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.
