Thursday, July 29, 2004
Hand Stripping vs Clippers
Valerie just sent me a link to an article that shows vividly the difference between a hand-stripped coat and one that's been clippered - on the SAME DOG. This is a Wire Fox Terrier who was clippered for 5 years and then the owner learned to hand strip. See the difference in color? And the feel of the hand-stripped coat would be much more terrierish and less fuzzy or cottony. The article recommends a 6-pack of beer to help in the learning process. *smile*
Same picture, but enlarged just a bit
Same picture, but enlarged just a bit
Saturday, July 24, 2004
Finally! I've mastered the Art of the Armpit!!
hahahahaha!! Today we had a matted Shih-mix in, and he needed a 7F clipdown. I do those, some times better than other times, and today was a not-too-bad time. Valerie did say I'm getting better, but I had to ask her before she'd say it. So I'm not good yet. BUT - I did get the armpit move down! I was so ecstatic I almost spiked my clippers and did an endzone dance a la Ickey Woods. It's a simple delicate scooping motion with the clippers, but has taken me months to get it down. Maybe today I just lifted the legs to the correct angle or something, but I actually got the inside of the legs and the armpits!! I'm just beside myself with glee. Now I need to figure out how to do it without having to squat down and peer up from underneath the dog. And if I can do it without falling on my ass, so much the better. Don't ask.
Today we had the Shih, and another tiny female Shih that we've had in before - a puppy mill dog. Valerie says she's a reject puppy that shouldn't have lived. She has breathing issues - openmouthed gasps when stressed. Valerie found a mammary tumor on her today - the pup's 6 months old and they have let her go into heat. Congratulations - here's a tumor for you. Bad breeding and bad blood will out, just like Aunt Marge told Harry. Don't ask.
We had a late-booking Pom today, too. Valerie made that dog SO CUTE. Especially considering the handicap of the owner's kid barking and running all over the store. Yes, the kid was barking. Don't ask.
Sunday had only one Yorkie booked, and no drama required because it was supposed to be in good condition. So I cancelled my motel room and came home. It is going to be paradise on earth not to have to set the alarm when I go to bed in a few minutes. I've spent the evening online chatting with friends, and at one point a movie had been planned. That ended up not happening, though. Don't ask.
Today we had the Shih, and another tiny female Shih that we've had in before - a puppy mill dog. Valerie says she's a reject puppy that shouldn't have lived. She has breathing issues - openmouthed gasps when stressed. Valerie found a mammary tumor on her today - the pup's 6 months old and they have let her go into heat. Congratulations - here's a tumor for you. Bad breeding and bad blood will out, just like Aunt Marge told Harry. Don't ask.
We had a late-booking Pom today, too. Valerie made that dog SO CUTE. Especially considering the handicap of the owner's kid barking and running all over the store. Yes, the kid was barking. Don't ask.
Sunday had only one Yorkie booked, and no drama required because it was supposed to be in good condition. So I cancelled my motel room and came home. It is going to be paradise on earth not to have to set the alarm when I go to bed in a few minutes. I've spent the evening online chatting with friends, and at one point a movie had been planned. That ended up not happening, though. Don't ask.
Monday, July 19, 2004
Poor Pud!
This weekend, I hurt my first dog. Three times. :-(
Pud's a midsize Cockapooish thing, black, older fellow, in for a 7F shavedown. Valerie let me have him for the shavedown, and I am pleased to report that I'm getting a little better on legs. But I poked poor Pudwith the points of my blades while trying to trim the inside of one leg from the opposite side. He yelped and I felt terrible. Valerie told me to check if I'd cut him, but there was no blood, his dinger was intact, and he had no balls when he'd come in. So I continued, trimming around his sanitary area. I thought I did a great job on the area under the tail, but Valerie said I'd done TOO good a job and that I'd need to put some aloe on the ridge of skin under his anus. Clipper burn. He didn't complain about that while I was doing it, though. The third hurt was when I was trying to tidy up his tummy - there was some hair sticking out, so I grabbed a pair of scissors and snipped... except that the hair was poking out because it was attached to a little fat lump, like older dogs get. Poor Pud yelped again, and I have him a big hug and some kisses, and told him what an idiot I was.
Valerie told me later that everyone makes mistakes and hurts dogs occasionally, especially when learning. It made me feel a little better, but not much.
