Sunday, May 09, 2004
Survived my first weekend...
... but it's mostly a blur! Valerie and I did 7 dogs and a cat on Friday, and 5 dogs on Saturday. Here are some random ramblings:
* I dodged my first bite! A black Standard Poodle named Angie took a halfhearted snap at me while I was washing her feet. I was keeping an eye out for her, though, so she didn't connect. She is a new dog owned by Valerie's best customers. They've got a lot of dogs, and Valerie expects that Angie will blossom under their care, and become as laid-back as Moxie, the Old English Sheepdog who also came in this weekend.
* Bathing Moxie was a blast. He's a complete goof, and soaked me thoroughly! Unfortunately, I hadn't checked the ingredients on the conditioner I used on him, and it turned out to have silk protein in it. I'm allergic to silk, and spent the rest of the weekend (and beyond, I'm afraid!) itching to pieces. It was so bad that it woke me up at 1:30am on Saturday morning, and I left my motel room to hunt down some Benadryl. I couldn't find a grocery store, so went to a BP that was open, and forked over SEVEN dollars for a box of Benadryl.
* Valerie and I are going to keep an eye out for products that she likes but do not contain silk. This is going to be more difficult than it sounds, because there are no labeling requirements for animal grooming products. You know the helpful ingredient list that you can find on every bottle of shampoo, bar of soap, or any other cosmetic you can think of for use on humans? It's not required for products used on animals. I mean, DUHHH? Who's using these products? HUMANS, dimwits! The animals don't bathe themselves, you know. Valerie says that she hopes the groomers rise up as an industry and demand labeling requirements.
* There's a puppy-mill in the area, and lots of Valerie's clients have 'purebred' dogs that come from this mill. This weekend, we saw an American Eskimo who has the build of a Corgi. Very weird. There were also a couple of Bichons Frisees with bowed front legs (called 'fiddle-front', as I learned), one of which also had terrible knees on the back. We also saw a very sweet Miniature Schnauzer probably from the same mill. She's about 2/3 the size of any other Mini Schnauzer I've ever seen, and has the thin, weak coat of a dog with hereditary Addison's or Cushing's, Valerie says. It's a shame, because Mini Schnauzers can easily live to 15+, but this dog isn't going to have nearly that long a life. Puppy Mills SUCK!
* I'm going to try to remember to bring my little refrigerator to the shop next weekend. We need one!
* All the expensive de-shedding tools in the world can't beat a $1 pumice shedding stone Valerie used on a Chihuahua mix we saw. Amazing results! Piles of hair came off this dog. It was so impressive, I took a couple pics of Valerie, the dog, and the hair.
* I finally got a gander at Valerie's copy of Notes From the Grooming Table! Amazing information, and fabulous illustrations. I can't WAIT until my copy arrives!
That's all I can remember for now. More later!
* I dodged my first bite! A black Standard Poodle named Angie took a halfhearted snap at me while I was washing her feet. I was keeping an eye out for her, though, so she didn't connect. She is a new dog owned by Valerie's best customers. They've got a lot of dogs, and Valerie expects that Angie will blossom under their care, and become as laid-back as Moxie, the Old English Sheepdog who also came in this weekend.
* Bathing Moxie was a blast. He's a complete goof, and soaked me thoroughly! Unfortunately, I hadn't checked the ingredients on the conditioner I used on him, and it turned out to have silk protein in it. I'm allergic to silk, and spent the rest of the weekend (and beyond, I'm afraid!) itching to pieces. It was so bad that it woke me up at 1:30am on Saturday morning, and I left my motel room to hunt down some Benadryl. I couldn't find a grocery store, so went to a BP that was open, and forked over SEVEN dollars for a box of Benadryl.
* Valerie and I are going to keep an eye out for products that she likes but do not contain silk. This is going to be more difficult than it sounds, because there are no labeling requirements for animal grooming products. You know the helpful ingredient list that you can find on every bottle of shampoo, bar of soap, or any other cosmetic you can think of for use on humans? It's not required for products used on animals. I mean, DUHHH? Who's using these products? HUMANS, dimwits! The animals don't bathe themselves, you know. Valerie says that she hopes the groomers rise up as an industry and demand labeling requirements.
* There's a puppy-mill in the area, and lots of Valerie's clients have 'purebred' dogs that come from this mill. This weekend, we saw an American Eskimo who has the build of a Corgi. Very weird. There were also a couple of Bichons Frisees with bowed front legs (called 'fiddle-front', as I learned), one of which also had terrible knees on the back. We also saw a very sweet Miniature Schnauzer probably from the same mill. She's about 2/3 the size of any other Mini Schnauzer I've ever seen, and has the thin, weak coat of a dog with hereditary Addison's or Cushing's, Valerie says. It's a shame, because Mini Schnauzers can easily live to 15+, but this dog isn't going to have nearly that long a life. Puppy Mills SUCK!
* I'm going to try to remember to bring my little refrigerator to the shop next weekend. We need one!
* All the expensive de-shedding tools in the world can't beat a $1 pumice shedding stone Valerie used on a Chihuahua mix we saw. Amazing results! Piles of hair came off this dog. It was so impressive, I took a couple pics of Valerie, the dog, and the hair.
* I finally got a gander at Valerie's copy of Notes From the Grooming Table! Amazing information, and fabulous illustrations. I can't WAIT until my copy arrives!
That's all I can remember for now. More later!
