu; and a Newfoundland! The Newfie was incredible... I thought that my Old English from LAST weekend was a handful of dog! Sydney is a very sweet old girl, who is actually grey rather than solid black. I thought she was sun-faded at first glance, but Valerie assures me that she really is supposed to be that color! Sydney surprised both Valerie and me by jumping into the bathtub from the hydraulic table. Apparently, Sydney puts up a pretty spectacular fight when her human dad is there to 'help' load her into the tub. Either she's putting a show on for him, or she's realized that the tub is inevitable and she may as well save herself the effort of battle. Did hair come off of this dog? The entire bath enclosure was covered with a fine coat of Sydney when we were through using the high-velocity dryer on her after her bath. When I rinsed it off the walls and picked it out of the drain, there was about a softball-sized lump of Newfie hair in the catchbowl. We then put her into a crate to dry further. Newfies have most of their coat on the chest and neck and butt, so Idiot Trainee conditioned the hell out of those areas... but didn't rinse well enough. That was mistake #1! Fur that has had conditioner left in it never seems to dry, and it's hard to get a comb through, too. After Sydney dried in the crate for a couple of hours, Valerie took her out and put the HV dryer on her again. Holy SHIT!! There was so much hair getting blown out of that dog, it looked like the shop had never EVER been swept! We could easily have knit a Shih Tzu out of all the hair that came out of Syd's coat - BEFORE the cutting began!
Mistake #2 was letting a male dog run out of his crate to greet Mommy when she came to pick him up. While she was settling the bill, he proceeded to pee on one of the pillars... and I compounded Mistake #2 with Mistake #3: correcting him with his Mommy there. Best practice is to take the small dogs out of the crate and hold them until Mommy is ready to take them. That way, Snookums isn't tempted to mark his territory, and Idiot Trainee isn't tempted to holler at him!
I actually trimmed a dog today!!! YES! Idiot Trainee put clippers to dogflesh and shaved down her first dog. I earned a "Not too bad" from Valerie on the back and sides. But it took me the better part of an hour (more, maybe?) to do that! And I was hopelessly at sea with the rest of poor Twinkle Toes. Valerie was doing a schnauzer while I was trimming down my first victim. She did the ENTIRE dog, then had to come rescue me with the bendy parts of my Shih Tzu!! Valerie makes it look EASY - like those little gymnastics girls at the Olympics. What I need is a dog who is a perfect cube. No curves; straight lines only. I do very well with straight lines! I kept a tiny bit of hair from Twinkle Toes, and marked it with his name and the date.
Today I used the Andis clippers Kim sent me from Canada. I learned about clipper blade maintenance, and gave all of my brand-new blades a wash in cleaner/disinfectant/oil solution. Valerie gave the Millers Forge shears Kim also sent a Thumbs Up, and said I got a hell of a deal on the clippers and shears. Thanks, Kim!! I've got a set of Laube clippers on order, too. And with as slow as I am, I'll need them! Those blades get HOT. Especially when they're on for a solid hour. heh
I also broke in my Matt King today, on poor Sydney. There was an incredible amount of hair everywhere from that dog!! But she was such a sweetheart, even though she squirmed and danced on the table. Valerie gave her an intermission, did the 2 poodles, and then finished Sydney.
Holding a dog is very important, as I learned while watching Valerie trim the eyebrows of a Mini Schnauzer. There are 'handles' all over a dog: chin handles (AKA 'beard'), jaw handle, elbow handles, knee handles. All should be used when necessary to keep control of the dog and prevent unfortunate situations such as what happened with the Schnauzer. She was trimming his eye area with clippers, and he jerked his head around. His beard got a nice little chunk taken out of it, and was Valerie pissed! She says it'll take at least 8 months for that hair to grow back in.
Oodles of Poodles!
I learned about Poodle Feet today, too. AND Poodle topknots! The first male poodle was a complete shit - he about turned himself inside out trying to bite Valerie while she was trimming him. So he did NOT get Poodle Feet. But the other male that came in with him, the Mini, was much better on the table, and I did get to see Poodle Feet in action. What this involves is trimming very close between the pads, and also between the toes, up to the ankle. Especially on a small dog, this is very delicate work, as it's easy to nip the skin between the toes.
The topknot is not, as I had thought, a rubberbanded PAF on top of the dog's head. It is the entire top of the head, and the way it's trimmed to the proper proportion. Valerie showed her method of making sure that the topknot is proportional to the dog. It involves treating the long hair on top of the head as if it had four sides: front, back, and each side. Comb the hair all the way to the front, and then cut it off at the stop. Comb it all the way back, and cut at the occiput. Comb to one side, and cut at the top of the ear, and repeat with the other side. Then scissor it nice and rounded.
WARNING! Whenever you're using scissors around ears, be careful always to know where the earflap begins! Valerie is adept at holding the ear with one hand and zipping around the edges with the scissors, giving it a neat and tidy appearance. But always know where the ear begins!
The little Toy Poodle had absolutely the worst teeth I have ever seen on a dog. It was no wonder, really, that he was such a shit. His whole mouth probably hurt. He was drooly and his breath was incredibly fetid. I'm sure he eats only canned dog food, poor thing. We were talking about his pissy attitude, and I remarked that if he HAD bitten Valerie, his teeth probably would have stayed in her arm when he pulled his head back. Then Valerie grossed us both out by commenting on the infection she'd get from that dog's mouth if he bit!
Today was very full of learning moments. I just wonder what mistakes Idiot Trainee will come up with for tomorrow! Tomorrow is looking to be Cocker Day.
Note to you dog owners out there... if you take your dog to be groomed, do NOT show up early to pick your Poopsie up! It just makes him dance around because he's excited to see you, and it takes longer to get him finished. Then, if you go away again, he howls because he thinks you've forgotten him or something! Trust that your groomer knows when he's going to be ready, and don't show up 15 minutes early! It just puts the groomer behind on your dog, and the rest of her day, too, if she's scheduled tightly.