Speaking of mistakes, there's quite a bit of discussion on the grooming list today about escaped client pets. That sounds awful, and another reason for having the shop divided a little. Some of the stories, though, I'm not sure much if anything could have been done to prevent the escape. I definitely won't allow loose dogs to hang around in my shop, if I ever have one. It looks fun and homey, but I know just how fast a doggy dust-up can arise, and what if you've got a dog on the table when a fight breaks out? Do you risk having the dog you're grooming jump off the table and hang itself while you break up the fight? Or do you watch the dogs go at it and hope there's not too much clean-up to be done afterward? Of course, if you have the LIPSystem, you're a little bit safer leaving a dog on the table because it's restrained at both ends. I'll just be safest I can, and keep dogs in crates while they wait to be picked up.
I love being on the grooming list, because I'm seeing so many different people discuss the way they do things. Some of the ideas sound great and some of them not-so-great, but they all work for the people who use them. The list is a great resource for lots of different perspectives, for sure!
Valerie and I also did a couple of cats on Sunday. The owner had them loose in the car when he drove them up, and Cat B escaped while he was leaning into the car to get Cat A out to bring in. The dimwit owner was luckier than he deserved, though, and Cat B allowed himself to be picked up from the sidewalk without much of a fuss. Cat A was a Himalayan, and had quite an attitude, the owner said, so Valerie muzzled him for the shave and bath. Cat B was much nicer, though.
We also had a couple Peke-a-poos on Sunday. One looked all Peke and the other looked mostly Poo. The owners stayed with the dogs the whole time. Valerie said that the Poo barked constantly even when the people weren't there. And the gentleman did help hold her for getting her feet done, so that all worked out OK.
Pud's a midsize Cockapooish thing, black, older fellow, in for a 7F shavedown. Valerie let me have him for the shavedown, and I am pleased to report that I'm getting a little better on legs. But I poked poor Pudwith the points of my blades while trying to trim the inside of one leg from the opposite side. He yelped and I felt terrible. Valerie told me to check if I'd cut him, but there was no blood, his dinger was intact, and he had no balls when he'd come in. So I continued, trimming around his sanitary area. I thought I did a great job on the area under the tail, but Valerie said I'd done TOO good a job and that I'd need to put some aloe on the ridge of skin under his anus. Clipper burn. He didn't complain about that while I was doing it, though. The third hurt was when I was trying to tidy up his tummy - there was some hair sticking out, so I grabbed a pair of scissors and snipped... except that the hair was poking out because it was attached to a little fat lump, like older dogs get. Poor Pud yelped again, and I have him a big hug and some kisses, and told him what an idiot I was.
Valerie told me later that everyone makes mistakes and hurts dogs occasionally, especially when learning. It made me feel a little better, but not much.
Speaking of mistakes, there's quite a bit of discussion on the grooming list today about escaped client pets. That sounds awful, and another reason for having the shop divided a little. Some of the stories, though, I'm not sure much if anything could have been done to prevent the escape. I definitely won't allow loose dogs to hang around in my shop, if I ever have one. It looks fun and homey, but I know just how fast a doggy dust-up can arise, and what if you've got a dog on the table when a fight breaks out? Do you risk having the dog you're grooming jump off the table and hang itself while you break up the fight? Or do you watch the dogs go at it and hope there's not too much clean-up to be done afterward? Of course, if you have the LIPSystem, you're a little bit safer leaving a dog on the table because it's restrained at both ends. I'll just be safest I can, and keep dogs in crates while they wait to be picked up.
I love being on the grooming list, because I'm seeing so many different people discuss the way they do things. Some of the ideas sound great and some of them not-so-great, but they all work for the people who use them. The list is a great resource for lots of different perspectives, for sure!
Valerie and I also did a couple of cats on Sunday. The owner had them loose in the car when he drove them up, and Cat B escaped while he was leaning into the car to get Cat A out to bring in. The dimwit owner was luckier than he deserved, though, and Cat B allowed himself to be picked up from the sidewalk without much of a fuss. Cat A was a Himalayan, and had quite an attitude, the owner said, so Valerie muzzled him for the shave and bath. Cat B was much nicer, though.
