Slice of Nice

To finish my grooming discussion we are going to look at the most noticeable piece of grooming on Emma.  I just don’t understand all these people who own Goldens who LOVE to have their dog’s ear hair LONG.  In the conformation ring, you are supposed to be able to see how the ears are set on the head and just how big (or not) they are.  When you have excess ear hair, you can’t see a thing and only have nightmares of mats behind the ears!  Ok, well, maybe that’s just me.  

Pam is a perfect example of someone who LOVES Golden ear hair.   Her heart dog was Grinnin’ Gilbert.  Pam is one of the hard working Golden rescue people in this city and she fell in love with this rescue boy.  She felt his trademark was his hairy ears!  It’s even immortalized on a hand painted blue jean jacket!  Anyway, one day several of my conformation friends and I got together and did a grooming fund raiser.  We met several Goldens that day of all shapes and sizes.  And Pam brought Gilbert for us to do.  Arlene and I agreed that he had way too much ear hair and we really needed to do something about that.  It was when she picked up Gilbert that I found out that she LOVED the ear hair.  I felt really bad about, even as I was admiring what a good job I had done.  Thankfully Pam is one of those people who says, oh well, it will grow back, instead of never talking to me again.

So, I guess what I am saying is that it is personal preference, but my preference is nicely trimmed ears!

Emma has a TON of hair on her ears.  In the picture above, the one on the right is finished and the left still needs to be worked on.  Here is just how MUCH hair I took off Em:

This is off just ONE of her ears!  I told you there was alot!  She took me so much time to get the ears and feet done that I didn’t get to Wiggly Wrigley today.

Tomorrow, the hazards of hanging around the grooming table too long!

Saturday was the day, the long awaited day.  I don’t know who was looking forward to it more, me or them?Ok, well, it was me.  The Slice of Nice models love to be brushed and fawned over but they are never quite sure if they are going to get a manicure or not and I think that is what spoils the whole makeover process for them. 

Before we get started, here are the before pictures:

Since the models and I are almost always working, I try to give them spa days on a consistent basis.  However, I have gotten behind after spending a month in Texas helping my Mom and Grandmother out.  The models probably could have made a pretty entertaining reality show while I was away and they were trying to talk Gary into doing things for them.  I heard they tried to tell him that they were served food three times a day instead of only two.  Though that was unsuccessful I have noticed that they follow him into the kitchen every time he goes and that I have considerably less room on my side of the bed at night!

To get started I brought out the tools needed for a model makeover:

  Once a creative, always a creative, with the camera that is.  I just couldn’t resist spelling out LOVE with the tools of the Golden grooming trade.  I believe that when you do consistent grooming it is an expression of love for your furry family member.  For Goldens, the basic tools are thinning shears, regular scissors, two different stripping knives, a comb, a brush and of course COOKIES!  Occasionally you need a mat breaker too.  And if you are giving a manicure, clippers or a dremel.  Don’t even get me started on that new Pedi Paws products, that’s an entirely different rant post on that product.

Anyway, Casey was first up on the grooming table.

You can see all the hair on her ears, she has what we call “slipper feet” (long hair on her feet) and then because she is spayed, she has all this fly away hair on her body.  Casey is pretty fast to do since her coat really isn’t that long in comparison to Emma’s.  The hardest part is the spay coat fly aways.  You could spend a ton of time stripping out her coat to make them all go away.  Or you could cheat and use your thinning shears.  But, I guess I’m not that patient of a person because I just take some of them off and try to keep the rest brushed.  The only problem with leaving the spay coat is that it mats easily and Casey speeds up that process when she rolls in the dead grass!

Casey’s photos today will illustrate the before and after of foot grooming.  This is where I started on her because for me it is the fastest place to finish.  The part that you don’t see is that I have to cut all of the hair off the underside of her foot.  Why?  Because for her, it’s like when your sock gets folded over in the wrong place in your shoe and you can’t do anything about it.  Also, sticker burrs and rocks can get caught in the hair.

The foot on the left of course is not trimmed.  If she were a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel this would be a correct look.  However, being a Golden Retriever the one on the right is correct.  But now I have one more problem that I need to attend to, NAILS!  Her nails are way too long.  If they are left to grow it will cause her to have major foot problems.  I don’t like doing nails on the same day as grooming because then the kids won’t like getting up on the table.  Plus, it’s a bit stressful when you have dogs that aren’t necessarily that fond of it.  It will have to be something that I do over the next couple weeks with the dremel in short sessions.

