September 7, 2014

White Dog's head shot up at the strange sound. Steve quickly turned off the White Dog Zamboni and it gurgled and crackled to a halt. He had been in the middle of shampooing away the puppy "I am too busy playing to think about going outside until it is too late" accident when something invisible on the carpet got sucked up and the result was a loud "CHING!"

As Steve removed the water reservoir and the shampoo containers, the White Dog Army strapped on toolbelts and gathered their headlamp flashlights...this was a job that obviously required delicate team work and LOTS of supervision.

Steve turned the shampooer in its back; everypup moved in for a closer look. ""Do you mind?" Steve asked as he was nosed out of the inspection. He turned the cylindrical brush and began pulling off dog furs...LOTS of them...they were tangled around the brush bristles. Sachi insisted on trying to taste sample each clump. After about 10 minutes of detangling, Steve plugged the machine back in and turned it on. Now the brush would not turn at all. He sighed and the White Dog Army shook their heads as he unscrewed the safety plates and exposed the insides of the shampooer.

He pulled more dog hair from the brush's axle and the Army panted encouragement. "I thought this was supposed to be the Pro Pet model" White Dog commented in my ear as the triage team continued to pull out bits of white. "Obviously they did NOT test this under WDA conditions," YoYoMa agreed, "Probably just let some just groomed Mexican Crested prance across the floor, squat and then leave the room. Not real life conditions."

Steve hand turned the brush and all seemed good. He replaced the parts and screwed down the access panel. Flipped the switch...lots of noise but no brush movement. "Arrrrrggggghhhhhh!" Taiko barked, giving voice to his human's frustration. Steve went to the computer and online to look for suggestions and clues.

A bit later he came back and the team regathered. The panel was reopened and the brush removed. Steve used a tweezers to reach deeply into the cavity...to the gearing mechanism. The White Dog Army surged forward to get a better look. Steve's hand twisted and turned and came out with a tweezers full of very fine white fur. Again and again he plunged in and extracted a bit of floof until he had a paper plate nearly full of white dogness. "This is from the teeth of the turning gears," he told the Army.

Finally his explorations yielded only random hairs and he declared the gears cleared. "Paws crossed every one," he told us as he reassembled the machine. This time when he pushed the "on" switch the brush twirled and the machine roared to life. It was louder that we all remembered but it was working.! High fives all around and Steve quickly finished his task before luck failed him.

As he reparked the Zamboni, he announced that he was going online immediately to order a few spare parts...a new brush, a few belts, and the gear...just for the future.

"Exactly what I would have suggested," Puff quietly said. "Zsofia is doing well with her training but there is still a LOT of puppy time we have to get through."