We also had a couple Peke-a-poos on Sunday. One looked all Peke and the other looked mostly Poo. The owners stayed with the dogs the whole time. Valerie said that the Poo barked constantly even when the people weren't there. And the gentleman did help hold her for getting her feet done, so that all worked out OK.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Scheduling Woes
I have got to weigh in and say that this working shit pretty well sucks balls. I've been informed this week that when I am out of training, I'll have Sunday and Wednesday as my days off. This means I won't be able to groom two days a week with Valerie any more. I am willing to drive down and back on Sundays, but Sundays are just SO slow. Valerie has said she'll try to book more clients on Sundays, so we'll see how that goes. I wish I could make money grooming, but I just don't *know* anything yet. Maybe I'll be able to get a part time job as a bather soon. Have to see how Valerie feels about that.
It looks like there's been another Blogger upgrade. It seems I now can choose different fonts and colors while I'm posting, as opposed to having to do the HTML myself. Interesting.
It looks like there's been another Blogger upgrade. It seems I now can choose different fonts and colors while I'm posting, as opposed to having to do the HTML myself. Interesting.
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Too Tight = More Fight, and Other Words Of Wisdom
Saturday was a pretty busy day, with a lot of new breeds. OK, new to me, anyway. We had a Miniature Schnauzer (I'm SURE this is the same dog that I didn't get his ears clean enough last time I did him either) and an Airedale, a Bichon, a Shih Tzu, a "Yorkie" (actually probably a Shih Tzu mix), a Papillon (adorable!) and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (I'm so in love!).
Bathing the Airedale was different. That coat just holds onto the suds!
Valerie let me comb out the Papillon, and I did a good job except I forgot a foreleg. Maybe I should have a wipe-off board so I can put a checklist for every dog. Portside foreleg? Check. Portside hindleg? Check. Starboard hindleg? Check. Starboard foreleg? ooops!!! *grin*
And then I did most all of the Cavalier, too. I'm very excited about that. I messed up her feet, but only had to be rescues a little bit on the insides of the legs. Valerie checked my work a few times and told me what needed to be done next, so I didn't have a chance to go too far afield. I did trim too much between the toes, though, so that the toenails were exposed. I started out OK, just brushing up the between-toes hairs and trimming them off. Then I saw more hairs, and more hairs, and more hairs, and before I knew it we were halfway to Poodle Feet. I know Cavaliers are supposed to have slipper feet, but Mrs. Jackson wants all of hers clean and comfortable, so the feet were done. What I should have done was first clean between the pads with my Peanut, then brushed up the toehairs and cleaned them up, and then gone around the foot to the toenails, and then trimmed the toenails so they wouldn't be exposed. Make a note, I.T.! It was while starting the Cavalier that I ran into trouble with the T-strap on the rear. I had it too high up, and the dog didn't like that, and climbed out. So I tried to make it higher, so the dog wouldn't climb out. Valerie told me it was too high, and once she lowered it my little Cav stood there like a trooper. Too tight = more fight.
Sunday we had a (HUGE GIGANTIC) Maine Coon cat in for bath and brush. Here's what I learned about grooming cats. Too tight = more fight goes about quadruple for cats. The less restraint you can manage with, the better. Best to do as much brushing, toenails, dematting as possible before the bath, while they may still like you a little bit. Bathtub noose goes around the neck and one foreleg. Dawn can be mixed with whitening shampoo if you want, but it sudses a LOT in the Bathing Beauty. A little Cowboy Magic is all it takes to make a real soft kitty. Towel-dry, don't use the HV. Put kitty in the crate with fans on to dry, and even then it'll take forever and kitty will probably go home with damp legs anyway. Cats get clippered with a 7 or a 10. Nothing longer, as their skin is so easy to cut. (I'm going to do Ferris with a 7 next time.) If you have a greasy-looking cat, rub some cornstarch into the fur - it'll absorb the oil and the mats will just slide out. The coat oil is what holds the mats together. Ummm, I think that's all. Valerie, I'm sure, will comment if I missed something important.
