It's Spring, and the weather has turned beautiful. And that means every corner of our house is full of tumbleweeds of Aussie hair. No matter how much I vacuum the hair just keeps coming. So that means it is time to get my pups cut short. They'll be happier and so will my family. I don't like to cut them too short in the winter because it does get cold. Not cold like Alaska or Minnesota or anything, but enough that they need some fur to stay warm.
Tomorrow we're going to a new groomer who comes highly recommended. I got tired of going to our usual groomer who would greet us with something to the effect of, "Oh, there you are with the fat dog!" No one likes to hear that. I know we both need to slim down, but that's depressing. So therefore she loses my business. Only makes sense, right?
I'll post pictures tomorrow of the groomed and cleaned up pups. :)
Last week was hot. On Wednesday it was over 90 and I was miserable. The Aussies looked pretty hot and uncomfortable too. Plus we have dog hair in every possible corner with these two fluffy dogs. Thank goodness it is a little cooler this week!
I made an appointment this morning to get them trimmed up for the Summer. I'm sure they will be much cooler and hopefully we won't be watching "hair spiders" (as my husband calls them) fly across the floor this Summer every five minutes. Well, at least not as much.
When we came home this afternoon we played with the dogs from next door in our combined front yards. Don't they look sassy under the shade if the tree in my front yard?
You have to love this picture from the back. It looks so nice to have all that long, messy hair trimmed up. Ninja almost looks like a puppy with his hair cut this way. His little puppy rump looks like a little rottweiler. Yes, I miss the long, pretty hair these dogs have, but surely they have to be more comfy with out all that hair. It will grow back by the Fall anyway.
They even put little bows on Penny, but I had to take them off because she kept trying to take them off, and shake her head in puzzlement. Isn't this just so adorable?
Note to self: Don't take dogs to the Paw Spa the day before a holiday. Apparently everyone wants a clean dog when they are going to someone's house or people are coming over for a holiday, like Easter!
But darling Penny had managed to find a mud puddle by our sprinkler valves and she loves water. . .and mud. So my daughter and I decided to take her yesterday and get her cleaned up. Plus my Dad wanted to see her on Easter and it was their first meeting, so I wanted her to look her best! I wanted to get Ninja a bath too but I had the sense to take Penny alone for the first trip to the Paw Spa.
The first thing Donna said to me was, "Another Aussie? Two hairy dogs! Are you crazy?" Yep, pretty much! :) Penny wasn't too enthusiastic about getting a bath. Apparently loving water is on her own terms, not when a bath is being enforced.
You can see how Miss Penny pulled all the way to the other side of the tub, which is oh so much fun for my back! She doesn't fight me at all- she's a very docile pup- but she wasn't loving the bath thing either.
She was really filthy from that mud puddle. I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but when we scrubbed her legs and paws the dirt came off in rivulets. I kept washing the tub down because I didn't want to get it back on her.
Here's a shot of her on the blow drying table. She doesn't like her legs and belly messed with, so I try to be somewhat sensitive to that and I don't blow dry her feet. And the hair around her ears is still a little wet, but she looks a lot cleaner than when we took her in! I don't think she looks too miserable, and boy did she smell yummy. When we got home, Ninja had to come over and investigate. I'm sure his sensitive nose said, Oh! The Paw Spa, huh Penny? His turn is next.
I found a fabulous place to take Ninja for his bath here in my town. It's called The Paw Spa and it has self service dog washes.
I cannot say enough good about this place! The staff is wonderful. You don't need an appointment for self service. You head in, they put your dog in the tub and away you go. They also have grooming and will wash your dog for you, but it's a bonding experience, getting drenched with your dog, right?
Donna is the owner and she helps you through the whole process. My daughter and I are pros now, except last time I accidentally sprayed the water past Ninja and drenched my daughter and the employee washing a dog at the next tub. Ooops.
You start by combing out all the loose fur. It's warming up so Ninja is starting to blow his coat. I read somewhere it's a light thing, not a heat thing that makes them shed, but regardless, shedding he is, so the combing took a long time this past trip.
