Naked Mole Rats

As most of you know, I own two Great Pyrenees dogs. The are the basic equivalent of 150 pound Polar Bears, but with longer fur. (Actually, one Pyr is 119 lbs, the other is 168)

Seriously, in a blizzard, when the weatherman implores you to "Do the right thing and bring your pet indoors," well....... that's usually when my dogs are the most comfortable. In a snow drift, belly up, eyes glazed over in bliss and snowflakes melting on their little black noses.

For many years we've brought 'the girls' to the dog groomer down the street in late May, and then again at the end of July. Our groomer, Cindy, (bless her) always returned the girls to us, sparkly shiny-white, soft as a baby seal pup, with their fur in a 'puppy cut' about 1 inch in length. Basically Cindy took 30 pounds of matted, dirty, stinky fur off and returned to us the wonderful beloved pets that were trapped underneath.

I was set for the late May grooming ritual.... except that now Cindy retired. No groomer.

I had yucky, matted, dirty dogs who were panting uncontrollably in a mere 70 degrees. I called Cindy, and she generously offered to let me borrow a pair of industrial dog clippers. (The only kind known to work on dogs like mine.)

I figured..... "How hard could it be??"

I figured wrong. My dogs look like naked mole rats. Only not as cute. There are entire swaths of dog that I coudn't shave because I couldn't get the ol' gals to stand up long enough for me to do the 'odd spots.' Whatever I could reach while they were laying down looks goooood, though.

I swear, someone is going to call the Humane Society on me because my dogs look like they're suffering from a severe case of mange.

Pictures tomorrow.