The dog we had on Sunday was a Long-Haired Dachshund. (Here's a pic of one, Jim!) He was a victim of what Valerie calles "Neuter Coat" and essentially, he was all undercoat. Floofy, fluffy, cottony undercoat, all over. What Valerie did was to shave his back down with a 7, leaving furnishings underneath. She then used the stone on him, to remove as much of the fluff as possible, and then shined him up with some Mink Oil. He still didn't look quite right, but he did look a LOT better. :-)
We changed the lever on Valerie's Litenings, so I got another lesson on clipper maintenance. It would have been great if my Laubes had ever come, but the fucktards at American Pet Pro and UPS are working in concert, it seems, to keep both my money *and* my clippers. The shipment containing my clippers seems to be going back and forth between IN and CA. Which is absurd, because they're supposed to have gone to Valerie's shop in WV. American Pet Pro will not refund my credit card because I haven't returned the order to them, I guess. And UPS has the nerve to call the shop on Saturday and ask Valerie "I hear you're having some problems with a shipment?" Uh, yeah. The shipment was supposed to be here in the beginning of FUCKING JUNE and at this rate it never will come. I'm out $200 and you'd think the idiots at UPS would notice SOMETHING amiss when they scan the package for the 200th time and it's still in transit!!!
Yeah, I'm a little upset. I'm going to be busting some serious ass at American Pet "Pro" this week. I am absolutely fed up with their refusal to do anything. And I'm getting a tracking number, and busting some ass at UPS, too. I'm fed up with them as well. grrrrrrrr.
Bathing the Airedale was different. That coat just holds onto the suds!
Valerie let me comb out the Papillon, and I did a good job except I forgot a foreleg. Maybe I should have a wipe-off board so I can put a checklist for every dog. Portside foreleg? Check. Portside hindleg? Check. Starboard hindleg? Check. Starboard foreleg? ooops!!! *grin*
And then I did most all of the Cavalier, too. I'm very excited about that. I messed up her feet, but only had to be rescues a little bit on the insides of the legs. Valerie checked my work a few times and told me what needed to be done next, so I didn't have a chance to go too far afield. I did trim too much between the toes, though, so that the toenails were exposed. I started out OK, just brushing up the between-toes hairs and trimming them off. Then I saw more hairs, and more hairs, and more hairs, and before I knew it we were halfway to Poodle Feet. I know Cavaliers are supposed to have slipper feet, but Mrs. Jackson wants all of hers clean and comfortable, so the feet were done. What I should have done was first clean between the pads with my Peanut, then brushed up the toehairs and cleaned them up, and then gone around the foot to the toenails, and then trimmed the toenails so they wouldn't be exposed. Make a note, I.T.! It was while starting the Cavalier that I ran into trouble with the T-strap on the rear. I had it too high up, and the dog didn't like that, and climbed out. So I tried to make it higher, so the dog wouldn't climb out. Valerie told me it was too high, and once she lowered it my little Cav stood there like a trooper. Too tight = more fight.
Sunday we had a (HUGE GIGANTIC) Maine Coon cat in for bath and brush. Here's what I learned about grooming cats. Too tight = more fight goes about quadruple for cats. The less restraint you can manage with, the better. Best to do as much brushing, toenails, dematting as possible before the bath, while they may still like you a little bit. Bathtub noose goes around the neck and one foreleg. Dawn can be mixed with whitening shampoo if you want, but it sudses a LOT in the Bathing Beauty. A little Cowboy Magic is all it takes to make a real soft kitty. Towel-dry, don't use the HV. Put kitty in the crate with fans on to dry, and even then it'll take forever and kitty will probably go home with damp legs anyway. Cats get clippered with a 7 or a 10. Nothing longer, as their skin is so easy to cut. (I'm going to do Ferris with a 7 next time.) If you have a greasy-looking cat, rub some cornstarch into the fur - it'll absorb the oil and the mats will just slide out. The coat oil is what holds the mats together. Ummm, I think that's all. Valerie, I'm sure, will comment if I missed something important.
The dog we had on Sunday was a Long-Haired Dachshund. (Here's a pic of one, Jim!) He was a victim of what Valerie calles "Neuter Coat" and essentially, he was all undercoat. Floofy, fluffy, cottony undercoat, all over. What Valerie did was to shave his back down with a 7, leaving furnishings underneath. She then used the stone on him, to remove as much of the fluff as possible, and then shined him up with some Mink Oil. He still didn't look quite right, but he did look a LOT better. :-)
We changed the lever on Valerie's Litenings, so I got another lesson on clipper maintenance. It would have been great if my Laubes had ever come, but the fucktards at American Pet Pro and UPS are working in concert, it seems, to keep both my money *and* my clippers. The shipment containing my clippers seems to be going back and forth between IN and CA. Which is absurd, because they're supposed to have gone to Valerie's shop in WV. American Pet Pro will not refund my credit card because I haven't returned the order to them, I guess. And UPS has the nerve to call the shop on Saturday and ask Valerie "I hear you're having some problems with a shipment?" Uh, yeah. The shipment was supposed to be here in the beginning of FUCKING JUNE and at this rate it never will come. I'm out $200 and you'd think the idiots at UPS would notice SOMETHING amiss when they scan the package for the 200th time and it's still in transit!!!
