Today, Pinot and I visited Ann McMillan (Gratia shelties) in Calgary to get a few pointers on grooming and keeping a "non-show" sheltie looking like a nice, cared- for sheltie. Pinot, my sheltie, is not ever going to be shown in the conformation ring - I got her to be my "training" and "agility dog" - but I still like dogs to have a clean and well-cared for look and knew I had a bit of a learning curve ahead of me in regards to what to do with all of that sheltie coat...
What a great educational journey this was today! And what an amazingly friendly and helpful breeder Ann is! Thanks to this little lesson today, I think I now have the very basics (that is the absolute minimal basics) under my belt to know some ABCs for how to keep my sheltie looking good....what to do with all that hair on sheltie "pants".... in what order to use combs and brushes for best results, what to do with the hair under and on top of their feet as well as...the thing that has puzzled me the most: the ears and the "uncontrollable hair fire" coming out of the insides of the ears...
Below, a few photos....
At home I always brush and groom the dogs on the kitchen floor, so this was actually the first time ever for Pinot to be up on a grooming table.
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| Slowly getting used to the idea of being up here... |
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Here...the lesson on the "rear end"... |
Then taking a look at the current "state of the ears"...(and part of Pinot's ear reality is that, because I just could not stay motivated to keep up with the glueing of the ears...the result is this unique "one UP and one down" ear style...which might actually make it easier to groom and cut as there is no real symmetry anyway :-)
And after Ann's nice and quick "touch up"...wow - what a difference that made!!
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| Rear |
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| Front |
Meeting the resident shelties...and asking "Are we DONE yet? Going soon?"
At home... posing for a final "that's that" photo. I just LOVE THOSE EARS!!! What a difference that made! Thanks, Ann - you made my day!
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