Parker Goes to the Groomer

I found a local groomer who agreed to let me watch as she clipped Parker. I took him in at ten this morning and described what I wanted. I was then told to return in about an hour, as it would take that long to bathe and dry him.

An hour later, I returned, but was told that he still had about another fifteen minutes to dry. I peeked into the grooming room and saw poor Parker in a small wire crate, barely big enough to contain him, with three very loud blowers aimed at him. Parker doesn’t like loud noises and he was obviously unhappy. The owner of the place gave me a tour of the facilities -- they also board, do puppy parties, day care and vet checks.

By 11:30, I had toured enough and went into the grooming room. Probably shouldn’t have, but Parker was so miserable, that I put my fingers into the crate and whispered to him about what a good boy he was until the groomer arrived. Even then, she had to do some hand drying. She shared that the owner wasn’t happy about her agreeing to let me watch while she explained the procedure, which was really rather silly on his part. Otherwise I would have been less than happy with the fee. As it is, at the end of two and a half hours of grooming, I had a much better idea about the amount of work that goes into grooming such a pretty boy. In fact, I had planned on a ten dollar tip, but instead, made sure the owner was present when I slipped Lori a crisp, new twenty.

Parker was a doll about the grooming, standing quietly, letting his feet be handled, not even budging while his sheath was shaved. Somehow I can’t see too many men I know standing still for that.

The best part was the comment one of the other kennel folk made -- he said Parker was the best behaved Poodle he had ever seen, and he had seen plenty. I didn’t bother mentioning that Parker was probably too scared to do anything but stand perfectly still.

We did another session of sits, this time with hand signals and finally verbal commands, and he popped that cute butt of his down at warp speed. Can downs be that far away?