Yeah, I'm a little upset. I'm going to be busting some serious ass at American Pet "Pro" this week. I am absolutely fed up with their refusal to do anything. And I'm getting a tracking number, and busting some ass at UPS, too. I'm fed up with them as well. grrrrrrrr.
Friday, July 09, 2004
You asked for it!
Well, I did promise I'd say how the Jenga got into my grooming post, if ONE person asked.
First, let me make clear for my non-regular readers (Hi, Deidre!) that apprenticing with Valerie is *not* the paying job I was talking about. I don't get paid (yet! *grin*) for working with Valerie. I drive 3 hours one way to groom with her, pay for a motel room so I can spend the night, and don't get paid a thing. Yep, she's that good. :-) I'm bathing for her, and am now learning the finer points of HV drying and brushouts. I guess I'm doing OK on the bathing now, because she hasn't mentioned anything to me about dirty ears lately. Of course, we haven't had a cocker come in lately, either. At least not on my watch.
But I had to find a paying job, to keep myself afloat until I can start making money grooming. So I work as a temp at CheckFree Corp, the electronic money-movers. If you have ever joined a fitness club that debits your checking account every month, you were probably doing business with CheckFree. If your bank has online bill payment services, there's an excellent chance it's through CheckFree. If you get electronic bills from your electric company or your credit card... well, you guessed it.
Anyhow, I'm in training to be a customer service call center employee. We are learning TONS of information, and we have review sessions every morning. To get us revved up, Kelly, our trainer, usually does the reviews in the form of some game or another. We've done Hollywood Squares (Do you agree or disagree with the answer Person X gave?) and we've done Jeopardy (I'd like Processing Codes for 500, please), and we've done Jenga.
The deal with the Jenga was pretty cool. She divided us all up into 2 teams, and the teams took turns answering questions. A correct answer got the team 2 points (1 if they had to use notes) and they had to pull one Jenga block. A wrong answer got the team no points, and they had to pull TWO blocks. Knocking over the Jenga would have been 5 points to the other team. My team won on points, and the Jenga tower outlasted the game! A few brave souls even pulled extra blocks out after the game was over. One woman kept saying how weird it was to play Jenga while sober. heh.
I had never played Jenga before, and was amazed at how adept everyone was at pulling those little blocks out! Thankfully, I only had to pull one block, but I did not knock down the tower. :-) I'm no longer a Jenga virgin.
First, let me make clear for my non-regular readers (Hi, Deidre!) that apprenticing with Valerie is *not* the paying job I was talking about. I don't get paid (yet! *grin*) for working with Valerie. I drive 3 hours one way to groom with her, pay for a motel room so I can spend the night, and don't get paid a thing. Yep, she's that good. :-) I'm bathing for her, and am now learning the finer points of HV drying and brushouts. I guess I'm doing OK on the bathing now, because she hasn't mentioned anything to me about dirty ears lately. Of course, we haven't had a cocker come in lately, either. At least not on my watch.
But I had to find a paying job, to keep myself afloat until I can start making money grooming. So I work as a temp at CheckFree Corp, the electronic money-movers. If you have ever joined a fitness club that debits your checking account every month, you were probably doing business with CheckFree. If your bank has online bill payment services, there's an excellent chance it's through CheckFree. If you get electronic bills from your electric company or your credit card... well, you guessed it.
Anyhow, I'm in training to be a customer service call center employee. We are learning TONS of information, and we have review sessions every morning. To get us revved up, Kelly, our trainer, usually does the reviews in the form of some game or another. We've done Hollywood Squares (Do you agree or disagree with the answer Person X gave?) and we've done Jeopardy (I'd like Processing Codes for 500, please), and we've done Jenga.
The deal with the Jenga was pretty cool. She divided us all up into 2 teams, and the teams took turns answering questions. A correct answer got the team 2 points (1 if they had to use notes) and they had to pull one Jenga block. A wrong answer got the team no points, and they had to pull TWO blocks. Knocking over the Jenga would have been 5 points to the other team. My team won on points, and the Jenga tower outlasted the game! A few brave souls even pulled extra blocks out after the game was over. One woman kept saying how weird it was to play Jenga while sober. heh.
