Trimming Oscar
We had Oscar clipped a couple of weeks ago, but his leg hair has grown disproportionately to his body hair and I had to get the scissors to him last night. First he had to have a bath and he always knows this is about to happen. He knows when I get the towels ready. He knows when I turn on the water and let it run lukewarm. He knows when I unsnap his collar. He runs to his kennel, or if I'm quick enough to keep him out of that, he turns on his back with his paws curled practically under his chin whiskers and looks at me like he's scared to death and I'm about to roast him alive or something. Those big eyes roll around until a lot of white is showing and that can't be easy because he has huge, almost completely black eyes that fill the eye sockets. He almost gets away with the pity me/have mercy/don't do this to me, but not quite.
He's very good while I'm actually bathing him and doesn't try to jump down, or bite, or squirm. He just finally submits after I've lifted him to the sink, standing there with forefeet on the sink divider. He helpfully raises one foot then the other while I wash each one. The worst thing he does is try to shake while he's standing in the sink, but, oh, well, it's only water and it'll dry. Rinsing takes forever - everything I've read says rinse, rinse and rinse again, to prevent itchy dry skin. He gets bathed in Pantene with conditioner or regular oatmeal dog shampoo.
Drying him with the hair dryer is hilarious. He loves it-hates it. He roots around trying to dry his own ears and face and I'm steadily drying his body. He flings himself from one end of our bed to the other and play-snaps at me, very unserious. I know him and he's only playing, but I have to turn the dryer off occasionally because I'm sure the whine does drive him crazy. I keep thinking I'll get a doggie dryer which doesn't make so much noise, but I haven't yet.
Then the clipping began. He was really good for that and it took me about 45 minutes or so to clip all four legs and do a "mustach" trim. Again, he thinks I'm playing and I have to give him time to calm down. He usually does better, holds still longer, on his back. This is good since I can reach all his legs which are straight up in the air. I had the Dust Buster and vacuumed up most of the hair. (This is not the best place to clip a dog, but it works for now - till warm weather and I can get him outside.) Then I got the lint roller and used about 10 sheets picking up most of the rest of the hair. Oh, well, it's clean hair and we're not eating in the bedroom... Next time, I'll put down an old sheet.
He looked much better and I was so tired from all the lifting, drying, playing, and clipping, I didn't even get a picture of his new haircut. Maybe tonight.
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