Thursday, July 2, 2009

Meet Miss Mary...

The pups have formed a bond with a wonderful groomer named Miss Mary that they go to faithfully to have their pawdicure. As some of you may know from the comments I have left on your blog about this subject, Miss Mary does not accept pay for this service. No, she will however accept a donation on behalf of the Humane Society (what a neat idea for a fundraiser and what a big heart she has!). She also volunteers her services to the Humane Society too!

Upon arrival, I asked if I could get some pics to put on my blog for our "Dogs on Thursday" post. She was a little shy at first, but she finally gave in graciously ( I did tell her the bruises from the arm twisting would heal! JK ;)!


Here is Sampson already sniffing around trying to see what he can get into. He is pouting a little because I told him to stay out of the trimmings from a previous visitor.

Yesterday we went out at 7:30 her last appointment of the day (she started at 8:00 AM!) was supposed to be there. They were late. No matter, she set about doing the pawdicure for the pups. Shortly after they were finished and we were having a gab fest, her last appointment of the day arrives.

A cute little Pomeranian, which right before the visit had rolled in manure!!! So before Miss Mary could "do whatever you do with a Pomeranian grooming wise" (as her owner put it), she had to bath her to get rid of the smell and the residue (yuck).


After bathing and drying the poor thing. Miss Mary started the grooming. She started to brush out the dog only to find the undercoat severely matted. So she tried picking out the mattes, combing them out, only no matter how careful she was, she could tell it was hurting the pup (who had never been to a groomer) pulling on the skin and she was not making any progress to speak of. After awhile of trying the above methods, she finally gave in and called the owner to discuss the situation, and offer her some options. The owner decided to have the coat cut down. This is what Mary found as she started the process...

feel free to blow up the pictures to get a real good look at this...

words simply cannot describe...

the coat was so matted that it actually came off in one piece...this picture is pretty close to the end of the trim. Mary was so sad that she had to take the coat so close to the skin, but there was simply no way around it. It was matted to the skin.

When the owner came to pick up the pom, Miss Mary was apologetic, explained about the matted undercoat, showed it to the owner how badly matted it was, it literally looked felted. The owner was not pleased, was not happy and told Miss Mary that when she baths the pup she "pics" the coat up. It was pretty obvious that she did groom the outer coat but was not getting to the under coat. Miss Mary also offered advice to protect the pups skin until the coat grew in a little, such as wearing a light weight t-shirt on the pup. The owner paid her fee and left.

Truly, I felt a little annoyed with the lady and sorry for Miss Mary who tried to do the right thing for the pup. This pup weighed maybe a couple of pounds and took well over 2 hours for this whole thing to unfold. As Miss Mary explained, this situation could easily have been avoided with daily grooming and some breeds simply require that dedication.

I really wanted this to be an upbeat happy post. However if something good comes out of it such as educating someone who might read this and be considering a longer hair breed, this might be beneficial. As Miss Mary says "everything happens for a reason"!

Here is a happy picture, this pup is Miss Mary's Standard Poodle, Eddie and is a joy to be around and very friendly. Miss Mary keeps him in a short clip because it is a farm dog with all sorts of things to get into! I am sure he will bring back memories for my Aunt Rose, he certainly reminds me of Andy...

According to Miss Mary, Eddie was saying "Ok, now ayou can take da picture, dis is my bestest side!"

"No, seriously, look at dis aruistocwatic pwofile! I could sell de collars wif dis face!"

Miss Mary left me with one other clean house hint today: Furminator people! You can find @ Kmart for $30 for those hounds that insist on heavy shedding through the summer! I tried it out while I was there. IT WORKS BIG TIME! It got out that bunny undercoat! I am purchasing one my next pay! And the big test (drum roll please) Sampson loved it!

Go here to check it out!

Happy DOT's all!

15 comments:

  1. That pom owner could have had a worse mess on her hands if the puppy had developed "hot spots" b/c of the matted hair. She really needs to be thankful to Miss Mary

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  2. That poor, poor Pom, and Miss Mary! The owner should have been apologizing to both of them for allowing such a mess to happen.

    I'll be watching to see how the furminator does for you. I just can't see Sissy tolerating it...

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  3. Oh that poor pup!!! We already have a furminator and also the spray to go with it is great. You spray it on and leave it to dry then use the furminator - loads of fur comes out!
    I did a post way back about the furminator.
    The bonus of using the spray too is that the dogs smell so lovely!
    I must admit thought that one of the reasons I like bassets is that they do require minimal grooming compared to some.
    We liked Miss Mary and are sorry you got no thanks for all her hard work but we reckon the little pom will be pleased!
    xxxx

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  4. Oh poor baby!! I have seen shows on the Animal Planet Channel like this matting! The poor dogs. I hope the owner appreciates what Miss Mary did! And yes, her dog's face definitely reminds me of Andy!

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  5. I just had a look and the post was back in February this year. Both dogs love it and I totally recommend it!!!

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  6. Wow - what a great story. I couldn't agree with Sunny more - hot spots are awful. Bluebonnet had one and I hope she never gets another one, it took forever to heal. I also think Miss Mary is a wonderful person and did the best thing for that little dog. The owner needs to just get over, it's HAIR and it will grow back. I would definitely say do what is the least painful for the dog and it sounds like Miss Mary did that. By the way, we LOVE LOVE LOVE the furminator.

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  7. Groomers are truly wonderful souls! One of my good friends is one... she's an angel!

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  8. What a nice groomer you have. It takes a very special person to be a good groomer. Lots of love and patience.

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  9. That poor pom. I feel sorry for her for having such an owner. Dogs deserve better - I realize they don't all get it, but still . . .

    Love the photos of Sampson and Eddie and you are right, I do believe Eddie is trying to sell collars! g

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  10. That poor little pom! If I'd just seen the photo of Mary holding up what she trimmed without your explanation, I would have thought she had skinned him.

    Hopefully your pups had a happy pawdicure!

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  11. Whatever she charged the owner of the Pom was not enough.

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  12. Hi every one, This is Miss Mary, I do see this alot and I do whats right for the dog and the owner comes 2nd.. thank you for all your kind comments, and i only charged her 25.00
    love to all
    Mary Zinz
    Franklin PA

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  13. This is just so upseting to me. There is no excuse for letting a puppy or any dog for that matter go like that. We have a responsibility to care for our animals. So many people get puppies and then tire of them. This is what happens.

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