I had never played Jenga before, and was amazed at how adept everyone was at pulling those little blocks out! Thankfully, I only had to pull one block, but I did not knock down the tower. :-) I'm no longer a Jenga virgin.
Sunday, July 04, 2004
PS:
OK, I went back to my early blog posts, and found the link to where I bought my comb that I like so well. Yes, they do have a wide-toothed comb with my big comfy handle, so I ordered it. Also another smock and some piddly stuff, because I had to go over $25.
But now I'm in lust. Here's the same High-Velocity dryer that Valerie has, only this one's PURPLE!!! I need to get paychecks coming in on a regular basis, though, before I can spend this kind of money on something that won't be earning its keep for quite a while yet. Of course, I DO have friends with undercoated dogs...
But now I'm in lust. Here's the same High-Velocity dryer that Valerie has, only this one's PURPLE!!! I need to get paychecks coming in on a regular basis, though, before I can spend this kind of money on something that won't be earning its keep for quite a while yet. Of course, I DO have friends with undercoated dogs...
Employment Update, and Dog Show Weekend
Well, I've gotten myself gainfully employed, as the saying goes. Once I really decided to start looking, it only took me a couple days to get an interview, and I started my new job in under a week. It's got some upsides: it pays OK, and the people at my new place of employment really like to have a good time. We are learning a lot of information, and daily reviews are usually some sort of game.
Fun at work, evidenced by the Jenga game we played on Friday morning.
If you really want to know how Jenga got worked into information review, post a comment and I'll put the gory details on the blog. No interest, no details. Aren't I a nice blogger?
But this new job also has some downsides: I have to be there at 8am for training (I'm not a morning person), it works me M-F (so I can't groom on Fridays), it's a temp job through an agency (but they will probably hire me on unless I do poorly), and it's a customer service call center. WAY out of my comfort zone. So, I'm continuing to look elsewhere while I train for this place. We'll see what happens.
What happened in West Virginia this weekend was one day of grooming, Saturday. We had 2 Shelties, a very poorly-constructed poodle, and Rascal and Bianca. I bathed all of them, I think, and did the drying and comb-out on one of the Shelties. What I learned this weekend was that I need to get some sort of routine, because I end up bouncing all over the dog and it's wasted steps and I forget things. I did pretty well on the combing, but left a knot because I missed a big place. Also, Valerie says that, while it IS possible to get too happy with the Matt King and remove too much coat, you really can't remove too much with the comb. I was worrying too much about taking out too much of the ruff and butt on the Sheltie, because last time I combed one out, I did take out too much ruff with the Matt King. So as long as I use the comb, I'll be OK. I also learned that I want a wide-toothed comb with a comfortable handle like the fine-toothed one I have. I'll see if I have a link to the kind of comb I bought and see if I can get a wide-toothed one to match. While I was doing my Sheltie, Valerie created a poodle out of the 'poodle' that was brought in. I've got before and after pics of that miracle, too.... I tried to post Saturday night, but Blogger was down, so I couldn't.
Cozette "Cozy" Before
Cozy After
Saturday was also me calling to request a credit on my bank card. Valerie and I made an order from American Pet Pro back on May 10th. It came reasonably promptly, but had some wrong stuff, so we sent most of it back later that week. We STILL have not gotten the replacement items. American Pet Pro insists that the fault is with UPS and that our replacement order has been going back and forth between Illinois and California. I don't care WHY it isn't here, all I care about is that they have over $200 of my money and we have one gallon of plum-scented conditioner. My bank says they will need a UPS tracking number showing that our order was sent back, and I hope that Valerie can either get that or demand credit from Pet Pro for me. I paid for the order but had it sent to the shop, so Valerie's name is on the invoice. Miserable fucktards that they are, they will never get any business from me again.
Sunday was the Huntington Kennel Club dog show. Valerie and I got there right as the day began at 8:30. We watched a bunch of terrors (I mean TERRIERS) and cracked up at the Scottie who growled all the way around the ring. Also did some chatting with some women who were grooming a couple of Malteses. Bianca would have stacked up favorably against these, except that she lives with heavy smokers and her coat is discolored from the nicotine. Malteses get TWO side-by-side topknots, for some odd reason. And it appeared that these two had paper-wrapped topknots that then were wrapped with cute bows. I thought the paper was going to come off, but seems I was mistaken. The Maltese female had a coat so white it about glowed. We asked what shampoo was used on her, and they mostly use Pantene. :-) But the white may have been helped by Crystal White shampoo... but they said not to use it too often because whitening shampoo can damage the coat and it's just as important that the coat be silky as it is that it be white.
