Anyone that has or had Cocker Spaniels knows that it takes a great deal of time and patience to keep them groomed. As I mentioned in previous posts I have had a couple of lessons so far and I ordered my grooming supplies. So I figured I would try my hand at it. There's nothing like doing it yourself to learn. I started with my quiet buff girl, Lily and then my black girl Lexi. They both were very cooperative and did great. They both came out fairly good for a first time on my own. A couple of days later I tried my buff and white girl, Hope. Well, I'm glad I didn't start with her! She is only 8 months old so she was all over the place. I tried everything. I had someone hold her, just had the clippers on by her, ect, ect. Finally I found it worked best for just her and I to be in the room and to take a very, very calm approach. I went slow with her and gave her breaks in between. Not to mention the goldfish crackers that were a good bribe : ). Finally after many hours and my first (I'm sure of more to come) grooming cut to my finger....ouch! those thinning shears are sharp! we were done and she looked pretty good. Both her and I were exhausted after that...lol. I have trimmed Sadie's face and ears a couple of times since my last lesson with Judith but I want to wait until we can get together for another lesson to do the rest of her. I know I can do it, I just want the moral support to guide me through it.
For the first couple of weeks of handling classes there were only one or two other dogs there. The past three weeks there have been six or seven. It has been a good mix of different situations for Sadie. She's not the youngest one there anymore and she has been the demonstrator of how to use the "Happy Legs" for the other puppies. Although even now that there are younger puppies, she is still referred to as "the little baby cocker". Tonight at class there was a different instructor, which was good because she had some new helpful tips and things to do. Also it hopefully helped get Sadie and I used to the fact that things will be set up differently at shows and there will be different people.
On another handling practice note....my husband made me a set of "Happy Legs" for Sadie to practice on at home. I had looked up ordering them online and they are $200. YIKES!
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