TJ has been looking fairly scruffy lately, as evidenced by his polar bear paws and his massive winter coat. This would all be fine if we were not, in fact, three seasons past the need for negative windchill coverage.
We tried all summer to keep up with the brushing and the grooming, but our little 60-pounder produced an almost equivalent amount of fur. And he HATES being brushed. Not just dislikes it, or grudgingly tolerates it, but literally gets up and sulks away and buries his nose under the chair in the corner of the living room HATES it.
Don't let the smile fool you. That is one unhappy dog.
When times get desperate, Adam and I will tag-team it to brush out what we can in the 5 minutes we have before TJ overpowers us with his sad eyes.
(If you will kindly note the small fur pile in the background - that is approximately 3 minutes' worth of grooming on a good day. Who knows what could be accomplished with an hour!)
We took TJ to a self-serve dog wash (really wish I had photos from that experience), and then we followed up with a self-serve haircut (meaning: we used our kitchen scissors to trim up his legs so that he quits bringing cockleburs home). We left a few fur remnants in the yard to help the birds and squirrels build their nests, next year.
I'm telling you, I've never seen a more beautiful dog!
And look at how happy he is to be all nice and clean!
In case you missed it, here are his precious puppy feet. No more polar bear paws this summer! I am not joking when I say that I could kiss his little paws, and yes, I know where they've been.
I'd say we have one more month of summer before he grows it all back and starts bulking up for winter. Totally worth the effort!