We saw some very nice Shih Tzus in full coat, too. Those topknots are architectural marvels, for sure. Also many many many Bulldogs. There were 42 Bulldogs there, and that is just a huge number considering that there wasn't one other class with more than 15 entries, if memory serves. Poodles, but no Mini Schnauzers at ALL. Valerie saw one, but turned out to be the pet of one of the judges. A handful of Irish Setters, but no Gordons. One Dal, which came back in the afternoon, maybe for Best In Group. I didn't care for his face, but oh, well!
It surprised me very much that there were so many dogs with glaring faults. We saw a lot of Westies and Scotties with puny, wimpy, curled-over tails. Terriers are earth dogs, and that tail serves a purpose; when the hunter goes to kill whatever the terrier has driven to ground, he or she grabs the tail and pulls the dog out of the hole. A wimpy tail wouldn't be able to stand up to that, and that seems a huge fault to me. If a feature of the dog is meant to serve a purpose, and can't do that, then it seems to me that the dog should be disqualified. But what do I know? I'm just an Idiot Trainee.
BUT - I am an Idiot Trainee with incredible luck. I spent $5 for 6 raffle tickets. They were raffling off an Americana quilt, and I put 4 tickets in for that. The other bucket was for a DVD-VCR player, but also several smaller prizes. I put 2 tickets in that one, because I wanted the dog crate that was one of the 'secondary' prizes. I didn't win either of the big prizes, but my ticket was pulled for my choice of the smaller ones, and I got the crate! We waited around for a while, but the announcer was going SOOOO SLLOOOOOWWW - looking for teenaged girls in the crowd to come up and pull tickets so he could read them off for the winners. Valerie got annoyed and left, and she will be SO PISSED to know that the next ticket to be read was mine again! I chose a 33-lb bag of Eagle Pack dog food. Then I left, although I still had 4 tickets that may have won dog treats. hehehehehe
The drive home was uneventful, though I left from Huntington rather than Hurricane. There is a HUGE chunk of 52 that has 25-35 MPH speed limits, and that was no fun at ALL. Jim's mom lives just an exit or two down from where I was in Huntington, so he was able to steer me to the correct exit to get home. He stayed talking with me on the cellphone until I found the right exit and was on the way home. Thanks, sweetie!
My regular readers will be pleased to note that, even with the miserably low speed limits, I did not get ticketed. I was SUCH a good girl! Mainly because Jim warned me that the little towns were speed traps. And I did see some poor schmucks pulled over, too. Glad I wasn't one of them!
Thanks for bearing with me through this very long blog entry!
Fun at work, evidenced by the Jenga game we played on Friday morning.
If you really want to know how Jenga got worked into information review, post a comment and I'll put the gory details on the blog. No interest, no details. Aren't I a nice blogger?
But this new job also has some downsides: I have to be there at 8am for training (I'm not a morning person), it works me M-F (so I can't groom on Fridays), it's a temp job through an agency (but they will probably hire me on unless I do poorly), and it's a customer service call center. WAY out of my comfort zone. So, I'm continuing to look elsewhere while I train for this place. We'll see what happens.
What happened in West Virginia this weekend was one day of grooming, Saturday. We had 2 Shelties, a very poorly-constructed poodle, and Rascal and Bianca. I bathed all of them, I think, and did the drying and comb-out on one of the Shelties. What I learned this weekend was that I need to get some sort of routine, because I end up bouncing all over the dog and it's wasted steps and I forget things. I did pretty well on the combing, but left a knot because I missed a big place. Also, Valerie says that, while it IS possible to get too happy with the Matt King and remove too much coat, you really can't remove too much with the comb. I was worrying too much about taking out too much of the ruff and butt on the Sheltie, because last time I combed one out, I did take out too much ruff with the Matt King. So as long as I use the comb, I'll be OK. I also learned that I want a wide-toothed comb with a comfortable handle like the fine-toothed one I have. I'll see if I have a link to the kind of comb I bought and see if I can get a wide-toothed one to match. While I was doing my Sheltie, Valerie created a poodle out of the 'poodle' that was brought in. I've got before and after pics of that miracle, too.... I tried to post Saturday night, but Blogger was down, so I couldn't.
