It's a Cats Life

Monday

Ugh. Anyone else have trouble dragging themselves out of bed this morning? I think opening my eyes this morning was one of the hardest things I've ever done. KEEPING them open was even harder! Lucky for me I have an EXTREMELY HUNGRY CAT that is impossible to ignore.

 

Whatever.

Today is one of those days. I had planned to go to a ladies luncheon/networking hour kinda thing that I try to go to every other month. Buuuut...I'm just not feeling it. We'll see how hungry I am come lunchtime ;-)

This afternoon Clip Clip Hooray will be closing early, as soon as everyone is picked up. Why? I need a break! I have some CCH related errands to run, but mostly, I just really need a couple of hours to myself.

See y'all on Wednesday!

Sorry!

If you've tried calling CCH in the last week or so and haven't gotten either (1) me or (2) voicemail, I'm sorry!

My phone has been acting up.

If you've left a voicemail and haven't gotten a call back, it's probably because my phone has been acting up.

I'm sorry!

Please call back!

the perfect storm

Last night Ethan and I really enjoyed listening to the storm. It was gentle at times, rain falling steadily, but without force. Thunder like the deep rumble of a kitten's purr. And sometimes the wind would pick up, the rain would sheet across the road and the thunder sounded more like a tree crashing down in the forest than a kitten. We enjoy listening to storms laying next to each other, lights off, windows open. When we first started doing this Crack would often come and sit with us. Now we have Haiku, who enjoys chewing on a bone at our feet, or playing a gentle game of tug.

We're lucky. Haiku is not afraid of thunderstorms. Often she seems more alert, but that's probably because I"m more alert. I always have to see what the storm is doing and point it out to Ethan. I jump at thunder sometimes. And while Haiku notices how I act, and thinks maybe she should watch the storm too, she's not afraid.

Oddly, it's Crack. Crack is afraid of thunder, unexpected loud noises and us cooking on the stove top. The smoke alarm and stove fan send her racing upstairs, preferably to hide waaaay back in the closet, as high up as she can get.

Last night Crack felt safest settled on the floor next to the bed. When Ethan went in the room across the hall, she sat in the hall so she could be directly between the two of us. She had the tense body and big round eyes of a frightened creature, but relaxed when given chin rubs and soft words. This morning she's feeling her usual Crack Attack self!

Having lived with a dog that was TERRIFIED of thunder, storms, heavy rain, loud noises, etc, etc, etc, and got worse in his behavior and boarder in his fears as he aged, I know all too well the horror that is the Thunder Phobic Dog. To the point of is it inhumane to make him face another summer of storms? Can the house survive his destruction? Can his people tolerate his panic?

If your dog is afraid of thunder, PLEASE check out The Other End of the Leash, for Dr McConnell's advice and insight into helping your dog get through the storms. There's a lot of good ideas about helping your scaredy pup, both in the posts and in the comments.

Twitter

So...I"m on Twitter now. I'm so ashamed. You can follow me there, or check out the right hand side of the blog for the more recent tweets. 

If I can get it to update.  

Great Week!

The last couple of weeks haven't been the easiest here at Clip Clip Hooray. But I decided this week is going to be GREAT!

And so far it is!

Also, Haiku is feeling much better. Thank you everyone for the support and caring about my poor little dog. She still has to wear an e collar when unsupervised...which makes for a super sad puppy. But she's healing quickly and off her pain meds. Feeling kinda feisty too!

I'm out for the afternoon. Quick laundromat trip (I want my clean towels!), the bank and the hardware store...

Poor Haiku

Ok, mental exercise. Imagine the cutest dog you have ever seen.

Now, imagine that same cute little dog Completely Miserable.

That is my Haiku right now.

Today Haiku seemed kinda grumpy and sore. I figured it was because of the 2 hour hike we went on yesterday with my parents. I left her alone to sleep in her big comfy armchair. Right before it was time to go home she seemed suddenly VERY grumpy and uncomfortable. Then she started licking her butt. For a long time.

Thinking she was just itchy from hiking grit, I gave her a bath with a very nice anti itchy shampoo. But when I started drying her, I saw that under her tail was very inflamed and she had what looked like a weeping pimple. Lovely. Well, it was time to go home anyway, so we got home and announced to my dear Husband the Vet Tech, "Haiku has ass pimples!"

I may have burst into tears. (It had already been a long, hard, bad day for me.) He took a quick look and got on the phone with the vet. He thinks it's an infected and ruptured anal gland.

Haiku goes to the doctor in another couple of minutes. Haiku will probably come home from the vet with an e collar and antibiotics. Poor girl.

As you can imagine, the anal sacs are extremely delicate, and when Something Bad happens, it's very painful! And expensive to fix. That is one of the main reasons CCH has decided that 'doing anal glands' is strictly Vet Work and never groomer work. It's far to easy an area to damage and incredibly painful to the dog! Someday I'll do a better post about this important topic, but not today.

Today I have a completely miserable dog laying at my feet. Since I won't let her worry at her butt, she refuses to move. This is serious Haiku pain. Usually she looks to me for comfort when she's hurt. Not for this. Please wish Haiku good luck and quick healing!

