Dog Grooming 101

There were a number of reasons that added up to the decision to try to groom Roscoe ourselves. It had been over four months since his last shave, and the hair was just getting to be too much. The Humane Society recently had to move out of their digs, so we weren't even sure we could take Roscoe to them to get groomed. And when, on his recent trip back to the States, HB found some pet-friendly clippers at Wal-mart for $30, we thought "what a deal", as a grooming at the Humane Society cost us $60.

We watched the introductory DVD that came with the clippers, and were astounded primarily with the gigantic muscular arms the woman in the video had. We also read the instructions about how to blend the short-haired areas with the longer-haired areas, and how to trim around the face and feet. Despite all our preparation, the first side didn't go so well.

HB and I both had difficulty controlling the nearness of the clipper blade to the skin, and, not wanting to hurt Roscoe, his fur ended up coming out a bit ... stripe-y. After the first half hour, or so, HB seemed to finally get the hang of it, and the second side came out much better ...

After a little over an hour, HB had finished the vast majority of the work, and I used the scissors to trim around his feet and get rid of much of the hair on his tail. It looks a little hacked, but I think I'm getting the technique down. Trust me, this is a huge improvement over previous attempts to trim his tail.

Ultimately, with his cooler, svelte, summer look, Roscoe is a pretty happy dog.