Fancy man, Sebastian, gets his hairs did regularly to keep it manageable and comfy.
Fancy man, Sebastian, gets his hairs did regularly to keep it manageable and comfy for him. Himalayans, Persians, Ragdolls, and the like, need frequent grooming and sanitary trims to help them manage their luxurious coats.
I groom cats by calling in the experts but they sometimes have terrible work ethic.
Remi and Luna waiting for their taxi
They’re ready for the heat wave!!
His buddy was under the dryer while I worked so don’t mind the irritating buzz, but Nugget told me to step off because he could do a better job. Well, alright then. 😐😑”JUST LET ME DO IT, HUMAN.”
I don’t really do obedience training but practical stuff is good. 😱Like not having wrestle a ⚡️⚡️ squirrel (😭)from your dog. Long leash walks are my favorite dog enrichment.
Reposting this without the filter I accidentally added before. This is terrible quality but I was just playing with Zoe on the table and then remembered I get the question of how I recommend the ears/face (or where ever 😆) get cleaned when you can’t get near them. It’s most important to not make a big deal about it and make sure you’re not making their dislike of the process worse. You can always clean them a little more later or the next day. Doing a little bit very frequently is FAR more tolerable than doing it all at once less often. I use freedom as the biggest reward in the shop (time to free range in the shop) but if you use a delicious food or playtime at home, you can teach your dogs and cats that this is always a safe and rewarding activity.
The summer coat is different from the winter coat not just in density (the thick undercoat is shed out and replaced with a lighter layer), but the hairs themselves grow in less-porous and more reflective. Even the natural taper of the hairs themselves is purposeful. The taper (that’s destroyed when we shave double coats and can be destroyed in hair that’s meant to be shaved when we use full equipment) allows the hairs to work in concert, letting air circulate, water to bead off, and proper shedding of old and damaged hair to occur. Skilled grooming at least every 8 weeks (but ideally every 4) keeps all of this working to optimal benefit to your pet’s skin and thermoregulation.
Suzy having some toy time before her bath. She’s a bit of a ham. ❤️😆
Save our pollinators is really about our native species of bees, butterflies, bats, beetles, and ants. Honey bees are from Europe and don’t need us to save them! They’re actually considered livestock and their bee keepers are taking care of them. #nativeplantsofnorthamerica #saveournativespecies #homegrownnationalpark
Bella the Cloud is in the midst of her bath and having her coat blown out. The standing water is blown out and then she’s given 10-15 minutes nowt just to rest, but to let the conditioner to continue sealing the hairshafts which will make the drying process much faster and less drying to her hair itself. Shampoo causes the shingle-like plaques on each hair strand to open, conditioning properly makes them close again so the center of the hairs don’t loose moisture and become brittle and damaged when being dried and brushed. It’s science!
Salad time for the whistle pigs. These girls have been with me since 2020 and were only a few months old when I adopted them along with their mom. Their mom has since passed away. Until I’m better able to afford their vet care, these will be the last Guinea pigs I can rescue. Some pigs can be very sociable, but mine are often rescued from homes where people have forgotten them in a corner or a room somewhere, so they don’t learn that people have good things to offer them. I always have at least two pigs, but I actually find that a group or three or more… in a large enough living space, is going to be more social and less skittish, since their brains are wired to find safety in numbers. These girls are fine keeping to themselves and seeing me just as their nail trimmer and food deliverer 😊 I don’t have the time for much more than that anyway! Guinea pigs are not burrowers or nest builders, but a pile of hay will be used as an edible fort.
Lucy had a grand time on our sniffiari 🤣 There are some behaviors we hate, or that are unsavory in our culture, but they are part of enjoying life for dogs so we may need to allow some mayhem or at least compromise. 🤣 Stopping harmless behaviors v can make us no fun to be around and might counteract the stress relief we were hoping to provide by going on a walk. Make sure to provide a comfy harness that allows free-movement of the shoulder, buy a LOOOOOONG leash and some sturdy work gloves, and put on your galoshes. Let dogs sniff the tall weeds and splash in the puddles. The only enrichment they get is what we provide them.
While drying Suzy I was able to discover some sneaky mats. She had some behind her ears and then these all down her front legs, which are some of the most common places for mats to form due to movement and moisture that tends to collect. Friction and dirt are major contributors to matting. You can see how it’s not a tangle like we would see with our hair when we wake up in the morning. It’s a buildup of shed coat that gets tangled at the skin and then snowballs from there. I loosened them as much as possible so I could try to leave the legs fluffy, but after a reasonable amount of effort Suzy decided she’d like me to just shave underneath them and do my best to work with the length that was left over.
Animals can learn to cooperate for necessary care. Lucy is one of the most challenging dogs I’ve ever met… and certainly the most challenging of any dog I’ve ever adopted. It starts by paying them for cooperation and not taking a mile if they give an inch.
This would be why I’m never able to get video of Star using her puzzle toys. *BONK*
I’m painting my bathroom so I have the whole place taken apart to spackle. I took a ten minute break to eat breakfast and Reggie decided the toilet paper was a foe to vanquish. 😳😭🤣🤦🏻♀️
During my day off yesterday Star and I worked on her automatic murder response to having a hand near her belly or side. She is LÖRG (who isn’t? 😆🤷🏻♀️) so we do only two or three of these. Her favorite treats so far are temptations and dehydrated chicken hearts which I hid in my desk file until one day she ransacked the place and ate the whole bag. We’re also working on being combed since she’s prone to matting. Nail trims will be attempted but I want to see if I can get her weight to a better place before we start “targeting” so she’ll be a happy participant during the trim.
A recall example from my own pups. I use this whistle or “heeeere!” Not the traditional “come” since this is too often spoiled by other folks not using cues properly. I use this whistle when I’m not sure if they’ll listen 😆(like here when she’s distracted) because I don’t want to poison the “here” cue which is my more urgent recall. Since she responded so nicely but I didn’t have a treat on me I “bridged” the span of time between action and reward by using something she knows precedes something tasty: “want a treat?” as a marker that her returning earned the reward. She and Liam both got some beef lung as a treat for that nice recall and then I had to run back outside to make sure Artie didn’t tumble into a hole or something 🤦🏻♀️
Annabelle getting a blow out at the AAC salon. ❤️🛁