ALL of our customers were early today, and ALL of the male dogs were intact. I saw more balls today than in both of the previous grooming weekends combined. I suppose there could be a 'ball handle' too... but then again, maybe not.
Best News So Far:
I don't itch any more tonight than I did this morning! I'm still a little itchy from last weekend's silk extravaganza, but am not showing any ill-effects from the products we used today. I'm being careful in the hotel too, though. I brought my own shampoo and soap, and am wearing slippers in case the carpet-cleaning chemicals made my feet itch.
Mistake #2 was letting a male dog run out of his crate to greet Mommy when she came to pick him up. While she was settling the bill, he proceeded to pee on one of the pillars... and I compounded Mistake #2 with Mistake #3: correcting him with his Mommy there. Best practice is to take the small dogs out of the crate and hold them until Mommy is ready to take them. That way, Snookums isn't tempted to mark his territory, and Idiot Trainee isn't tempted to holler at him!
I actually trimmed a dog today!!! YES! Idiot Trainee put clippers to dogflesh and shaved down her first dog. I earned a "Not too bad" from Valerie on the back and sides. But it took me the better part of an hour (more, maybe?) to do that! And I was hopelessly at sea with the rest of poor Twinkle Toes. Valerie was doing a schnauzer while I was trimming down my first victim. She did the ENTIRE dog, then had to come rescue me with the bendy parts of my Shih Tzu!! Valerie makes it look EASY - like those little gymnastics girls at the Olympics. What I need is a dog who is a perfect cube. No curves; straight lines only. I do very well with straight lines! I kept a tiny bit of hair from Twinkle Toes, and marked it with his name and the date.
Today I used the Andis clippers Kim sent me from Canada. I learned about clipper blade maintenance, and gave all of my brand-new blades a wash in cleaner/disinfectant/oil solution. Valerie gave the Millers Forge shears Kim also sent a Thumbs Up, and said I got a hell of a deal on the clippers and shears. Thanks, Kim!! I've got a set of Laube clippers on order, too. And with as slow as I am, I'll need them! Those blades get HOT. Especially when they're on for a solid hour. heh
I also broke in my Matt King today, on poor Sydney. There was an incredible amount of hair everywhere from that dog!! But she was such a sweetheart, even though she squirmed and danced on the table. Valerie gave her an intermission, did the 2 poodles, and then finished Sydney.
Holding a dog is very important, as I learned while watching Valerie trim the eyebrows of a Mini Schnauzer. There are 'handles' all over a dog: chin handles (AKA 'beard'), jaw handle, elbow handles, knee handles. All should be used when necessary to keep control of the dog and prevent unfortunate situations such as what happened with the Schnauzer. She was trimming his eye area with clippers, and he jerked his head around. His beard got a nice little chunk taken out of it, and was Valerie pissed! She says it'll take at least 8 months for that hair to grow back in.
Oodles of Poodles!
I learned about Poodle Feet today, too. AND Poodle topknots! The first male poodle was a complete shit - he about turned himself inside out trying to bite Valerie while she was trimming him. So he did NOT get Poodle Feet. But the other male that came in with him, the Mini, was much better on the table, and I did get to see Poodle Feet in action. What this involves is trimming very close between the pads, and also between the toes, up to the ankle. Especially on a small dog, this is very delicate work, as it's easy to nip the skin between the toes.
The topknot is not, as I had thought, a rubberbanded PAF on top of the dog's head. It is the entire top of the head, and the way it's trimmed to the proper proportion. Valerie showed her method of making sure that the topknot is proportional to the dog. It involves treating the long hair on top of the head as if it had four sides: front, back, and each side. Comb the hair all the way to the front, and then cut it off at the stop. Comb it all the way back, and cut at the occiput. Comb to one side, and cut at the top of the ear, and repeat with the other side. Then scissor it nice and rounded.
WARNING! Whenever you're using scissors around ears, be careful always to know where the earflap begins! Valerie is adept at holding the ear with one hand and zipping around the edges with the scissors, giving it a neat and tidy appearance. But always know where the ear begins!
The little Toy Poodle had absolutely the worst teeth I have ever seen on a dog. It was no wonder, really, that he was such a shit. His whole mouth probably hurt. He was drooly and his breath was incredibly fetid. I'm sure he eats only canned dog food, poor thing. We were talking about his pissy attitude, and I remarked that if he HAD bitten Valerie, his teeth probably would have stayed in her arm when he pulled his head back. Then Valerie grossed us both out by commenting on the infection she'd get from that dog's mouth if he bit!
Today was very full of learning moments. I just wonder what mistakes Idiot Trainee will come up with for tomorrow! Tomorrow is looking to be Cocker Day.
Note to you dog owners out there... if you take your dog to be groomed, do NOT show up early to pick your Poopsie up! It just makes him dance around because he's excited to see you, and it takes longer to get him finished. Then, if you go away again, he howls because he thinks you've forgotten him or something! Trust that your groomer knows when he's going to be ready, and don't show up 15 minutes early! It just puts the groomer behind on your dog, and the rest of her day, too, if she's scheduled tightly.
ALL of our customers were early today, and ALL of the male dogs were intact. I saw more balls today than in both of the previous grooming weekends combined. I suppose there could be a 'ball handle' too... but then again, maybe not.
Best News So Far:
I don't itch any more tonight than I did this morning! I'm still a little itchy from last weekend's silk extravaganza, but am not showing any ill-effects from the products we used today. I'm being careful in the hotel too, though. I brought my own shampoo and soap, and am wearing slippers in case the carpet-cleaning chemicals made my feet itch.
