I’m treating you to a gratuitously cute picture of a doggie this morning. In case you ever wondered what a Shih-Tzu looked like with a short hair cut, there you go. We collectively gave up on trying to maintain Trinity’s long coat. It’s gorgeous and it stays that way about half an hour after her bath. Then it goes to hell. Straight to hell. Two hours after a bath she is back to being a matted filthy mess. We’re not quite sure how it happens.
I think Trinity’s issue is that she thinks she is a big dog. She goes to the back yard, plays hard, runs through mud, wrestles with Angus, and does all the ferocious things a young dog wants to do. At the end of it she looks terrible and smells even worse. Even weekly baths with ultra sensitive oat shampoo and daily brushing don’t do much good. It’s like trying to keep a three-year-old clean – it’s just not going to happen. Once every couple of months Trinity goes to the groomers.
Our groomers are very nice. They work in Petsmart and I’ve met all of them and watched them work through a glass window. Trinity – who is a fearless dog – is terrified of the groomers. She has never been nicked or mistreated. She’s been groomed since she was tiny. But the moment grooming starts, Trinity gets stressed out.
This last time a different groomer was taking care of her.
Me: She won’t bite you, but she grinds her teeth.
Groomer: O_O
Me: Just talk to her and pet her and she should be fine.
Later.
Groomer: I’m sorry, there is an extra charge.
Me, checking the bill and seeing extra $6.00 handling fee, thinking, “Oh no, she bit someone”: Did she snap?
Groomer: No. ::looking uncomfortable:: She was grinding her teeth and I had the other groomer hold her so I could cut the fur on her legs with scissors. I am sorry! I couldn’t do it with clippers! She was stressed out!
Me: That’s totally okay. We don’t mind extra $6.00. We’d rather she be comfortable.
Traumatized groomer: I never had a dog do that. It was loud! I am sorry!
By the way, taking pictures of Trinity for this post was an exercise in frustration. She would not sit still and I have about 30 pictures of her ears and her butt. Finally Gordon’s assistance had to be requested.
Later today it’s my turn to go to the groomers. I have an inch of grey hair on my head and my split ends have split ends. Hopefully I won’t grind my teeth.
Try not to bite your groomer, I think the fee for human grooming assistance is waaaaaay higher than $6.00.
Winter is a bear to clean any child, but spring and summer? Take ‘em outside and hose the little ones down! Everyone’s happy and vaguely clean! Huzzah for hoses!
Such a cute doggie!
Dustin and I got haircuts on Sunday. We almost look respectable again. I’ve given up on covering my gray hair. I’ve decided to “age gracefully” (aka lazily). And my haircut turned out nice, which is always a bonus.
Yay nice haircut!
I can’t do grey hair. I look like an old woman. I suspect that I really don’t, but it’s that one thing I end up being really focused on, and once I notice it, I can’t unsee.
Yeah, occasionally I’ll catch sight of my hair in different lighting (fluorescent bathroom lights are the worst) and think OMG because there is so much gray. Gray against dark hair is so much more noticeable than against blonde. Boo!
LOL my son told me I don’t want everyone thing your my Grandmother!
So I keep coloring my hair, over 20 yr now!
Heh. Right now I look like this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_A._Tsoukalos
She’s adorable!! The groomer situation: LOL!!! At least she some dignity and sounds ferocious. I had a sweet but mean-looking German Shepherd Dog that cried like a chicken-hearted girly-pup when she was groomed
Trinity is just making sure the other animals at your house recognize her when she gets home. My dog is the same, 5 minutes after she gets home from the monthly grooming, BAM, she is a stink bomb. Her other problem is she is on an all natural food….makes her smell worse.
Well I am with Trinity I hate having my hair cut. I clutch the arms of the chair and don’t say a word which since I am an extrovert is noticeable. It also doesn’t help that I have a short haircut due to having tons of hair that is just too hard to manage so I go every month to get it cut. My Mom says I have never been knicked when I was a child but am phobic all the same. There is no logic to it. So I am in Trinity’s camp I have it done but hate it the whole time….
The Saga of Trinity, love it! The four legged family members in your house are always fun to read about. BTW, how is Batty doing?
Gordon will be charging you for his assistance.
I love Trinity. She’s so darn cute. I wants.
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Cute!
I had a major allergic reaction to my hair dye – I’m going to try henna; I’m not going grey either!
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Trinity does not need long hair IMHO she is adorable .Good for you in not adding to the trauma of grooming.I’m thinking of letting the grey in for my 70th birthday in 20 months,I can always go back.
Years ago I had a Minature Schnauzer who got groomed every six weeks…just like me…only her haircut cost more than mine. When I walked into the groomer to pick her up she used to howl as if she were a hound on the moors in England. It was quite embarrassing. Every night we’d take a walk and there was a male Shis-Tzu on our street named Buster. Buster was bow-legged and he’d run out of his yard to talk with my Maggie. His hair was cut like Trinity and he was almost as cute! I think the noise of the clippers scare the poor critters. Thanks for sharing this delightful “tale” and made me smile.
I know how you feel. I have two Scottish terriers and they go to the groomers once a month. We use Petco and the girls are really nice but Max and Mathilda act like I’m leaving them with psycho grandma and they have to hide for their lives. Of course they act the same way when I bathe them at home then head for the first mud puddle and run right through. LOL
Try Selsun Blue original formula (with selenium) for the dog smell(on the dog). Leave on 5 minutes and rinse well.
I have a ‘will bite’ sticker on my chart at the doctor’s office. Teeth grinding? Who cares!
