Lhasa apsos, cones on heads and grooming

 When Penny died, it took me four months to even think of continuing this blog, and for a while I just added the occasional post to keep it alive. And to keep Penny alive on the internet. (She's alive forever in our hearts.)

And then we made the enormous decision to bring another dog into our household. During the worst of the lockdowns here in Victoria in Australia, many people discovered the joy a dog can bring, so we had difficulty getting an older rescue dog. Given my age (not too young is what I'll say), it was a momentous decision to start over with a puppy.

But what joy she has brought us. 

And what a further education in living with a dog. I thought I knew so much about dogs, after fifteen years with one. Now I realise each dog is a new experience. Getting a lhasa apso puppy was a tribute to the fact that we thought Penny had been a lhasa.

Well, no.

Lhasas have special coats. Just because Penny looked like a lhasa does not mean she was one. The groomer warned us. 'Don't think this will be like caring for Penny. She didn't have a thick coat. It was fine and easily managed.'

Yep. She was so right. Peppa's coat is a whole new ballgame.

Recently she had an operation on her right front paw to remove a grass seed buried inside it. 

While the weather was good, sunny and dry, we coped. But once the winter rains set in, we didn't go so well. It eventually turned out that the bandaged foot had healed well, but had got wet under the bandage and needed more time to recover. So, the cone went back on. 

 

The dreaded cone... 

If you've seen the movie 'Up', you'll know it as the Cone of Shame. From now on, I'm going to call it the Cone of Messy Fur.

That darned cone made such a mess of Peppa's head and neck fur.

 

Here are the ears, the worst affected: 

 

In all the kerfuffle over the paw, we've missed out on our scheduled grooming session, and our lovely groomer is going on holidays, so I bit the bullet and decided I'd have to start getting her coat back in order. 

I'm rather pleased with the work I did on her ears. The first one 'only' took thirty minutes.

And then I started on the other ear - the left.

Another thirty minutes - after which it was time for a rest, each of us in her own way. Peppa in her crate, me on the computer.

I figure in another hundred hours we should have the whole coat looking good.

training a lhasa apso

 When we brought Peppa into our lives, we knew it would be necessary to get her used to grooming. So we did our best, and she's used to being up on the table getting special attention (and extra special treats) every evening. Fortunately, she loves it. We did come up with the theory that she had seen her mum and dad being groomed and thinks it's part of being a grown-up dog. Who knows what goes on in the clever little head?

She's more clever than we thought she would be, and has trained her people pretty well. Here are some of the favorites:

1. Jump appealingly up onto the human's legs and allow said human to stroke your head and tickle you behind the ears, at the same time slo-w-ly, quie-t-ly stealing a handkerchief or  tissue from their pocket. If tissue, tear it to shreds and enable them to get some isometric exercise bending to collect the shreds. If a handkerchief, mouth it dramatically as if you're going to swallow it and might subsequently need to go to the amazingly expensive Animal Emergency clinic. Wait until the human races to get you a super-nice treat and willingly 'give' the hanky to them in exchange for the treat, and get praised for being so co-operative.

2. Whenever you see a baby gate left ajar, race into the forbidden room and ostentiously wait in the doorway for the command to come 'this way' and receive a treat for your obedience.

 

 

3. Go out into the backyard and bellow at the top of your voice at any movement in the adjoining apartments and wait for the command to 'come'. Race in and get a treat. 

I suspect she's working on a few more commands for the humans to obey. I'll report when she has us even more under her control. 

Oh, and now that I have a close look at that photo I posted, I think I'd  better get off this computer and do that grooming. Obviously today was a rather exciting and messy playday.

 

evening walk

It's pretty hot today, so we saved our walk for the evening and kept it short. Now, to a human, the sight of this messy lane way is rather unpleasant, but to a dog...

lovely smells all over the place - hamburger wrappers,  soft drink containers, cooked chicken scents, and who knows what else. Only Penny knows.

And there was something worth rolling in. Which is a bit of a pity since Penny was clipped and groomed yesterday, a rare occurrence.

