This was Sam yesterday...
...all bedraggled and overgrown. A cute dog, but he was in need of a haircut. The weather is getting too hot and he's so tangly! It's to hard to brush him now. Brushing him is a bit of a challenge anyway, for a number of reasons.
The thing with this dog, and probably with Labradoodles in general, is that he needs to be brushed regularly. Sam truly objects to being brushed. He is never, ever mean about it, but I do have to use a LOT of chopped up bits of hot dog, and the occasional assistance of my husband for the purposes of distraction. Bribery and perseverance are what get the job done here.
He doesn't get particularly stinky--that dog smell-- so I don't have to give him a bath very often, if I don't want to. Brushing is not optional. Too many tangles!
I'm hoping that if I start early and regularly brush our new Labradoodle pup, it will result in less brushing-related cantankerousness. We'll see about that. In the meantime...
TA DA!
Early this morning, Sam and I made our way to Alta Grooming in Upland. (Thanks to our friend Laura for the recommendation!) We had an 8 AM appointment with Penny. Not his sister, in this case, but his new grooming maven. We went in for a shampoo and a summer cut. Time to get ready for summer!Penny did a great job with Sam. She also made sure I liked the cut and checked with me to see if there was anything I thought she missed. She even made some last minute fine-tuning snips before we left, just so he would look perfect.
Everyone there is so nice and they were really professional. They had him ready to go right on time, too!
He seems so much smaller, doesn't he? I think we lost about half of him in the process of grooming! He looks so different, but he does look like he feels better. Those are some long, skinny legs!
He's going to be much easier to brush over the next several weeks. And I hope he'll be cooler, too. There is some discussion about whether the longer coat on a Labradoodle actually serves to ventilate heat off the dog's body. I am not sure about which is better, long coat or short coat; but I do know that he just looks less overheated!
We went on a nice walk/squirrel chase later in the afternoon. You can see his big smile. I think he's feeling good about the whole thing.
We went on a nice walk/squirrel chase later in the afternoon. You can see his big smile. I think he's feeling good about the whole thing.
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He looks awesome! I assure you, he is much more comfortable as well! I brush & bathe at a grooming shop myself. This will give you the chance to brush him regularly as he grows out & hopefully he will become more used to it. Gosh, he is a beautiful color!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I do think he's a lovely color, too. He's turned into this gorgeous red. And he's a fave with everyone he meets. Totally charming dog! Just ran into someone who met him when he was a baby and is going on and on about how gorgeous he is now...fun!
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