Trinity’s a cutie, but the photos look like you Photoshopped her head on another dog’s body! LOL
Lol, she’s looking good
I usually get stuck doing the shave jobs at the vet clinic where I work part time. Thank goodness they are all under sedation, I don’t think I’d be able to handle the animals and the clippers at the same time.
One year, right at the start of the summer, I managed to talk my boss and his wife into letting me give their one long-haired flame point American Bobtail (who is known in the clinic not-so-affectionately as “The Demon Spawn”) a full-body mohawk. Everything got shaved down except the head, feet, and about an inch-wide strip down the spine. I told my boss that “Pablo” had finally found the haircut to go with his personality.
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I used to do that with my 19 year old cat in the winter. She was too arthritic to groom herself (or enjoy being groomed) and she was long-haired, so if I didn’t shave her she would be one gigantic mat. In the summer she got full-body, but in the winter her skinny self didn’t have enough fat to keep warm, so the mohawk helped her retain heat. Well, that and the heated cat bed. Spoiling cats is my job!
I have a Shih-Tzu colored just like Trinity and we gave up a long time ago on the long hair! We have kept Scooter in a “puppy-cut” for the last 5 years. He is affectionately known as “Devil Dog” at our groomers. I always feel so guilty over the hell he puts them through that I end up tipping big! Trinity looks very stylish and chic
When my springer spaniel Cooper was a pup, he had the most glorious coat, and it really wasn’t that hard to keep groomed where we live. Then we took him on a trip to visit family in N. California. With a couple of hours he was encrusted with burrs and foxtails. We did an emergency “field cut” the next day (paid extra for Sunday service at a little grooming salon). He stayed that way for most of his life, but lately (at 9 YO) he seems less likely to dig in the mud. We let his coat grow out in the winter, and it’s just as beautiful as I remember.
Is Trinity your inspiration for Grendel?
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My 40 lb rotten beast pooped. on. the. groomer. I STILL have to pay the additional charge and the incident took place three years ago. Poor fella still does the walk of shame going in, but is Mr. Prancy-Pants on the way out. He’s cool like that.
She looks so cute! I hope she recovers from the stress! She just needs lots of lovies and treats!
One of our parrots freaks out when he is getting groomed and screams and cries like a baby. It is distressing for all of us — we all hate to take him in!
My parents have 2 shih tzu dogs, and they keep their hair short as well, They look like they feel better after getting it cut. Emerson is so stoic at the groomers, but Charlie cries and cries (loudly), he is not a dog that suffers in silence. Gotta love them!
I had two papillons once. One was purely elegant. He could walk through mud, snow, and dirt on his way to seducing his girlfriend (a doberman rottweiler mix) without getting a bit on him. The other could stand in the window and look out at a mud puddle and come away covered in grime and crud. I could spend hours bathing, blow drying, and combing and he would give a shake and undo everything. The other was just clean and dapper no matter what. I could never figure it out.
Remember Ilona, no biting when they bring out the clippers
Wow. My Shih-Tzu Ella is exactly the same way. She gets so stressed going to the groomers, and she’s usually so calm and friendly even around people she isn’t familiar with.
My sisters and I were kind of freaked out the first time we had them cut her hair that short. But we eventually got used to it.
) And Ella seems to like it better. 
“my split ends have split ends.” Mine too! I so badly need a trip to the groomers.
Thanks for the post- love the doggie posts!
Trinity is adorable! My Benji (also Shih Tzu) is the same way. He hates hates hates going to the groomer…no matter how nice they are to him. But Benji doesn’t grind his teeth…he goes SPLAT onto the table with his legs spread in all four directions. They have to have someone hold him standing up so they can groom him.
The first time I took my husbands dog to the dogwash (its at the car wash) he almost attacked me, I refused to wash him for about 2 years after that. Now I wash him and he just sits there and gives me dirty looks. In winter I wash him in the shower and he loves it, maybe its because of the warm water. He is an english staffy so when he doesn’t like something you know about it. He tolerates me *barely* (I think he sees me as the person who stole his buddy away from him).
His now our dog so I think as long as I keep feeding him and letting him out when he wants to go out side he’ll put up with me.
My dad’s dog, who just passed away a few days ago, we could NOT take to the groomers. She was a Shiba Inu, so, luckily, the only thing we really needed to do to groom her was clip her nails. But she even hated that. And she was a biter! Let me tell you… man. Painful.
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Oh, and my mom dyed her hair for the first time recently. She has this gorgeous strawberry blonde hair now (we’re both redheads, and her’s is turning blonde), and she dyed it a deeper red. I was like O.O When I saw her because whoever did it, did a really crappy job, and mom just isn’t keeping up with it. It looks pretty awful now. LOL.
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I have a bichon frise and he goes to the groomer’s every 6 to 8 weeks. We don’t bother trying to brush him ourselves–that’s an exercise in futility, he hates being brushed and really does not like having his paws touched. We’ve been sending him to the same groomer’s since he was a puppy (he’s 13 now) and as he’s gotten older, the groomer says that he has calmed down and puts up with getting washed and his hair cut (which translates to that he gave the groomer’s a hard time when he was young and rambunctious.)
However he still acts like he’s about to get tortured every time I bring him to the groomer. As soon as I hand off the leash to the groomer, he screams bloody murder as I walk out, making me feel guilty. He’s just being a prima donna though–we know the groomer takes good care of him, he’s just scandalized he is being left with somebody who is not his owner. When I go to pick him up, somehow that dog always knows he’s about to get picked up (they put the dog in cages after they are done with them while waiting to get picked up by their owners) because as soon as I walk him, he starts howling demanding to be released (he can’t see me). So much drama in such a little body!
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