Cozette "Cozy" Before
Cozy After
Saturday was also me calling to request a credit on my bank card. Valerie and I made an order from American Pet Pro back on May 10th. It came reasonably promptly, but had some wrong stuff, so we sent most of it back later that week. We STILL have not gotten the replacement items. American Pet Pro insists that the fault is with UPS and that our replacement order has been going back and forth between Illinois and California. I don't care WHY it isn't here, all I care about is that they have over $200 of my money and we have one gallon of plum-scented conditioner. My bank says they will need a UPS tracking number showing that our order was sent back, and I hope that Valerie can either get that or demand credit from Pet Pro for me. I paid for the order but had it sent to the shop, so Valerie's name is on the invoice. Miserable fucktards that they are, they will never get any business from me again.
Sunday was the Huntington Kennel Club dog show. Valerie and I got there right as the day began at 8:30. We watched a bunch of terrors (I mean TERRIERS) and cracked up at the Scottie who growled all the way around the ring. Also did some chatting with some women who were grooming a couple of Malteses. Bianca would have stacked up favorably against these, except that she lives with heavy smokers and her coat is discolored from the nicotine. Malteses get TWO side-by-side topknots, for some odd reason. And it appeared that these two had paper-wrapped topknots that then were wrapped with cute bows. I thought the paper was going to come off, but seems I was mistaken. The Maltese female had a coat so white it about glowed. We asked what shampoo was used on her, and they mostly use Pantene. :-) But the white may have been helped by Crystal White shampoo... but they said not to use it too often because whitening shampoo can damage the coat and it's just as important that the coat be silky as it is that it be white.
We saw some very nice Shih Tzus in full coat, too. Those topknots are architectural marvels, for sure. Also many many many Bulldogs. There were 42 Bulldogs there, and that is just a huge number considering that there wasn't one other class with more than 15 entries, if memory serves. Poodles, but no Mini Schnauzers at ALL. Valerie saw one, but turned out to be the pet of one of the judges. A handful of Irish Setters, but no Gordons. One Dal, which came back in the afternoon, maybe for Best In Group. I didn't care for his face, but oh, well!
It surprised me very much that there were so many dogs with glaring faults. We saw a lot of Westies and Scotties with puny, wimpy, curled-over tails. Terriers are earth dogs, and that tail serves a purpose; when the hunter goes to kill whatever the terrier has driven to ground, he or she grabs the tail and pulls the dog out of the hole. A wimpy tail wouldn't be able to stand up to that, and that seems a huge fault to me. If a feature of the dog is meant to serve a purpose, and can't do that, then it seems to me that the dog should be disqualified. But what do I know? I'm just an Idiot Trainee.
BUT - I am an Idiot Trainee with incredible luck. I spent $5 for 6 raffle tickets. They were raffling off an Americana quilt, and I put 4 tickets in for that. The other bucket was for a DVD-VCR player, but also several smaller prizes. I put 2 tickets in that one, because I wanted the dog crate that was one of the 'secondary' prizes. I didn't win either of the big prizes, but my ticket was pulled for my choice of the smaller ones, and I got the crate! We waited around for a while, but the announcer was going SOOOO SLLOOOOOWWW - looking for teenaged girls in the crowd to come up and pull tickets so he could read them off for the winners. Valerie got annoyed and left, and she will be SO PISSED to know that the next ticket to be read was mine again! I chose a 33-lb bag of Eagle Pack dog food. Then I left, although I still had 4 tickets that may have won dog treats. hehehehehe
The drive home was uneventful, though I left from Huntington rather than Hurricane. There is a HUGE chunk of 52 that has 25-35 MPH speed limits, and that was no fun at ALL. Jim's mom lives just an exit or two down from where I was in Huntington, so he was able to steer me to the correct exit to get home. He stayed talking with me on the cellphone until I found the right exit and was on the way home. Thanks, sweetie!
My regular readers will be pleased to note that, even with the miserably low speed limits, I did not get ticketed. I was SUCH a good girl! Mainly because Jim warned me that the little towns were speed traps. And I did see some poor schmucks pulled over, too. Glad I wasn't one of them!
Thanks for bearing with me through this very long blog entry!
