Monthly Ritual With the Pup!

Every month, my pup Bear and I have a little ritual we do. Actually, it's more of a necessity than a ritual.  Since the little guy is a Maltese, he's cursed with ever-growing fur.  I suppose I could let it grow all the way down to the floor so I would never have to sweep again, but I just can't deal with the thought of my little man sporting 80's metal hair. So every month, he gets his little haircut.

I used to put this in the hands of a dog groomer, and had a fabulous one when I lived in Toronto. I am super picky with how he should look though (and have mistakenly put him in the hands of inexperienced "groomers" in the past), and when my dear old groomer moved away I was forced to look for alternatives.

I purchased a professional style clipper set and snapped on a nice blade.  I had a friend who did dog grooming on the side, so she led me on the right path to which tools I should use.  Not only does this save me $50+ a month, but we have a good time while doing it!!!

The latest styling session happened last week. This is what my poor little pooch looked like before:

He looks so depressed in his shaggy coat doesn't he?

First I give him a nice bath in the bathtub. He HATES baths. As soon as I plop him in, he can't wait to get out!  Usually after a bath I will blowdry him, but I wasn't in a rush to do his cut so I let him air dry this time. Here he is hating life:

 He has to be absolutely dry and totally clean before I can cut him so I don't ruin the blade.  So in the meantime, he likes to dry himself off by running around in circles, throwing himself on his side and digging at the floor, and rubbing his face all over the carpet. It's quite a sight...

When he's all dry, I can start clipping his fur! I run the clippers all over his body, and leave his head, feet, and tail for the scissors. I've always liked to keep him kinda fluffy... and definitely not totally shaved.  He's my little Bear, he needs to live up to his fluffy name! The blade I have keeps his fur at about a half inch, maybe more.  You can use whatever blade you want depending on how long you want the fur to be.   I HIGHLY suggest that if you're going to cut your own dog's fur, invest in some good clippers and a blade (not the crappy ones that come with it with those awful plastic attachments). A choppy scissor-cut just doesn't look that great haha.

And just like that, he's back to his normal cutie pie little self. Ok, not "just like that"... this actually takes me a total of about 2-3 hours.

Kitty was jealous I was taking all these photos of Bear and literally stuck his face in the camera lens during one shot...

Love him <3

Do you cut your own pet's fur? Have you ever had any bad experiences with groomers?

xo
Dana