Bad Dog Parents

Bless her heart...this is the story of Lucy's first professional haircut.

Lucy is our first baby. We got her the day we graduated from Alabama when we had been married about 4 months. We have loved her through a lot and she is very dear to us, but since having human children, she has kind of taken a back seat.

Lucy is a golden retriever, scientific name Canis lottahairicus. I vacuum at least once every day, people, and our house is still covered in orange hair. I used to brush her daily and her hair was in pretty good shape, but I don't have much time to do this anymore. As a result, her hair gets tangled and matted and is just out of control. I have been wanting to get her groomed for a long time because I hoped it would help with all the shedding and I knew she could look so pretty! The one thing holding me back was the cost. Most places I called wanted around $90 to groom a golden retriever of her size (she's a big girl).

I found a great place in Owens Cross Roads (the other side of the world as far as Huntsville is concerned) that said they would only charge $45! I thought it must be a fluke and even warned the groomer on the phone that Lucy is big and has a lot of hair that hasn't been taken care of and is a little (ok, a lot) crazy. The groomer stuck to her price, so I practically hopped in the car right then hoping to get Lucy in there before she changed her mind.

I dropped Lucy off around 9:30 am and the groomer asked me what I wanted. Apparently there are some options with golden retriever hairdo's. A lot of people this time of year shave their dogs so they will be cooler during the summer. I decided this was the way to go so she could just have a fresh start and hopefully we could keep her hair in shape as it started growing longer. I got a little nervous when the groomer told me to make sure praise her and not to laugh when we picked her up and to try to put sunscreen on her when she was outside for the first few weeks after her haircut. I told her to use her discretion, but not to cut it so short that the other golden retrievers in the neighborhood would make fun of her.

So, Lucy was finally done around 5 that evening. We definitely made that groomer work! There is no telling how many cheerios and peas were hiding in that hair. We all piled in the car to go pick her up. Most of you have seen what greeted me through the door of the groomers, and lets just say I was shocked. Alex and I tried to keep a straight face and give her compliments, but Jackson actually pointed at her and laughed the whole way home. Poor Lucy.
I'm happy to report that her hair has already grown and she really does seem to feel good without all that hair weighing her down.

Here are before and after pictures of the poor thing.