Casey finished her make over in fine form and inhaled several blueberry cookies and received many a kiss during the treatment.  The therapist (me) did some off key singing to her iTunes playlist while enjoying a Coke.  I think I got carried away while I was grooming.  I had too much fun Twittering the whole thing from my phone.  Yes, I was doing progress reports and photos from the phone of my progress.  While at the same time taking pictures with my Canon.  If you would like to see my Twitpics from the day - look on the right hand side of the page and you’ll find them.

Next post:  Ears with Emma!

It’s the first weekend of the New Year and that always signals the start of the dog show season.  The first show for a lot of West Coasters is in Palm Springs at the Polo Fields.  We made it to this show last year and we decided to rent a motor home for this show.  Well, apparently we didn’t plan enough in advance, because although we had this beautiful view at sunrise, it was also quite a hike from where the actual show was taking place.  And yes, I forgot key things at the RV, more than once.

 Wrigley and Emma were the ones we showed at this show last year.  Gary and I have developed a good system of getting the dogs ready.  He gets them ready and I show them in the ring.  Some how, I think I got the better end of the deal.  

Riggs looks like he sees a pretty good lookin’ girl!  His pre-show routine is very ‘diva’-esque.  He has to be the first one on the table.  All eyes must be focused on him and I especially cannot be fawning over another dog within his site.  We have varied from this routine in the past and I have suffered once we stepped into the ring.  

This was only the second show that Emma had attended.  She was in the front of the line and as you can see, she was also scoping out the crowd.  Emma is very much the look at me dog.  However, I don’t think it’s the conformation type of beauty show look at me.  I think she likes to RUN FAST and RUN HARD, while people look on and applaud.  This is why she will get agility titles first!  But, look at her coat!  There is just so much of it and it looks so pretty!

If you have not had the chance to make it out to a conformation show, it’s a very neat experience.  You can find your favorite breed of dog and see several of them there.  If you are looking to find a new addition to your household, I recommend visiting a show first to see all of the breeds.  And after the breeds that you like have finished showing, you can talk to the breeders about what type of dogs they really are.  Here you will get a true answer of what the dogs are like, as most conformation people are serious about their breed and improving their breed.  But enough of my soap box for now, if you have questions about finding the right dog, please email me for some tips and pointers!

Alas, we have had to miss this year’s Palm Springs show because we are tending to my Mom who has been in the hospital.  Gary is taking care of the dogs while I am here in Texas helping out.  I miss the dogs, there’s nothing like a good kiss and cuddle from the dogs to relieve stress.  And yes, Gary, I miss you too.  :)

Yes, we were in the ‘Windy City’ as the Chicago Cubs started their tradition playoff downfall.  But, we didn’t have tickets to that event, we were at the HH Backer Pet Trade Show launching the Slice of Nice Greeting Cards.

Slice of Nice Greeting Card Booth at the Pet Trade Show

There were two entire floors of pet product to wade through.  I truthfully don’t know how all the buyers are able to process that much information during the three day show!  As a pet parent, I was in the mode of “I need that, Emma needs this, Casey would LOVE that”.  I told Gary that it wouldn’t do for me to own a pet store of any kind.  Thankfully, that’s not what we are doing!

Anyway, we met alot of nice people and some good dogs as well.  I think the dogs got the better end of the deal at the show, as most of them had strollers to ride around in and each booth had a cookie for them to try.   We were across from Paws Fur Ever, which were selling these plastic paw boxes.  I had his sales speech down within the first day.  And as a lovely parting gift, we now have a set of four coasters.  I could also demo the Ultimate Leash for you as well, since they were across the aisle from us too.  I actually took two of these home for the Slice of Nice models.

But I think the most fun product that came our way at the booth were something called Kitty Boinks.  This kid was being towed around the show with his parents and he was entertaining himself with one of these KB’s.  Of course I was watching him facinated because I am a big kid at heart.  He spotted me and came over and shot me with it.  After much instruction and goofy trial and error (picture a 35 yr old woman in business casual dress contorting her body around in an effort to master a cat toy) I was finally able to master the toy.  I felt quite accomplished.  The boy, who I swear will grow up to be a sales man, disappeared.  However, he did reappear later bearing a Kitty Boink just for me.  So, I spent the rest of that day playing with my KB during the lulls in traffic and came to realize that while entertaining myself with it, it helped my sales technique.  Not only had it put a smile on my face while my feet were trying to remind me how much they hurt, my antics interested countless trade show attendees enough to come over into the booth and we struck up a conversation.

All in all it was a nice convention, a great launch, and a great learning experience.  People who do trade shows on a regular basis, just like dog handlers, have this fortitude for greuling travel schedules, long hours, and gypsy living.

Check out some of the favorite cards at the trade show:  Dog Sympathy, Christmas and New Puppy.

Here are a couple more booth pictures:

Emma

Here is the shelving we used to display the cards.