Sunday, June 20, 2004
Short Day on Saturday
Valerie had a pretty full day on Saturday, but I didn't! I left at 1pm after finishing the Sheltie with Valerie. We had a big sweet Golden, a surprisingly nice Shar-Pei, a typically sweet Sheltie, and a couple of poodles to round things out. Rascal and Bianca cancelled, so we missed their pretty selves, but I think Valerie was busy enough.
Shar-Peis are just nasty-looking dogs. I imagine they could be cute when they're puppies, but as adults, they don't do a thing for me. Several interesting things to note about Shar-Peis. First, Valerie says they usually are nasty-tempered. The one that we had was sweet and well-socialized, though, so that was good. Second, their coats resemble bristle-brushes more than 'normal' fur. Petting them isn't at all pleasant. Add to that their massive production of skin oil, and you have a completely un-pettable dog. Valerie says that she's been to homes with Shar-Peis and their sleeping areas are just disgusting. The skin oils attract and hold dirt, so their chair or blanket is gross. She has also heard of groomers being sensitive to their skin, so I rubbed my arm on its back before the bath, just to be sure. No reaction, so that's another good. Shar-Peis get bathed twice, once heavy on the Dawn to cut the oils, and a second time with medicated shampoo because often they have fungus in their wrinkles, from not being dried thoroughly. The only positive I can think of offhand is that they don't take long to dry at all, because their hair is so thin and bristly. But they need to be towel-dried in the wrinkles, just to make sure...
I did pretty well on the Sheltie. I may have been a little happy with the undercoat removal, and didn't comb out one foreleg quite to spec, but otherwise I think I did OK. Valerie did the trimming after I'd dried and combed out the lovely Shasta, a blue merle with blue eyes. Shelties in general look so delicate and are so shy that I call all of them girls. I was right on this one, though. :-)
Shar-Peis are just nasty-looking dogs. I imagine they could be cute when they're puppies, but as adults, they don't do a thing for me. Several interesting things to note about Shar-Peis. First, Valerie says they usually are nasty-tempered. The one that we had was sweet and well-socialized, though, so that was good. Second, their coats resemble bristle-brushes more than 'normal' fur. Petting them isn't at all pleasant. Add to that their massive production of skin oil, and you have a completely un-pettable dog. Valerie says that she's been to homes with Shar-Peis and their sleeping areas are just disgusting. The skin oils attract and hold dirt, so their chair or blanket is gross. She has also heard of groomers being sensitive to their skin, so I rubbed my arm on its back before the bath, just to be sure. No reaction, so that's another good. Shar-Peis get bathed twice, once heavy on the Dawn to cut the oils, and a second time with medicated shampoo because often they have fungus in their wrinkles, from not being dried thoroughly. The only positive I can think of offhand is that they don't take long to dry at all, because their hair is so thin and bristly. But they need to be towel-dried in the wrinkles, just to make sure...
I did pretty well on the Sheltie. I may have been a little happy with the undercoat removal, and didn't comb out one foreleg quite to spec, but otherwise I think I did OK. Valerie did the trimming after I'd dried and combed out the lovely Shasta, a blue merle with blue eyes. Shelties in general look so delicate and are so shy that I call all of them girls. I was right on this one, though. :-)
