Hall of Shame

Tyson

This is Tyson. He is a 3 year old Bichon Frise. Tyson's last haircut was 7 months ago where as to properly maintain his curly coat he should be groomed about every 6-8 weeks. When a dog is brought to me in a condition such as this there are many challenges before me that go way beyond basic grooming. The most concerning of all is that it becomes very difficult to tell what is hair and what is dog. The chances of a dog suffering a minor nick, clipper abrasions or skin sensitivities is much higher in a situation such as this especially around delicate areas such as ears, armpits and genitals. What you see in front of you in the picture is his left ear, matted solid. I have my work cut out for me.

As a result of grooming neglect his hair has become tangled so badly that it is impossible for me to find his skin or use the clippers on his coat right away. The only option is to go in with scissors and create a series of slits large enough for me to get the clipper machine under the solid coat starting at the base of the neck and working my way down his spine then down his ribs.

The next step is to remove the hair from his hind legs which can be very tricky because of all of the moving joints and little flaps of skin.

Once the majority of the coat is removed I move on to the head which provides its own set of risks. Unfortunately the head and face are just as tangled as the rest of him despite that I had hoped to leave him with at least a little hair. The greatest danger in Tyson's scenario was the removal of the hair on the ears. When ears become so tightly tangled right down to the ear leather it can actually cut off blood circulation and flow to the ears. As a result, when the hair is clipped off with and extremely short blade a surge of blood can occur and cause hematoma or bruising of the ears. Thankfully this was not the case and everything was in my favor.

When a dogs nails are allowed to grow beyond the pad of the foot the dog will start to walk on the nails themselves and not the leathery pad as it should. In extreme cases, over time, this can result in a deformation of the foot that can not be corrected. So please trim your dogs nails every 4-8 weeks depending on wear and try to walk your dog on concrete to help keep them filed.

Here is a reminder of how Tyson looked before. A sad tangled mess.

Here is Tyson after, you can see his spirit has returned to his eyes and he looks a lot more comfortable. This poor dog is a champion in my opinion. He was so brave and didn't complain at all about the process that was being done to him. A total removal of a dogs coat such as this can often be traumatic to a lot of dogs which can even result in a temporary depression following the groom but Tyson left tail wagging and feeling much better. I am by no means proud of what I had to do during this groom but I know that I did all I could to help him so that he could be a dog again. Tyson's owners never came back for any repeat grooms.

Mico

This is Mico. He is a 6 year old Shih Tzu and it has last haircut was 4 and a half months ago. I didn't get a before picture but decided to chronicle this groom anyway. Similarly to the other dog although not as severe, Mico is too tangled to be left long and I must go shorter than the tangles to make him comfortable. I start between the shoulder blades and work my way down.

His hind legs are so tangled that his coat is removed in one big piece that you can see hanging off him in this photo.

With half of his coat removed I work make my way to his front end and legs paying close mind to the skin folds in the armpits.

Once the hair on his legs is removed I can work on his head. Thankfully his face and head aren't too bad and I can save these areas so he is left with a bit of style at the end.

All finished! The face, ears and tail were all savable which is great news. You can see how happy he is once he is finished. Mico's owner vowed never to allow him to become so tangled again and continues to be groomed by myself every 7 weeks without fail. He is a great doggy to work with.

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