Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Pretty, Prissy, Pampered Poodles

Standard poodles are almost the perfect breed of dog. If they could groom themselves, then they'd be absolutely perfect! But, that said, I'd rather have to groom my non-shedding poodles than sweep up / wipe off dog hair from a shedding dog any day of the week!

I know how to groom my dogs and, until this past fall, I did groom them. But first the table I used outside to groom them on broke and then I wore out my clippers. So I decided to have them groomed professionally until we get the house built. We will have a bathroom in the utility/storage room that will be fitted as a grooming room. I cannot wait! How convenient! And much cheaper!!! The first time I brought them in, I thought I would pass out when she gave me the total! However, by bringing them in on a routine basis every 4-6 weeks, the she gives me a very deep discount. And I appreciate that! Especially knowing that for me to groom all three girls myself in one day is a full eight to nine hours if they are in long coat. Almost four hours of that is blow drying time alone!


Abrial Before

But I love our groomer. She owns standard poodles herself and we always chit-chat about our Perfect Poodles. So here are some before and after pictures of my "girls."

Delilah Before - My Heart - I call her my "Mary Poppins" - She's Practically Perfect in Every Way


Cosette, Delilah, and Abrial After (it's so hard to photograph a black dog indoors). Cosette is such a ham and never meets a stranger. Delilah is definitely a Mama's Girl. Abrial is very sweet, but shy, and is the resident tennis ball hog.

Cosette showing off her "sweetheart cut" - Delilah has a sweetheart cut as well. Abrial is to small for it to look good, so she is in a kennel clip.

What you don't see in these "after" pictures are their bright pink toenails (yes, my choice). I did remove their bows because for some reason she put one bow in the middle of their topknots rather than two bows, one over each ear, and I didn't like the single bow. Their bows were also bright pink to match their toenails, which matches the pink hibiscus flowers in their matching collars (and, yes, we have a matching leash with a triple connector for all three dogs to walk at the same time).

When we first got Delilah, I said I would never do any of the frou-frou nail polish and bow thing on her. Then STEVE brought her to be groomed for the first time. It was purple nail polish, purple bows, purple bandana - all requested by MY HUSBAND! He said he thought Brooke and Morgan would like it. (Yes, dear, whatever you say.) And if I don't have their nails done, the girls will do them! We have a collection of 60-second-dry polishes in colors to match all our collars and leashes! Girls must have accessories, you know!

5 comments:

Cynthia said...

My mom used to always take our poodle to the groomers every month. She'd come home with a different style each time (LOL).

Anonymous said...

We always had poodles growing up. Our poodles were toy poodles though. I know mom would get the dog groomed every 6 weeks or so. It only took a few hours though.
Your doggies are cute!! Poodles are nice b/c they don't shed.
Our dog now is a bassett and lab mix and she sheds like CRAZY!! lol
Laura
SHS

Unknown said...

My SIL has a sweet little toy poodle (she's appeared here on the blog). I was surprised to discover that the little poodles are so much more active than the big ol' standards. I would have thought it the opposite. Just one of those things to make you go, "Hmmm..."

Kathy in WA said...

Accessories are so important!! :)

Kristine said...

So dh continues to say he wants a German Shepherd. I don't. I grew up with them (show dogs) and they are just toooo hairy. He wants something for protection.

I continue to push for a Dobie. He's not too thrilled.

Tonight I mention a standard poodle. He almost fell off his chair laughing so hard.

Well, I tried. I'd love to have a doggy that looks like SUCH a person! I might not even notice when my own human kids move out . . .