Ninja's Shiny Coat

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Ninja loves avocados. He nearly knocked me over one day while I was eating one, and that's not like him. Usually he's very polite. But he just loves them, and they are making him sparkle! He has a beautiful coat to begin with but after eating avocados for a couple of days he is brilliant.

He's also blowing out his coat right now which is pretty miserable for everyone. Dog hair everywhere! My husband suggested we shave him. I don't have the heart to do that. Look how beautiful that curly black coat is. Could you shave it?

I called the local groomer to see what it would cost to get him a trim. They start hair cuts at $60. Good heavens! I don't pay that to have my own hair cut! I talked with my friend who is married to the breeder where we got Ninja, and she said it would be easy to just trim up the hair on his hind quarters myself, which is where the biggest problem is anyway. Here's a picture of how long his hair was in back.

So the other night I sat down with a shedding comb, a rake comb, a brush, some trimming scissors and thinning scissors. Ninja loved being brushed and clipped, although he likes to lay down during the process and that makes it a bit hard. I filled up an entire grocery bag of hair.

I had a hard time getting a shot of his clipped hind quarters. He seemed so happy with his new look. He certainly bounced over to my husband when he got home, and my husband even commented that he seemed to be showing off a bit. This was about the best shot I could get.

One word of warning- the ASCPA site claims that avocados may have a toxic substance in them to dogs, but it appears to be mainly Guatemalan avocados. All of ours around here come from California or Chile, and Ninja doesn't seem to be having any negative side effects after a week of eating them. But if you let your dog have them make sure to not give him the pit. They can choke on it. And maybe check with your vet- my dog seems to have an iron stomach after surviving chocolate and rat poison.