GROOMING TO SAVE A LIFE

One of the things I do to give back for all I've gained from the profession of grooming is to groom for a rescue operation in my local community. They are called F.A.I.R. (Foundation for Animals In Risk) and they go to the local pound (Pima Animal Care Center)and take out dogs that are scheduled for euthanasia and foster them until they are adoptable and then have adoption centers where folks can find a pet.

Sometimes these grooms involve using my styling skills and sometimes they don't. Here is a situation leaving little room for styling. Meet Apollo.

Fortunately I was warned that he was a "solid mat". What I was not prepared for was the stench. AND the legs were all wet from the kennel at the pound where they hose down the runs daily and the matting was so bad it could not dry out. Apollo smelled of a combination of stale disinfectant, urine and wet dog. OH YUKK! Truth is I could not stand to touch him with my bare hands and clipped him while wearing latex gloves. Another good reason to have a box of latex gloves (I also use them for hand stripping terriers).

Here is the view looking down on the dog, trying to find an entry point for the clip down.

There was no place to start. The head and neck were so thickly matted that his identification band was about 26" in diameter. It just sat on top of these bricks of matted fur. I ended up starting at the rear leg and clipping against the grain. This is what it looked like midway through the peeling process.
THERE IS A DOG UNDER THERE!

Peeling off a coat like this takes extreme care and clipper skill. Because it is solid, the coat reaches a point where the clippers won't go any further underneath. Then you have to cut the pelt very carefully with scissors in one or two places in order to get to open up enough to allow the clippers to continue. I'm sorry that I didn't take pictures of that. Most importantly is to always scissor AWAY from the body. In this case I also had to scissor around the feet, where it would not clip because of the wet yukkiness. I have an old pair of Double Duck 88 scissors that I continue to sharpen for this kind of work where I don't want to risk blunting my good shears.

Here are some shots of the pelt I removed from Apollo.



And here is the little guy revealed!


Apollo is off to his foster home and his new life. He was a very good sport about this very difficult grooming, especially for the dangerous part of peeling that pelt off. I think he was most grateful. He got a little less cooperative for the wet bath and trimming his face, as if that was not such an urgent matter from his point of view. This might not have been high styling grooming, but there was a tremendous satisfaction involved in restoring this dog and being a part of saving his life. Apollo was a good boy very much worth saving. Thank you F.A.I.R.!!