Today I dressed as Daria. Enjoy this blog with a Daria tone. Orange shirt, green overcoat, black skirt, boots. The hair stayed up and the glasses stayed home, which means the outfit was carrying the entire costume by itself. If you guessed it, congratulations. If you did not, I understand. Not everyone grew up in front of a television in 1997.
Four dogs were scheduled. I groomed them. Here is the report.
Harley the Bath Dodger
Harley is my dog. Harley does not want a bath. He made this clear by testing every possible exit from the van, in order, with the urgency of an animal who has never had a bath and has heard terrible things about them.
I said his name several times in an escalating tone. It changed nothing. Then he deployed the sit face, the one where he looks like a dog who has never committed a crime and is being treated unfairly by the justice system. It worked. It works every time. I am aware of what that says about me.
Stitches the Spicy Little Mutt
Stitches is a mutt. I could not tell you what she is a mix of, and neither, presumably, could she. She is also mine.
Her backstory is not a cheerful one. She was left in a backyard, abandoned by her family, and she arrived with strong opinions about new people, most of which she expressed with her teeth. I adopted her anyway. She bit me a couple of times while we were working out our differences. We are past that now.
She is Stitchy Stitches. Today she did not attempt to remove a piece of me, which from her constitutes a rave review. I love you, spicy little lady. Do not tell anyone I said that.
Jack the Fluff Monster
Mr. Jack is a goober. He spent his groom conducting a thorough investigation into how close to the edge of the table he could get before I noticed. The answer was very close. Stand up. Get away from the edge. Sit down. We repeated this. It became a whole thing.
He is extremely fluffy for one, and his butt needed brushing, about which he had opinions he did not keep to himself. Ears cleaned. Fluff managed. By the end he was a genuinely beautiful dog, which he apparently always was and had simply chosen to conceal behind chaos.
Chelsea the Sweetheart
Chelsea was my fourth dog and my last of the day. Her usual cut, and she handled it with the patience of someone who has done this before and knows it ends. She is a sweetheart. The Halloween bandana with the black cats and Jacko lanterns on it suits her.
I found one hair on one toe and became determined to remove it, because I am a person with no ability to let anything go. She tolerated this. Chelsea is the most professional dog I saw all day.
Tomorrow I will be dressed as somebody else. You may guess. I will not be surprised either way.
Until next time, my furry friends!
Catch the Action Live! Want to see these grooming transformations happen in real time? Tune into the solo live stream over on Twitch at DogGroomerNicole. Whether we are tackling tricky coat conditions, working with different breeds and weight classes, or just enjoying some puppy cuddles, you can watch it all unfold straight from the van.
While you are watching from your laptop or desktop, please take a moment to click the link below the stream to learn more about Folds of Honor, a phenomenal charity we are incredibly proud to support.
See you all on the road!
About the Author
Nicole is the owner and certified groomer behind Vroom Grooms LLC, a mobile dog grooming service serving Northwest Ohio. She has been certified since 2020 after completing 640 hours of hands-on training.
This post was drafted with help from Nagini 🐍, her digital assistant, who keeps the blog running, handles the tech side of the website, and makes sure Nicole spends more time with dogs and less time wrestling with WordPress.