Doggie Day Spa

So, for those who know me, they know I have a lot of dogs. Three in fact. Muriel was the first; she is a rescue dog from Columbia Second Chance. I've had her for 5-6 years, and she's 8 years old. She is a collie mix, so, lots of hair.
Second came Wally. He is my baby (not to discredit the other two, but he loves me the most, so he retains the status of "baby"). He is a pug and not a rescue, but he is spoiled all the same. He is two years old.
Then we have Mogwai. Mogwai came to us in February when I had a mental break down in the Jefferson City Animal Shelter when we went to see what a Pekingese looked like. He was really scared and shy and cowered in my lap when some creepy guy came to look at him, so I stood up and said he wasn't for available because we were adopting him, and I walked out with him. Oops
So. The hair situation increased. Among other things. But this post is about the hair. Muriel is always a disaster. Being a mix, she has weird hair. She has constant bed head. Even taking her to the groomer doesn't help, so long ago I just resigned that doing her hair myself was better than paying someone else to make her look just as crappy as I could. Wally has easy hair, and in fact just takes a shower with me when he needs a bath (we did that yesterday; he's so trained, after I shampoo him I tell him to rinse off, and he goes and stands in the spray from the shower). That left Mogwai. Now, I've been trying my hand at brushing him and washing at home. It takes forever which is surprising since he's so small. He has to be hair-dried too, to prevent further matting. Anyway, he was definitely in need of a bath today, and I wanted to get his hair trimmed up for summer because he's all hair and a little body underneath and always looks just miserable outside. So, I spent my morning calling around to groomers. The earliest I could get in was July 12th. Seriously, how many people get their dogs groomed around here? Well, he needed a bath today. I couldn't stand waiting two weeks or bathing him today and then taking him for another bath in two weeks. So, I did something drastic.
When I went to Wal-Mart to pick up more puppy shampoo, I noticed the clippers, which were conveniently right next to the shampoo. I decided that I only lacked two things compared to a groomer: clippers and training. And the clippers came with a training DVD, so I figured, why the heck not. I bought them, brought Mogwai upstairs, and got to work. I decided my shaving platform would be our giant kitchen counter, because that afforded the best space, the best height, and the best light (but not necessarily the best environment for tons of hair). I threw down a sheet and started shaving. In the beginning I realized I was over my head, once my dog looked slightly like a cancer patient. I panicked and imagined calling a groomer again just to cry and say I'd done something awful and beg them to get me in immediately to fix the damage. However, I just kept at it, and sooner or later, he started to look a little less frightening. I wanted to leave his head unshaved, like the pictures I'd seen online (a lion cut), and I trimmed his butt hair, but I was afraid to shave all of that off. His body, however, is now shaved clean. I can't say he looks professional, but he actually looks cute and not altogether terrible, meaning, we can probably take him out in public without the shame of walking the world's freakiest dog.
So, for my Domestique activity of the day, I became an amateur dog groomer. As you can see, he actually looks cute, so this was not the tragic experience that I feared after I ran the trimmer through a few times. I don't think I'll ever try this again, because I greatly fear making my dog look like an idiot, but Mogwai seems really comfortable and happy. And all the hair is cleaned up. Matt couldn't even tell I'd trimmed him in the kitchen. So. I did it. :)