Heart attack

Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Alfie Has A Haircut

I had seen a mobile dog-grooming van in Coffee Hall when I had gone to the shop around a month or two ago and we had decided that Alfie needed a trim-up. Poppy does, too, but she's another matter. So I found them on the internet (who doesn't have a website these days? Seems illogical to not if you want to do any sort of business.) They're called Palmer's. So I went to their website and then emailed and had a response. Couldn't fit Alfie in for at least two months ahead. So today the lady arrived. I was getting stressed as I know how Alfie gets when we are about to go for a walk with the dogs (see earlier posts.) I found that, if I had his lead in my pocket and he couldn't see it (which is half of the problem. If he sees the lead he starts getting excited and then we get lots of barking and scratching. I have got scratches on my legs caused by him jumping on my lap. I'm hoping the nails will be trimmed sufficiently to prevent this happening as they are quite sharp.) Anyway, as soon as I saw the van turn up I managed to get his lead on without any noise at all. Quite remarkable. Considering what he can get like. A sort of schizophrenic dog, turning into the Tasmanian Devil or Mr Jekyll turning into Mr Hyde. He's usually very calm and peaceful but can become quite difficult.

Before the Palmer's grooming lady turned up in her van, the Council recycling lorry came to take the old fridge-freezer away. I had booked it a week ago to have it taken.  I went on-line and had to pay £20 to the Council. I was trying to avoid paying, but if it meant getting rid of the wretched thing, so be it. We couldn't possibly take it in our car, apart from it being far to heavy,  it wouldn't have fitted in the back and would have probably damaged the car. and there seemed no other way to get rid of it. We left it out thinking that someone might come past and take it, travellers or somebody or other, as they did with the old bedstead and the old cooker. They were gone within hours of being put out on the grass at the front of the house. Which reminds me, someone has cut the grass for us. There was someone cutting the grass along the road-side in Eaglestone the other day, so it may have been them. It was done a few months ago, much to my surprise and it did need doing again, as there were dandelions growing which is a sure sign that the grass is too long. Gary from next door has a habit of cutting it, as the grass from his garden sort of runs into ours, so he does it. He has a decent petrol mower which makes life easier and simpler. I did the grass in the rear of the house on Monday. It took no more than 20 minutes. I couldn't believe how quickly I managed to do it. I thought it might be a good idea to do it as soon as possible, what with rain and it was relatively short and didn't take a lot of effort. Ours is an electric mower which needs a cable and it isn't probably as efficient as a petrol mower, but considering it's got a  couple of very flimsy looking blades, it's surprisingly effective. I don't think it's designed to cut the sort of rough grass that we have, certainly not high-quality turf that you'd find in the average garden and the ground is incredibly uneven. It's best to keep it short because last year we let it grow far too long and we didn't have a decent mower and had to get a gardener in who had a proper mower. It was so long it was beginning to seed and whenever we let the dogs out they almost got lost in it!




Alfie after his haircut. He was so excited to see me, he kept running around and barking, hence the photograph with his mouth wide open!

About two hours after Alfie began his grooming session, I got a knock on the door and the young lady delivered him back to me! Quite a dramatic transformation. His face is now easier to see (he'll be able to see out better now!) as his fringe was getting in the way. The rest of his coat is nice and neat and very tidy, all the nasty knotty bits have gone, especially the horrible matted mess on his tail and his nails are short and neat. What a great job she's done! We now have to decide about Poppy, as she really needs a trim. She's got a very dense coat and it really needs stripping and her nails are in a definite need of a trim. She won't let you touch her nails and the last time we took her to be groomed at Pets At Home she was very difficult and the groomer wasn't able to do a good job as Poppy tried to bite her. Not an easy job by any means.

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