Three dogs today, and three completely different ideas about what spa day should be. One was a puppy who thought the dryer was a monster, one could not stop giving kisses, and one threw a tantrum you could hear from the driveway. Here is how Tuesday went in the van!
Nala the Shy Little Puppy
Nala was up first, and Nala is a puppy. Not very old at all — I do not think she is even a year yet. She has a thick, dense coat with real substance to the hair itself, and she is not much of a shedder.
She was shy about the whole thing. Every step of the way she wanted to know where her mom was. But she let me do everything without a single complaint. I took her nails down and trimmed off a dew claw, and she stood through her bath like a champ. The dryer was the one thing she could not get behind. She is not a fan of the high-velocity dryer yet, so we towel dried her as far as we could and took the rest slow. The cotton balls scared her the first time around — she shook them right out — so we did a second round and she let me.
By the end of it she was yawning and half asleep. She is the sweetest little thing, and she was very happy to see her mom come back.
Tina the Kissing Machine
Tina was next, and Tina is a kisser. That is her whole personality. She kissed my forehead, my nose, my hands — she does not care where the kisses land, she just has to give them. I told her we could cuddle all day but she still had to get groomed. She did not agree with that.
She got five-eighths all over, and I shaped her face out round and adorable. She has a little hot spot under her chin that has healed up, but the fur that grew back over it came in much darker than the rest. She has one dew claw on one side and none on the other, and her nails were no problem at all. The shampoo smelled like citrus, which she had no opinion about whatsoever.
We did get her picture, though it took a few tries. She kept moving. I got a good one.
Ellie the Rescue
Ellie was last, and Ellie is a rescue. She is a long dog — genuinely long, nose to tail — with a coat that goes on forever and a fluffy bum that is a project all on its own.
Ellie’s thing is her feet. She does not want you touching her toes and she will tell you all about it. She threw a full tantrum over her nails and then spent the rest of the groom making sure everyone in chat felt sorry for her. She also had a knot behind one ear, and she let me trim that out. She got her feet trimmed, her tail cleaned up, and her ears cleaned, and by the end she had settled into the whole thing.
Then came the bows. I had pink hair bows and I could not resist — she got one in each ear and she looked adorably ridiculous in the best possible way. Her dad came in partway through and her tail started going the second she spotted him. She thought she was leaving right then. She was not, and she made sure we all knew how she felt about that too.
Three dogs, three very different personalities. My van is full of hair, my ears are still ringing from Ellie’s opinions, and I would do it all again tomorrow.
Until next time, my furry friends!
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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.
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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.