Once that's all done you use the sprayer to wash him down, then lather him up. They have these neat scrubber massager thingeys that you can use to get him good and soapy. He loves that. What dog wouldn't love two ladies massaging him and getting him all clean?
Then you rinse. Donna says this is the most important part. You take the sprayer and put it very close to the dog's skin and wash away all the soap. Then you wash his face with the blueberry facial. Ninja tries to eat this. I can hardly blame him- it smells heavenly.
After a good towel drying you clean his ears. Donna taught me that if you want him to shake the water off, just tickle the insides of his ears and he'll shake for you. Neat trick! It also means that if you don't get his ears wet during the bath, he won't shake. Somehow I always get Ninja's ears wet and I get drenched int he middle of the bath.
It's off to blow drying after cleaning the ears. They have dryers that don't use heat. It takes forever, and with all that hair Ninja ends up a huge fluff ball, but clean and shiny as can be. Finally we spray him with a little doggy cologne. We like sugar cookie best. Yummm. . .
The whole process take about an hour and is so worth it. And it's very reasonable! When we went to visit my MIL on New Year's Eve we took Ninja with us and visited the Paw Spa just before we left. Let me tell you that was a much nicer trip! Two hours in the car with a clean dog is easy compared to two hours with one who isn't so clean.
As soon as it warms up I'm going to take him in and have Donna's staff groom him. I'm going to have his coat shortened up I think. Yes, it's just beautiful, but with the amount of hair he sheds it's a bit crazy trying to keep up with it all.
So if you have a self service dog wash business in your town, check it out! Or if you live anywhere near Corona, California, come visit Donna and her staff. It's the best!
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.
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.
Remember the post about blowing out the coat? That was months ago and it hasn't gotten any better. There's dog hair everywhere. I sweep and vacuum nearly every day. The next day it's back. My husband wants me to shave the dog. I hate to do it now- it's mid August. In a few short months it will cool off and what if it doesn't grow back quickly enough? Nope, not a good idea.
Actually, this is how not to give a dog a bath. I have friends who have Mini Aussies and they coax them into the shower and bathe the dog while they shower. More power to them- it's just not my idea of fun to be wet and naked and trying to wash the dog. As you'll see, I prefer to wet and clothed, trying to wash the dog. Perhaps their way is better.
Not to mention I can't get Ninja to get in the shower. If my husband thought the dog was showering in our shower he'd probably never get in there again. So he gets washed in our spare bathroom or outside. That is to say, the DOG gets washed outside or in the spare bathroom, not my husband. I wanted to be clear on that, lest you imagine my poor hubby showering outside. As much as I love my pup, it hasn't come to that yet.
First off, I don't use any fancy dog shampoo. Ninja gets bathed in Flex or Finesse or something else that smells good. Usually it's what's on sale or what I can find at the 99 cents store. You know I love my dog (he has his own blog, for heaven's sake!) but I'd rather spend the extra money on his food, which is just so much more important IMO. Balsam builds volume so Flex always gives him about three times more hair. Thank heavens it's just an illusion, since he is blowing out the Winter coat for the Summer one. If he seriously had three times more hair we'd just have to move out. My friend keeps saying if we could find a use for all the hair and sell it, we'd be set for life. Yes, I know I knit, but spinning dog hair into yarn is not something I'm willing to do. At least not right now.
As you recall, we live in Southern California, so when the weather is warm (as often is) we like to bathe Ninja in a tub outside and avoid all the hair in the drain and wet dog running around in our house. Yes, I know you can blow dry a dog. Have you ever tried it? Remember, Ninja has hair, not just fur. Not only does he not really like the hair dryer (unless it's being used on me and then he likes to out his paws in my lap and see what I'm doing) but it takes FOREVER to make any difference. I use at least three towels to dry him off and he still feels soaked.
Getting back to the bath. Here's how to do it. . .or not. 
