New Home .... No more Wet Shaving!

After my post of 'Wet Shaving' (posted January 31, 2010), a new chapter was started in this elderly Lhasa Apso's life.

She ended up living with me for a little over a month and with her being an older dog, the changes of finding her a new forever home seemed slim which wasn't a problem for me because she was a joy to keep.  She was of the mind that only going outside to do her bathroom business was the only acceptable way to live and she was quiet and appreciative so no problem with me keeping her except for my cocker who wasn't very nice to her.  I did, after a month of her living with me, put an email together to send out to a few 'doggie people' (Marvene of the Highlands County Humane Society; Lui Matthrews; Barbara Shrewsbury Humane Society; and Jonda Allan of Nu-Hope; Ann Yeager) to see if anyone wanted this gentle soul to live with them.  The response was many & heart warming. With the many inquiries that followed, one woman just knew this once 'Wet Shaved' darling would be her companion and was insistant on visiting her - then took her home!

Denise Hamilton works for an organization called 'Nu-Hope' (for people)   http://www.nuhope.org/ but Denise's heart is also large enough to include an elderly dog which was apparent when she came to my house with another Nu-Hope employee to visit this dog I re-named from Peaches to Zeaches.  Denise picked up Zeaches and held her close and fell in love with her and took her home offering Zeaches her heart and home in her late life.  Denise has told me that Zeaches will never again need to be 'Wet Shaved' because she will take care of her .... always!  Denise took back the dog's name of Peaches and has bought her a special bed and a name tag on her collar. 

Denise is a special person that to me must be a very special person for the elderly people at Nu-Hope as I've witnessed her love and compassion for an elderly dog surrendered.  My heart is blessed to have met Denise and I cry each time I see the picture of Denise and 'Peaches' that she sent me.  God bless Denise, her daughter and their compassion for the elderly.  Here are two pictures of the before .... and two pictures of the now with Denise and of Peaches.  Enjoy.

Before with mats to the skin and covered with fleas and sores.

After the Wet Shave (because of all the mats) and totally naked.

Peaches now at Denise Hamilton's home  (scroll down for a picture of Denise and Peaches :0)

A wonderful person put together with a wonderful old dog. 

I just love happy endings. 

Denise you are special!

Drying Technique - Absorber towel

My doggie friend of 13 years, Ann Yeager, kept telling me of a drying towel called the Absorber that she had bought at Wal-Mart and how great it was at taking water out of a dog's coat after a bath and how it sped up drying time.  Ann is totally sold on this towel and won't live without it.  I kept forgetting to buy the Absorber the few times I've been to Wal-Mart so Ann bought one for me last week.  Today I got to try it out on my 12 1/2 yr old Cocker Anna and well ..... I'm totally sold on it and appreciate my friend's persistence.

In the past drying Anna would be a hour or more of drying time.  Today, I was done in 30 minutes.  In the past the most difficult to get all the water out of the coat was the feet and ears and legs.  The Absorber soaked all the water out for me ..... let me show you in pictures ........

Bathed, coat conditioned, towel dried.  Then I used the Absorber concentrating on the feet and legs and ears.

Anna, btw, is incontinent.  I need to keep her back legs &; butt free of long hair. 

When I used the Metro HV dryer, there wasn't much water to blow out.  I just used it to separate the hair and fluff.

In 10 minutes I had her ready to blow dry with the Edemco stand dryer and brush.  I use this time to check her skin and look for any mats and brush the hair for ultimate silk hair.

Using the Edemco stand dryer on low heat setting, I finished brushing and drying Anna.  Total time from Absorber towel drying; Metro Force Air drying; and then Edemco stand dryer while brushing was 30 minutes!  Record time!

In this picture,  Anna is ready to clip and scissor. She is completely dried in 30 minutes.

TaDa! Finished groom!   From bath to finished took 2 hours. 

I call this cut the Anna modified long hair cocker trim for comfort & age :0)

Wet Clipping

A heavily matted dog came to me today to be groomed which gave me an opportunity to try a different way of wet clipping.  In the past, I would spend outrages amount of time cutting heavily matted dogs with scissors little pieces at a time.  Later I heard about wet clipping so tried it after a shampoo and rinse with good success but today after I shampooed and rinsed, I worked in a good dose of conditioner but didn't rinse it out.  This technique was extremely fast with no pain to the dog even on the legs where there was no space between the skin and the matts!  I am impressed.  I took a few pictures to share:

That clump of hair under the chin is a solid mat.
Though the body hair tips weren't matted, the body was heavily matted close to the skin. 

Hair on ears and ear tips matted solid to the skin.

Legs, feet, and toes matted to the skin                                                                                                                                

Here, she has been shampooed, rinsed, then conditioner worked in the best I could but I didn't rinse the conditioner out.  I put the dripping wet, conditioned haired dog on a towel on my grooming table.  Yes, dripping wet.  Then with a #10 blade I started clipping.  The wet hair didn't stick to the blades and my blades didn't run hot.  Dog was clipped down in 20 minutes.

Here she is with all mats clipped off.  I put her back in the tub and shampooed her again and worked what mats I could apart on her tail.

Naked but clean, flea free, and able to move around freely without the restriction that matted hair can cause.  She seem to enjoy having me touch her.

I strongly suggested to the owner to come back to me in a couple of months and let me help her to maintain the dog's hair and we would be able to keep hair on her dog  .... without the mats.

With a heavily matted dog, wet clipping with conditioner on the hair is the way to go for speed but more importantly, for the comfort and safety of the dog.

Karen De