SusieB gets a tidy-up
Much as we love the scruffy au-naturel look of schanuzers left to grow freely, Susie-Belle’s coat has got a little out of control and she’s yet to have a groom since being with us apart from the tiniest tidy-up here and there.Today was supposed to be the day I gave her the full works: bath, clip, full-on gorgeous pamper day for her. It hasn’t gone to plan.
I started by tidying up her beautiful face with the scissors, she did well, allowing me to neaten up her ears, trim her beard a little and kind of tidy up her (almost) bushy eyebrows. Although I’ve got a set of professional clippers, I wasn’t expecting to be able to use these with her for two reasons: I thought she may be a little freaked by them, plus her coat is far too thin to cope with clipping. But she is getting a little curly and a bit too ragged looking in places where it’s growing long rather than thick.
So after tackling her face and thinking I’d go back to it for a final finish I attempted to cut her furnishings (aka long bits on her legs & tummy). She got very fed-up very quickly with me here. We had to take multiple breaks for cuddles as she was clearly not very happy with the whole business. So I stopped, more or less half way through. So now I have a slightly tidier Susie-Belle in places but I won’t be winning any grooming competitions just yet.
When carrying her through to Michel for his inspection, she refused to look at me, she’d really begun to shut down on me. It has made me really wonder what unpleasant memories this has awoken in her and why she got so stressed when I was doing a super-gentle job of things.
After a quick cuddle, the solution to snap her out of it – it worked instantly – was opening the steel tin where the stinky dried tripe sticks are kept – as soon as she knew what was coming, her little stumpy wag was going as if nothing had happened. Tripe to the rescue, phew!