We're off to the vet tomorrow, to check up on the many lumps and bumps Penny has, to measure and list them, so we can know if they grow large or change in any way. It seemed like a good time to have her clipped, so we can find them all.

grooming your dog

I always get tense about taking Penny to grooming. I've tried a few places over her lifetime, and always felt uneasy that I couldn't stay and see what what happening. However, I realise the groomer can't work with the owner looming over her shoulder, so I knew I had to leave.

Well, my problem has been solved.

A friend told me he is happy with a groomer who works in a large pet store not ten minutes' walking distance from home. I called in and browsed the aquarium equipment for ten minutes, peeking over the top of a display of fish food into the grooming area. The groomer, unaware of anyone watching, was lovely with the dog she was working on, encouraging and soothing.

Later I called in with Penny after phoning ahead and met the groomer, and primed her with lots of nice treats for Penny. Who, by the way, took one look around, tucked her tail between her legs and tried to squeeze out under the door. (Well, not literally, but metaphorically.)

Today I took Penny down after a muddy romp in a local park.

We walked down and, sure enough, Penny didn't want to stay. But I left. Right next door is a great little cafe with cakes and hot chocolate, and I sat there for a while reading a book. How nice!

I couldn't resist having a look to see what was happening, and entered the store at the upper level and discovered to my delight that from up there I had a great view of Penny standing calmly to be clipped, and I was far enough away that Penny couldn't even catch my scent.

Reassured, I went for a walk around the streets to enjoy the lovely gardens, which are showing signs already of spring. After less than an hour Penny was finished and Gaby, the groomer called me to come and get her.

Penny was relaxed and confident when I picked her up and we walked home in the winter sunshine.

I think she looks great.

Penny insisted on showing off her neat belly hair.

a gorgeously groomed dog

Who is this lovely canine living with us?

Could it be the same Penny who used to look like this?

What a beautiful job the groomer has done - and it was all scissor-work, too, because I don't think Penny likes the clippers.

Penny has been clipped for the first time

In seven years of life, Penny has been groomed quite a few times, but we have never gathered the courage to allow the groomer to clip her. However, she is going for a holiday soon (more about that in a future post) and we think there might be paralysis ticks in the area, so we thought we should get her clipped to make it easier to check her each evening for ticks.

When I picked her up, I wondered who the beautiful stranger was. She looked gorgeous. Here she is at home, perhaps giving me 'the look' because she wasn't too pleased about having to visit the groomers. (Lovely ladies with a pleasingly professional attitude - I'm very happy that we've found this place. It's Hot Doggie in Warrandyte.)



First item on her agenda was to get herself nicely mussed up, so it was out to her favorite rubbing seat. (It used to be for humans to relax in the outdoors. When did it become Penny's seat?)



What a surprise! Penny is dark in some spots. Now that we can see her coloring more clearly, we are reminded that her brother was black.

grooming dogs

As I've said before, I think our relationship with groomers is most important, not only because we want them to make our dogs look good and feel good, but because we have to leave the dog with them and trust they will care for our dogs as well as we would do.

I've tried various places, and liked the one where owners are welcome to stay and watch the whole process through a glass window, but Penny loves best of all her long-time groomer, Michelle, who knew Penny before I did, because I got Penny from the vet clinic where Michelle grooms.

Today I presented Michelle with a challenge, because I had chopped at Penny's fur around her feet so I could put lotion on her sore feet, and I had also chopped off her fringe because it was getting in her eyes and I had to wait a couple of weeks for an appointment with Michelle, who only grooms on Saturdays.

Here's the result. I'm happy to see Penny's eyes once again, after lately having to peer through untidy tufts of hair to see whether she was looking in my direction.



Penny's not too happy in the photo, because she doesn't like that big camera-eye staring at her.

dog grooming

Who is this elegant stranger? And where has Penny gone?




Yes, it's still her. Looking very aristocratic, in my opinion. We've always thought her lineage was royal, except for her mother's 'unfortunate encounter' with that canine gypsy at Macdonalds.

She's just come back from a grooming session at Yuppy Puppy in Macleod. I like going there because it's a specialised grooming shop, not part of another business, and I feel welcome to stay while she is groomed. There's a big glass window through which you can see everything, and a comfortable chair to sit and wait.

Of course, Penny's not in a very happy mood, as you might have noticed from the photo, so I thought her patience deserved to be rewarded with a new type of treat, some strange-looking thing made from goat meat.