Future CCH Closings

Just a reminder, CCH will be closed tomorrow, the 16th....mental health day! I need it!

Last night my husband came home with a list of days he had gotten off work for a couple of trips we're taking this fall. Now that everything is (more or less) confirmed, I"m sharing them with you.

August 8th (Saturday) - just last night I agreed to help out at my friend's church's Peach Festival. It's up in Uniontown and sure to be fun. I"ve always wanted to go to one of these fruit festivals, but never got around to it. Well! Guess what? Now I am. I'll post details that week, in case anyone is interested in going.

September 14th (Monday) We're heading to Rehoboth Beach for a mini vacation. I've never been to Rehoboth, but I was kinda tired of always going to Ocean City...

September 19th (Saturday) Short week! My good buddy/partner in crime Andie and I are heading up to Hershey, PA for a grooming trade show. I go every year and always come back loaded up with goodies.

October 29th - November 2nd (Thursday - Monday) We're driving allll the way up to Michigan for a friends wedding. 9 hours each way, yuck. I'll probably be in Monday catching up on stuff, just not doing any grooming.

Of course I'll post this again, the week before each day(s) CCH will be closed. And now, I have dogs to bathe!

Truby Tuesdays

By now I hope everyone realizes Clip Clip Hooray is closed on Tuesdays. But what do I do if I'm not at CCH grooming your pets? (In mah shop, groomin ur petz! Oh, god, it's been a long week.)

I go play with Truby!

 

Truby in a nutshell: ears up, wanting to hang out and know what you're doing and probably help you do it! She's got the best personality of any horse I've ever met. We've finally gotten serious about making Truby Time and doing some training. I've had Truby since she was 5 months old...going on 9 years!

 

She doesn't look, or act it.

I also do other stuff, I visit my mom's horse, a retired pasture pal. Go grocery shopping, (try to)  clean the house, hit the recycling center, do something fun with Haiku, go to the gym so I can keep lifting those big fat retrievers. All kinds of stuff gets done on Tuesdays. But sometimes after riding Truby first thing, I go home....and do nothing.

It's wonderful!

Haiku wants to be in this post to.

 

Sulk.

Ok Haiku, here's a picture of your favorite place to hang out.

 

Halfway down the stairs is Haiku's place to be. My camera hates it.

 

She's purty.

Closed Thursday July 16

Heads up, CCH will be closed Thursday, July 16, because I NEED A BREAK!

Seriously, the past 2 weeks or so have been insane. Frustrating. So I"m taking a mental health day and *hopefully* will be relaxed and recharged come Friday!

The Faux Retriever

 

Hi! I'm Sid.

Sid's mom called Clip Clip Hooray looking for a place to get her dog, Sid, groomed. She described Sid as a rescue dog of unknown breeding that they were calling a Flat Coated Retriever. Now we know Flat Coateds have Newfoundland blood way back and Sid certainly had patches of Newfy hair type. Thick, cottony, browned out patches to be exact. It was kinda ugly.

 

Post bath and brush out, ready for the magic.

See the browned out fuzz on his chest and the front of his legs? YUCK. Most of his coat is a coarser hair that reminds me of a Curly Coated Retriever, although he is wavy, and not really curly. I digress.

Now I *think* in the past Sid had gotten a 'one length all over' trim, which isn't what his owner wanted, at all. She wanted him to look like a RETRIEVER. You know who loves retrievers and thinks a good time would be clipping a goldendoodle into a Golden Retriever show clip?

Me!

So rather than just try and trim Sid up, I took a little length off the body, using a comb attachment on my clippers to rough in the coat growth patterns of a Golden. I used a #4 blade to shave the fluff of the front of those legs and bushwhacked the crazy ears. I cut the tail in the correct flag shape. I thinning sheared the fuzzies on top of his head flat.

I ended up with...

 

Of course I cut off the top of his head in this picture, but you get the idea. Instead of just shortening his ugly fluff, I clipped it off short and sculpted him into a more ideal Retriever clip. See the difference? Doesn't he look much more tidy and typey? Before you might think "FUZZBALL!" but after you'll be thinking, "Man, there goes a sharp looking retriever!".

 

 

I was giddy with excitement and pride over his groom. I thought it turned out FAB U LOUS. I showed him off to his owner when she picked up. She seemed...reserved. I couldn't tell if she was happy or not. I figured that it wasn't what she wanted or expected and I'd never hear from her again. Well! I got a call the other week and it turns out not only was she happy with his new style, but was very pleased that he came home "calm and relaxed". Not only did she think I did a great job cutting his hair, but she liked my quiet little shop and low pressure attitude.

I groomed Sid again in very similar styling, but this time I took the legs and ears a little shorter. He looked pretty darn good! But I didn't get any pictures. I'm sorry. But go back up and look at the before and afters. THAT is the joy of having your dog groomed at Clip Clip Hooray. I do my best to groom your dog to your desires! Even if it's weird, unusual or trimming to look like another breed. If I can figure out what you want and your dog lets me do it, you too can have the Faux Groom!