Start with a big enough tub for the dog to fit in. That was really our first mistake. Round tub with a rectangular (long) dog wasn't such a bright idea. As you can imagine, he didn't want to get in. He's a smart puppy.
Next, use a gentle sprayer and get your dog nice and wet. This helps for the shampoo stage. If he's not wet enough, you don't get any lather and you can't get him clean. No sprayer on the hose works even better. Ninja didn't like the spray. Can you tell how thrilled he is by the picture above?
It's not a bad idea to put the leash on him. After chasing a wet dog through the yard and down the street several times, I hauled out the leash.
In fact, you might want to give up on the tub altogether, because if he takes off wet and soapy and rolls in the grass, you'll end up with an even bigger mess. Don't ask me how I know this. Really, don't.
This picture makes it look like I'm torturing him. He did not want to go into the tub. I tugged on his collar and DD pushed him from behind. Nothing. Worse than nothing. He wasn't budging. I ended up picking up nearly 40 pounds of wet dog and depositing him in the tub. Although it appears I'm working diligently to strangle my poor puppy, I'm actually only tugging gently. He's pulling back less than gently, so it looks like I'm dragging him.
Here we are soaping him. This lasted all of about two minutes until he decided to bolt. In order to soap him we 
had to take off the leash. And he took full advantage of that. Imagine 40 pounds of wet, soapy dog rolling in the grass, the dirt, and then running down the street with a soaking wet woman and a soaking wet little girl chasing after him. The bathtub inside the house was sounding better every minute. At least it has a door.
I found washing him in the front yard sans tub worked even better. But that was after a lot of trial and error. Mostly error.
A final word of advice. Make sure to let him shake off all of the water outside before he comes in. This is important if you value your home, your furniture, your clothing, or your sanity at all.
It's a beautiful day today but I'm thinking Ninja can get his bath in the bathtub and avoid all of this excitement.
I’m being over run with dog hair. It’s in mounds, piles, and bushels in the corners of my rooms, on my stairs, under my furniture, pretty much anywhere there is a space. You think I am kidding.
You pet Ninja and hair flies through the air. It makes me think of pigpen on Peanuts- thank heavens Ninja doesn’t smell! He smells like a clean dog. I like the smell. He gets regular baths so he often smells like balsam shampoo. Dog baths around our house are always an adventure. But that’s for another entry.
I love the Mini Aussie Rescue Society’s website. They have great info on the mini Aussies and some really cute cups and shirts and things. So I thought I’d look up this shedding thing. From the MARS website:
“Coat: Mini Aussies and Aussies have a medium-length coat adapted to protecting them while they herd. These dogs do shed! They drop some fur year round but lose their undercoat completely twice a year, in the spring and fall. During this time, they can shed heavily for several weeks. Regular brushing can help reduce shedding. Overall grooming of Mini Aussies is relatively simple, and many owners do their own grooming.”
They lose their undercoat completely twice a year. This must be one of the two times because it’s really crazy. It’s not helping matters that our So Cal weather is totally out of control right now. Last weekend it broke 100 and then by Wednesday it was back to 60, and yesterday it poured rain with thunder and lightning and we had tornados in Riverside. Tornados? This is earthquake country for heaven’s sake.
What was I talking about? Oh yeah. Ninja’s coat. So I do the regular brushing. Ninja loves it. He brings me his brush in his teeth and sets it in my lap, and looks at me with those beautiful dark brown eyes, like “Pleeeeeeeease brush me!” 30 seconds into it the brush is covered in hair. Not just kinda covered- it’s so full I can’t get it through his coat. And he waits very impatiently as I pull it all of the hair out of the brush and start again. Last night I brushed him for about 20 minutes and I filled a whole plastic grocery bag with black dog hair. I know you think I am exaggerating, but it’s true. My friend with a red merle shaves him every Summer. I would hate to do that because Ninja has the most beautiful coat, but I’m starting to understand why she does it.
Now if you will excuse me, I have to go sweep the hallway. Again.
