Last Friday... I groomed Josie. And I am so stinkin' proud of myself.
I don't know if I've ever really talked about Josie and her grooming needs on here before. In efforts to make a blog post out of this, I'll share, but I'll try not to bore you to death.
So when we got our little cairn terrier, I was oblivious to the special grooming needs of a cairn. I did a lot of research and learned she is supposed to be "hand stripped" which is a term for pulling (aka, stripping) out dead coat. It sounds weird and painful, but it's not. The old hair will come right out with a gentle tug. With the proper tools, the old dead hair comes out while any new, good hair stays in place.
Now, I should make a note here: most cairns are not groomed this way. Unless they are show dogs most cairns get taken to the groomer to be trimmed or clipped just like any other small dog. For 97% of people, this is fine (and certainly MUCH easier), but there is a consequence to doing it this way. The hair follicle grows differently than ours and over time, trimming it off—instead of pulling it out and allowing a new one to grow in—will soften and damage the coat. Cairns are supposed to have a harsh, weatherproof coat, and cutting the hair almost surely gets rid of that texture and rain-resistant benefit.
I've searched far and wide, and there are virtually no groomers around here who will hand strip a dog. It is extremely labor intensive, and I determined that if I wanted her to have a natural, proper, hand stripped coat, I would have to do it myself. I actually enjoy it too. It's kind of calming and a bit like creating a sculpture. If my allergies and lungs could tolerate it, I might have switched careers to groom dogs, but that's just not a good idea.
I cannot tell you how many hours I've spent thinking about and agonizing over what to do about Josie's coat. I want to keep it rough and how it's "supposed" to be because I do like that look. It looks more natural, there's better color variety, and I like the harsh feel of it. Plus, it's much better for her skin to get rid of the dead hair.
Over the years, I've taken her to two different groomers in town. I became frustrated with the first one, then tried a second one. I started to groom Josie a little more myself, then would take her to my second groomer for her to tidy her up. She did a good job, but I started to worry way too much of Josie's coat was getting clipped.
Back in May, at the cairn terrier event at Purina Farms, I met one of Josie's Instagram friends from California. She was the sweetest lady and gave me a crash course in grooming Josie the right way. It was amazing, getting a hands on lesson, and I started to think I might actually be able to do this!
Since May, I've worked on Josie here and there, small areas at a time. I finally bought a grooming table, which was pretty much the final 'tool' I needed to fully commit to this.
Last Friday was the day! After about five or so smalls sessions, about 30-45 minutes each, on and off the table, we finally finished! And I think she looks really good! It's not perfect, but I'm still learning.
I'm just so darn proud I can do it! There are still some areas I trim with a scissors, because battling with her to tug out her hairs just isn't worth it. Most of it comes out easily, but some of it does not. Some areas, like her belly, are very very sensitive and simply don't need to be stripped, they can be trimmed up.
I've been smiling at her every time I see her, knowing this is the product of my hard work. She looks very cute, and she also looks like she lost a few pounds with so much of her hair gone haha.
Here's the before and after:
No comments:
Post a Comment