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Miss Abby and her new look...

Posted by
Abby (Scottsdale, AZ, United States) on 13 April 2020 in Animal & Insect and Portfolio.

Location: Scottsdale, AZ

So I groomed a dog for the first time earlier today and Miss Abby was the victim.

I hadn't planned / didn't want to, but I had no choice, as she was already a few weeks overdue before this crisis arrived and had been panting almost continuously since last night, because the weather here in the Phoenix area is starting to heat up.

It took me almost two hours from start to finish but to my surprise, she actually looks quite presentable.

Well, except for what looks to be a dueling scar just below her left eye, which arose when she flinched while I was free-handing her nose with the clippers and briefly cut just a bit too deeply.

But she didn't bleed, so no permanent harm was done -- Yay! -- and of course, the fur will grow back in time, so in a few weeks, no one will be the wiser.

In the meantime, though, I think she looks like a bad-*** standard poodle -- rather Snake Plissken-ish, minus the eye patch -- and not one of those foo-foo poodles, such as recently won the NYC dog show.

Mind you, I no doubt inflicted a considerable amount of psychological trauma in the process, but she's a good natured dog, so I'm confident she'll bounce back from it soon enough.

Looking ahead, I believe that with a better set of clippers -- the set I borrowed from a neighbor was old, the blades were somewhat dull, and it came with only one depth guide, hence the reason I had to go free-hand in places -- as well as learning how to use them properly -- it turns out the YouTube video I watched of Mike Rowe shearing sheep wasn't as helpful as I had hoped ... who knew?! -- I'm confident I can significantly improve my results the next time.

Yes, that means I'm going to try it again in another six to eight weeks. Groomers in this area charge $80-90 for a standard poodle and the retired groomer who works part-time out of her house charges only $60, but she lives far across town, which means a 65-mile roundtrip that, frankly, is a bit of a nuisance.

Buying my own set of grooming tools should pay for itself in just a few months, which appeals to the frugalitarian in me, as well as save me several hours of time compared to the driving and waiting I've been doing.

Silver linings, eh? 8^)