Month: June 2015

Today was the day.  It happens, like,  four times a year….but it seems like 20!  In an earlier post I shared that I can count so you have to believe me I got the number down.  Don’t ask me, ask Momma, she trained me.  All I know Momma holds up 2 fingers, says ‘Two, Jakita’, I raise my left front paw, put it down, then raise my right front paw.  If she says ‘Four Jakita’, I raise my left front paw twice, then my right front paw twice.  You are absolutely correct.  I am amazing but… I have gone off topic (again).

What happens four times a year at Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and Canada Day, is Grooming.

You have to look good at the family parties.  It is highly competitive and so depressing if you look scruffy in comparison to the other family pets. A girl has her pride, you know, especially a high achieving, sensitive Senorita Jakita. And, Canada Day on July 1, means the Bikini Cut, AKA,(also known as)  the coolest of the cool summer cut. It is very short, yet I look leaner and (maybe meaner), I believe, since my double coat of thick wavy, fluffy fur makes me appear chunkier and lazier than I am, really.

Now I have gone through my share of groomers.  First a neighbour suggested her groomer, who absolutely went on about how I was the best behaved puppy she had ever groomed, so I liked her.  But she had strange ways, saying she would be away and could not make an appointment, then do the neighbor’s two dogs the very day she was out-of-town.  A rather out-of-the-box way to attract business, ya think?

Since Momma had no one she knew she took me to a pet spa and even though they claimed they knew how to groom a Havanese, I ended up looking like a Poodle, which is just fine for a poodle, but rather confusing for me!  Well, Momma had her standards, even before I wrote the book on Policies and Procedures for All Creation.  She would not be taking me back there in a hurry.

Then a family member said her friend had a grooming shop so after emails (account was not activated) and phone calls (could not leave message) that weren’t answered, Momma went back to her family member who was able to get through.  A miracle for sure.  The groomer phoned very apologetic and an appointment was made.  She was very good at grooming but always hard to reach.  Although she was very kind, there were always barking dogs that both unnerved and annoyed me.

One day when Momma and I were out for a walk, a neighbour, who also has a little dog named Buddy, suggested her Groomer, Annie, a fellow Newfie.  Now if you are a Canadian, you already know.  I can’t say if it is the air they breath, or the fact that they are an island, a land on to themselves, setting their own social rules, but they are the most hospitable, fun-loving, yet compassionate Canadians, coast to coast….the Come From Away Musical smashing success on Broadway sums it up succinctly.

I love Annie but I am not so keen on the grooming. I mean I am no frou–frou, I am a herding dog (well, at least sheep and chicken in Cuba).  I have a strain of the Bichon French blood but stilll…not me… I don’t want to suffer to be beautiful.

Still, Annie is a good soul.  She answers her phone calls.  She sets up appointments and keeps them.  I can tell she values me as a Customer (or Momma, who pays). How bizarre!  You would think she was running a business.  She is an example to the industry.  Most importantly her empathy for puppies shines through, so I endure because I love the end results.  Though I may look like a sheep that has been sheared, good news is that all the tangles and knots are gone.  My tail is a plume once more, cascading over my back.  I feel so light, so free, like a puppy, again.

 

Come to think of it, maybe the French are on to something.….  Even little doglets must suffer to be beautiful. So… find an Annie! She makes the pain worth the gain.

PS:  Annie tells Momma I am the best dog she grooms. No wonder I ♥ my Annie!

 

 

 

Now I know Momma and I like to do some what satirical, non-provable views on how we see the world through our ever-changing kaleidoscope of life.  Our readers seek amusement, not tears. However our hearts tell us it is time to speak up on a very troubling subject.

There is a misguided belief that all dog owners are good people and for the most part, they are, because otherwise how could an instinctive, loyal dog bond with them. However, that all dog owners are good, well, that would be a myth.  Momma says the majority of  ‘dog’ people are outstanding but some are idiots – her word.  You have to forgive Momma.  She is judgmental and critical.  She can not help that.  She is a Virgo, you know.

Still, even as an Aquarius, I have to agree with Momma.

I am going to share some shady behaviour we have seen that makes us despair for the dogs.

Take Little-Miss-Glued-to-the-Cell, sauntering down the sidewalk, dog on a loose leash, completely oblivious to others on the sidewalk, or the traffic whizzing by.  It is all, ‘OMG, did you see that skank? Totally LOL.’  Meanwhile, her doggie, as out of control as Little-Miss-Glued-to-the-Cell, meanders off the sidewalk, on the street as cars honk and brake, trying to avoid puppy-dearest. Do you think she even noticed? Well, she did give one guy who slowed down to yell at her, the finger.  Momma and I are thinking she is not receptive to self-improvement, from what we saw. She is probably the same person who will not pick up after her dog.  I say, confine Little-Miss-Glued-to-the-Cell and her dog to their back yard, till she learns, if she learns.

You all remember that sad story about the German Sheppard chained to the bench in the park in the deepest throes of a Canadian winter (Read Jakita’s Views on Dog Parks).  Who does that?  I still get misty eyed as I remember how forlorn that dog was. The good news was that so many had phoned the Animal Shelter to report it and one of those callers offered to take it.  Only in Canada! Pity.

Then there are those Not-In-My-House Owners that get a dog but will not let it in their home.  The poor dog is baking in the summer, freezing in the winter and I am guessing, developing no social skills.  The neighbors are all terrified that it will escape  its prison walls and wreak havoc on their precious children and pets. Don’t the owners know, regardless of size, dogs have a heart that beats like theirs, feelings of loneliness and hunger for companionship.  Like humans, dogs need love and empathy to become a well-rounded part of a society.  Take the dog in inside and well, I’d like to put Not-In-My-House Owners outside, but Momma says that is too radical.

Another kettle of fish is when It’s-All-About-Me Owners leave their dog, especially the little ones, in the back yard, some without shelter or shade, for long periods.  Some excitable, terrified little dogs can bark for hours, absolutely deafening and disturbing the neighbourhood.  The baby next door, who only just got to sleep, wakes up in a fright and continues to cry as long as that poor little lonesome, frightened puppy is outside barking.  Yeah, take the dog in, self-centered  It’s-All-About-Me Owner.  If you love your dog, protect it, as it protects you.

My all time worse dog owners are the ones we have met up with on occasion, in parks.  These  I-Train-Dogs-By-Training-You Owners have this sorry big brute of a dog on a slender leather belt.  The poor mutt is foaming at the mouth as it sees Momma and I approach.  The I-Train-Dogs-By-Training-You Owners yells to Momma, ‘My dog is not friendly.  You had better take another path.’  What? What did you say? You have an ‘unfriendly’ dog and Momma and I are expected to give you right-of-way?  No one should bring an untrained out-of-control dog to a come-one come-all public park where it may in desperation and ignorance attack the Two or Four Footed, who are on a stroll, seeking zen and inner peace, not an unprovoked canine attack.

 

What to do? Write about it. Scream about it. Shame those deadbeat owners. It is an easy fix. Practise the Golden Rule, ‘Do on to dogs as you would have them do unto you.’ 

PS: All the above are addressed in my Policy and Procedures for All Creation because if I don’t educate the owners, who else will?