Getting Cleaned Up

The air has been full of water all week. Dad and I are troopers though: a little bit of rain isn't go stop us from going on long walks! Sure, we try to stay on the green stuff and away from the mushy brown dirt but we still go for long walks in the place with fields.

A soaked puppy
When I get wet, my fur goes all curly. I like it that way but, for some reason, neither my Mom nor my Dad seem to like the curly hair as much as I do. They always bring out big soft pieces of stuff and try to make me all dry again.

Of course, with the wet and the mushy brown dirt and the sticks out there, I end up something of a mess all over. I get sticks stuck in my fur, especially around my soft underside and my legs, and my feet change colour, often darker than the dirt itself! Sometimes it's so bad I have to step into a bucket of warm wet and wash it off. I don't like that very much.

My Dad just shakes his head. Here we have the wettest week in memory, with muck and mire and sticks and Mom away so no one is here to brush me out properly, and we've got a visit to the groomer scheduled! Poor groomer! I don't think she expected me to be in quite the mess I was in when I got there!

Marlee just back from the groomer
Our Groomer is very nice. She always talks kindly to me and tries not to let it hurt when she cuts and trims and brushes all my stuff. And I always come away from a visit with her looking and smelling like a flower.

If you look at the second picture of me, you'll see what a difference it makes when I spend an afternoon at the groomer! Don't I look pretty? I even have green bows on my ears. And, as I said, I smell like a flower.

Problem is, I don't LIKE smelling like a flower. So, seconds after Dad took that second photo, I rolled around with another four legger on the ground to wipe some of the scent off (and roll some black patches on!). Oh well. My fur is shorter at least, even if, an hour after we left the groomer, it's not much cleaner than it was before.