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This morning I took Chouette to the groomer I had discovered next to our feed store. It's a small operation but the girl seems to care genuinely for dogs and to be concerned about their welfare. She also has other labradoodles she grooms but as I mentioned, she'd never seen one as sweet and calm as Chou and she was amazed by her. Here's Chou afterwards:
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and a profile shot
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and a very uncomfortable-looking Chouette because she was on the table, which was a novel experience for her.
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That's my French tablecloth, which needed washing anyway, and the bird feeder and river in the background, out the window.
It was hard getting a photo of a black dog, indoors, on a rainy day!
I was pretty pleased with this groomer. First of all, when I dropped her off and she checked her out she told me that the reason Chou's ears were so fat at the tips was because they were matted, and she showed me how the fur was all felted. DH and I had been wondering why there was such a difference in the thickness at the bottom edges of those ears! I was going to ask on the forum whether all doodles had thick ear tips. But no, it was matting - who would have thought it! The groomer suggested that it might have happened through their getting wet in her food, or by shaking her head.
When I picked her up again the groomer told me that Chouette doesn't have dry skin - she has fleas! That's why she's been scratching! I wondered about that, but always before with other dogs we could see signs of the flea dirt on their tummies, or we'd see a live one. Or we'd find telltale bites on us. The groomer said Chou didn't have many, and they were probably happy in the thick fur so didn't wander. Here I'd been giving her fish oil capsules. I'll probably keep it up anyway because it can't hurt her, but Michele likes coconut oil better; she thinks it's good for allergies, too.
She plucked Chou's ears very thoroughly, since we still have issues with the left one.
I belatedly gave her the grooming photos; next time I'd like Chou's dome a little less pouffy. She did trim her eyelashes but just a bit to even them out, because I told her I wanted them left long.
She bathed her with citrus shampoo, did an allover trim, did her nails and ears, worked on those ear tips and tried to take off as little as possible but did deal with the mats, and charged me $45. Petsmart was over $70. And when I came to pick her up, Chou wasn't crated but was free in the area where Michele was grooming another dog; it sounded as though they'd been playing, or at least interacting somewhat. I got the impression that Michele had been having fun with Chouette. What a nice feeling!
We got Chou home and I immediately applied some Frontline Plus for the fleas. She's been really wiped out, and I don't know if it was the grooming experience or maybe a reaction to the Frontline. So the photos aren't as perky as usual. But I'm pleased with the results and I made an appointment for eight weeks to do it all again.
Now let's see if the itching stops. Who knew? Of course, maybe the fleas are new and she'd be itching anyway. Neither the vet nor Petsmart said anything about her having little passengers. But Michele said she didn't have dry skin so that wasn't the culprit. We'll have to see...
Leslie
and a profile shot
and a very uncomfortable-looking Chouette because she was on the table, which was a novel experience for her.
That's my French tablecloth, which needed washing anyway, and the bird feeder and river in the background, out the window.
It was hard getting a photo of a black dog, indoors, on a rainy day!
I was pretty pleased with this groomer. First of all, when I dropped her off and she checked her out she told me that the reason Chou's ears were so fat at the tips was because they were matted, and she showed me how the fur was all felted. DH and I had been wondering why there was such a difference in the thickness at the bottom edges of those ears! I was going to ask on the forum whether all doodles had thick ear tips. But no, it was matting - who would have thought it! The groomer suggested that it might have happened through their getting wet in her food, or by shaking her head.
When I picked her up again the groomer told me that Chouette doesn't have dry skin - she has fleas! That's why she's been scratching! I wondered about that, but always before with other dogs we could see signs of the flea dirt on their tummies, or we'd see a live one. Or we'd find telltale bites on us. The groomer said Chou didn't have many, and they were probably happy in the thick fur so didn't wander. Here I'd been giving her fish oil capsules. I'll probably keep it up anyway because it can't hurt her, but Michele likes coconut oil better; she thinks it's good for allergies, too.
She plucked Chou's ears very thoroughly, since we still have issues with the left one.
I belatedly gave her the grooming photos; next time I'd like Chou's dome a little less pouffy. She did trim her eyelashes but just a bit to even them out, because I told her I wanted them left long.
She bathed her with citrus shampoo, did an allover trim, did her nails and ears, worked on those ear tips and tried to take off as little as possible but did deal with the mats, and charged me $45. Petsmart was over $70. And when I came to pick her up, Chou wasn't crated but was free in the area where Michele was grooming another dog; it sounded as though they'd been playing, or at least interacting somewhat. I got the impression that Michele had been having fun with Chouette. What a nice feeling!
We got Chou home and I immediately applied some Frontline Plus for the fleas. She's been really wiped out, and I don't know if it was the grooming experience or maybe a reaction to the Frontline. So the photos aren't as perky as usual. But I'm pleased with the results and I made an appointment for eight weeks to do it all again.
Now let's see if the itching stops. Who knew? Of course, maybe the fleas are new and she'd be itching anyway. Neither the vet nor Petsmart said anything about her having little passengers. But Michele said she didn't have dry skin so that wasn't the culprit. We'll have to see...
Leslie
