Natasha and Nikki

This is Natasha. I told you a little about her in my last post - she was boarding with us while her parents were on Christmas vacation. She had been with us for about a week now, and she was so ready to go home. She knows she gets a bath right before she gets picked up, so she was full of energy. Natasha is a little old, so she's arthritic. I leave her on the floor because the stress of putting her on the table is unnecessary when I can just sit on the floor with her. All that fur on the table is hers; I had to take the hair off the brush 3 times, so there are 3 piles. She's a Golden Retriever, so it's natural that she sheds a lot. You can't really see it, but there's also some hair on the floor where I shaved the hair from in between her pads and trimmed her butt and feet. Anywho, just thought you would like to see one of the dogs...

And this is Nikki. She actually belongs to the head Vet Tech at Sky Lake. So she's a really frequent customer. Nikki is a Bichon Frise, and one of the first things Losa (Nikki's owner) said to me was, "Can you do a Bichon?" I laughed and told her yes. Apparently, the last groomer wasn't very 'technically trained'. That means she wasn't trained to do the technical cuts: Bichon, Scotties, Poodles, Cockers, Schnauzer, Westies, and so on. So the first time I did Nikki, Losa kept coming in and taking pictures as I bathed, brushed, and cut her. When I was done, she couldn't stop telling me what a great job I did. Personally, I thought her first time, she looked like crap, but that's because her mom had taken a chunk out of her bangs, and it needed time to grow out, lol. But it's grown out now, and this was her second time getting a haircut from me. As you can see, Nikki (and this is how all Bichon SHOULD look) has tightly curled hair on her body and head (the tail is straight for the most part). And if you don't brush them, they look messy. Losa keeps Nikki short for two reasons: 1, it's easier upkeep - you don't have to really worry about mats and whatnot. 2, this is Miami. A lot of owners keep their dogs short because the second you walk outside, you wanna come right back in... Anywho, I didn't take much off, just enough to make her neat-looking. And she's a good dog for the most part. I also have a close-up of her face, because Bichon have a specialized face - it's supposed to be round, like a ball. Of course, because she's a pet, it's not perfect, but I think she looks OK. I don't put bows on Nikki (her mom keeps a bandana on her), but one day I'll show you guys some of the dogs I put bows on. If anyone wants to know, I gave her a puppy cut using an Andis 5/8" blade. For now, that was my Monday. I hope you enjoyed!