September 4, 2017

White Dog laughed. "You sure made Tina labor hard on this Labor friendly holiday, momma!"

Tina is our groomer friend who has a very clever business of providing at-home essential grooming: nail trims, ear cleaning, and teeth hygiene. She comes to the house where your pet is hopefully comfortable (and in the WDA case, unsuspecting) and in just a few minutes the tasks are accomplished...and you pups don't hate YOU!

She contacted me earlier in the week to let me know she would be in town on Labor Day for a picnic but would be glad to stop by before if any of the Army needed her attentions. We made arrangements for her to come by early afternoon to spiffify Sachi, Pearl, Zsofia, and YoYoMa...our toughest to trim.

We started with Sachi. Steve held him while Tina worked and dodged his nipping. The White Dog Army watched from the window and barked for her to stop abusing their brother. He came in and promptly retaliated with a "marking" spree.

Zsofia watched the entire torture through the window but was not fast enough to escape Steve grabbing her collar. "You are next," Steve told her. She began to howl. They went out to where Tina waited but came in again 20 seconds later. "She is bucking like a crazy pup." Steve explained. "Going to put her harness on." Her trim took twice as long because of Zso's theatrics...and Tina's need to stop because she was laughing so hard. Zsofia returned to the house limping and sighed heavily as she jumped up on the couch. Every few minutes she would whine pathetically and lick her foot. She was really fine.

Pearl has street smarts and was on the move...OUT...before Steve had unclipped Zso. He followed her into the yard and she scooted back inside. He closed down the dog door and ran her down in the office, cowering in the way back of the crate. "Sweet Girl, you will not be hurt and you so need this. I will hold you the entire time." He put on her harness and two leads then carried her out to the bench on the front landing. She slumped in his arms in total surrender as her overlong dew claws and nails were cut and smoothed. When Steve brought her back in she shot him a wicked glance and has avoided him all afternoon. Her body language said, "come near and I am outta here."

 YoYoMa went last. He is not a combative client but rather, lies on his belly with all of his feet tightly tucked under him. Our biggest baby is hard to maneuver with this skeleton-less resistance but with Steve to gently roll and pull, Tina zipped right through the all his nails...and helped adjust bandages.

She was done in forty-five minutes but you would swear that the torture lasted days. The entire WDA kept up its protests and threats for the duration.  After, treats helped a BIT, but there was more than an hour of post-trauma drama of limping and licking and sighing....and supportive frenzying in case she should try to sneak back.  Finally the exhaustion of trying so hard to get attention won out and the house became quiet as the White Dog Army slept.