Wheaten Terrier – Xena Schnauzer Warrior Princess with Lucy and Chia

Lucy, Ace Reporter here, with news on the Groom Beat. Not too long ago I reported about Mom’s record setting six hour groom. If you missed that one, you can read about it here. Aoife (pronounced eefah), the Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, came back on Monday for her second professional groom. I will add kudos here to her mom and dad for keeping all the mats brushed out of her fine, thick coat. After all the preliminary stuff – you know, cutting toenails, pulling hair from ears, combing through her hair – it was time for her bath before getting her haircut. Aoifa’s almost too big for the bathing sink, and didn’t want to be bathed. Mom wrestled with her to keep her in the sink, but Aoifa was determined. She climbed up on the top ledge of the sink! That was another first. We can’t wait to see what happens in six weeks when she comes back for her third professional groom. Oh, and it only took three hours, this time. Maybe next time will be even shorter, ya think?

Lucy, Ace Reporter, signing off with wags and kisses

Lucy here, Ace Reporter on the Groom Beat. Today I am going to feature two new dogs that came to Mom for grooms. The first one has the same name as me…can you imagine?

A neighbor called and asked about grooming her Maltese/Bishon mix. She said she had been widowed six weeks ago and the dog was a mess. Mom quickly put it together that this lady was the wife of the man whose twin engine plane went down in the Tennessee River and both he and his passenger were killed. Mom knew Frank ’cause he was outside a lot when we went for walks. On Halloween he would dress up scary and jump out from behind a tree to scare the kids. Mom nicknamed him Frank-enstein! Anyhoo, we weren’t busy right then, so Miss Janet brought Lucy on over. Lucy is a very sweet 8-year-old who acts like a pro on the groom table. Here is her “after” picture – Mom forgot to get a “before” picture.
She kissed Mom and sang about how good it felt to be groomed. Can you see her tail wagging?

Xena might have already told you that Mom is working part-time as Office Manager at a Jewish Synagogue. She has gotten to know some of the people, and one of the congregants and volunteers asked Mom to groom her Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. Mom spent a long time watching videos to get ready since she had never groomed that breed. Wheatens hail from Ireland, so her Irish name is Aoife, pronounced Eefa. She isn’t quite a year old. This is what Aoife looked like when she got here at 11:30 last Monday morning. Her mom, Laurie, warned Mom that Aoife had some mats, and it turned out that her mom had no idea just how matted she was. Mom was determined to save Aoife’s coat, and spent hours de-matting her while she and Laurie gabbed about anything and everything. They even came upstairs and had cups of tea while Aoife was under the dryer. Laurie is a good petter, by the way, and said I am beautiful and sweet. 🙂 After drying Aoife, Mom found a bunch more mats and got back to work. The long blade on the clippers wouldn’t go through her hair, so Aoife got a scissor cut and gave Mom lots and lots of sloppy kisses. Miss Laurie sent us this picture from her house. We have no idea how Aoife’s hair got standing up on her head, ’cause it wasn’t like that when, at 5:30 pm – six hours after she had arrived – Mom declared her finished.Mom said this one set a record for the longest groom in Mom’s grooming history which she started in 1991. Miss Laurie gave her lots of money, though, and promised to comb her out really good every single day. She already made an appointment to come back in six weeks.