Grooming

I put Alanis in the grooming table this afternoon for a bit of toenail trimming and coat stripping. The grooming table sits in the living room where there's so little light that I work more by feel than sight. (Chalk up another reason to hate winter.) I tried rigging up a desk lamp to see her feet in order to Dremel the toenails. Then I had to scootch the table closer to the outlet, with the poor dog clinging like someone on a tossing ship. That was only close enough to do the front feet. The back feet will have to wait, not that Alanis minds.

She has lots and lots and lots of fur, a coat much denser than my other Airedales had. I brushed and combed and stripped and voila! I had filled only a third of a bag with fur and she looked exactly the same as she had when we started.

She gave me The Horse Look: the turned head, the rolled eyes showing an edge of white, the ears down. "You're torturing me but I'll accept it patiently because I am a good and humble dog. By the way, it has been an entire two minutes since you last gave me a treat for my excellent behavior and I need another to give me the strength to keep standing here." Like I could refuse.