My Pets: WOW

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WOW WOW WOW

I am not talking about World of Warcraft.

Even though my kids have been trying to get me to play that game for awhile now.

I want to talk about something that a grooming friend told me about when we were at Hershey this past September.

If you ever have a chance to go to a Grooming Convention, GO.

It is so worth it.

It helps rejuvenate you.

It helps you love your job again.

It is a great way to meet other groomers, and share stories and tips.

Anyway, back to the new product I bought at Hershey.

This little 2.5 oz. bottle helped make a usually very unpleasant groom go very smooth today.

So smooth that I am still having trouble believing how it helped me, and I was there, I am the one who used it on 'Shadow'.

Who is 'Shadow'?

He is a Chow mix that is a nightmare to groom.

His owners have given him a tranquilizer when they bring him to be groomed.

It never works on him.

I have asked his owners not to give him the tranquilizer.

I do not like working on dogs that have been tranquilized.

It either makes them so drowsy, that they can't stand, or it does not kick in until the dog goes home.

I also do not like being responsible in case the dog has a reaction to the tranquilizer.

My grooming friend from Pennsylvania, really talked up this product, so I decided to buy a bottle and try it.

I am very lucky that most of my furry clients are good dogs.

I have used Home Alone about a dozen times since Hershey.

I have used it on barkers, biters, and nervous dogs.

It helped calm the barkers, some more then others.

It helped calm the nervous dogs, again, some more then others.

The thing is, I did notice a change.

As for the biters, not much change, still biting, just not as much.

Home Alone is an Holistic Aromatherapy spray made just for pets.

Back to 'Shadow'.

'Shadow' is one of those dogs that freak out at everything.

When you touch him he acts like you have fire in your fingers.

He barks the whole time you groom him.

He twists and squirms violently when you pick him up.

He never stops moving.

He pulls on the lead and trys to kill himself the whole time you work on him.

He punches you with his paw to move you away from him.

Sometimes I think he does that in the tub just to splash shampoo in my face.

He falls over in the tub when you try to shampoo his legs, and bites you for touching his front legs.

All of these pictures are blurred because he never stops moving.

I said that already didn't I?

He barks and barks and barks and barks and bra.....

Sorry I got carried away.

'Shadow' is the kind of dog you groom as quickly as possible, send him home, and try to forget about him until the next time.

'Shadow's' owners brought a tranquilizer in with him today in case I changed my mind and wanted to use it.

I was not going to use it.

I figured that I would do the best I could on a moving target, get him washed, dried, trimmed and out.

Right before I went to get him out of his kennel, I happened to pick something up off the dresser by my table and saw the Home Alone spray.

I thought; 'I wonder if that would have any effect on 'Shadow'?

I wasn't really expecting much, 'Shadow' is such an over the top nervous wreck, to the point that I think there might be some brain damage going on with him.

So I picked up the spray and put it in my smock pocket.

I put 'Shadow' in the tub, and took the above pictures of him while he was having his fit and barking.

Then I sprayed two squirts of Home Alone into the palm of my hand.

I rubbed my hands together and then rubbed 'Shadow's' nose and muzzle a little before he snatched it away.

I rubbed my hands down the front of my smock to put the spray there also.

I turned the sprayer on waiting for the water to warm up.

Before the water finished warming up, I noticed that 'Shadow' was no longer barking in my ear.

He sneezed a couple of times and then just stood there.

Stood there.

I was so surprised, that I called to my daughter to see if she saw what I was seeing.

'Shadow' was standing there, he wasn't barking, pulling, turning, moving, or struggling to get out of the tub.

He sat there and let me soap him up.

He let me touch his legs.

He let me scrub his rear.

He did not bark.

He did not bite.

He let me move him around with no fuss.

He let me stand him up without trying to jump over my shoulder out of the tub.

He did not punch me with his paw, or get shampoo in my face.

I moved fast because I was sure this was not going to last.

He stood on the drying table without the noose and let me dry him.

He only barked at me once when I was drying around his face.

As soon as I stopped drying around his face, he stopped barking.

Look at him stand on my table!

You have to understand, my husband usually has to stand in front of 'Shadow' to keep him on the table, or keep him from climbing up on my shoulder trying to get away.