Grooming with Mom on Thankful Thursday

Thanks to Brian for hosting Brian’s Thankful Thursday!

Lucy here, with another episode of Grooming with Mom on Thankful Thursday. We’re all real thankful today and every day that Groomer Mom’s Small Dog Grooming business is thriving, and that she’s able to offer the kind of service that creates a less stressful environment for all the pups who come to be groomed.

Today I have a new dog to introduce and a second groom on a puppy. First, the new pup.

This is Annie, a three-year-old Berma-doodle. This is the best picture we could get of her before her groom. ( I think she was looking at me, her Zen Dog.)

Annie used to belong to a family who had a lot of health issues and related expenses. When it became too much for them to take care of her, her new Mom got her. She may be three, but she’s still very puppy-ish, and very “busy” on the table. Here she is after her groom and bath.

Oops, looks like Groomer Mom missed a little strand of hair hanging on her ear. That’s OK, she clipped it after this picture was taken. Isn’t it funny how pictures show up things that someone might miss after staring at the dog (or anything) for over an hour? See ya’ next time, Annie!

You may remember Pippa, a tiny 4-month-old yorkie who was here for the first time back in February. Oops, just remembered that we never told you about Pippa. Groomer Mom forgot to get an “after” picture and when Pippa’s Mom sent her one, she forgot to have her Ace Reporter report on it. Wonder what we can do about Groomer Mom’s memory… So, better late than never, here is Pippa from February at 4 months of age. You can figure out which one is the “before” picture, BOL!

Shortly after Pippa had been here she fell off her people sister’s lap and broke her ankle! She was diagnosed with weak bones. How awful is that!

Now, three months later, Pippa came back for a “full” groom. Previously, Groomer Mom just did some touch-up, what she calls a “mini-groom.” This time Pippa’s Mom wanted “the works!” Her nails had gotten really long but were no bigger around than a tiny pin. And her hair had gotten long, too. Pippa was extremely good on the table, just like was used to it. Groomer Mom kept showing her the tools she was using and talking sweetly to her, and Pippa just let her do what needed done! And you can bet that Groomer Mom was extremely careful that Pippa didn’t fall or jump off the table! Here she is, seven months old, before and after having her “second-ever” groom.

You can probably see that she’s grown some, but she’s still really tiny, probably not more that a couple of pounds. We hope she stays well and comes back to see us soon!

What are you thankful for today?

Lucy, Ace Reporter, signing off with *wags* and *smiles*.

We Lost Another Dear Friend

This is Lucy back again, with the sad news of losing another one of our friends. Those of you who have been with us for a while might remember Chaz, the mighty Toy Yorkshire Terrier. What he lacked in height he made up for in personality. Chaz, along with his sister Chloe, have been visiting Groomer Mom regularly since January, 2017.

At the beginning of May, Chaz began the brave battle for his life. It seemed like everything bad started happening at once, ending when the lymphoma made his life too miserable to stay on this side of the rainbow bridge. His Mama and Daddy are absolutely heartbroken…Chazzie was his Mama’s heart dog. Sadly, many of you know what that’s like. Right now, though, we want to celebrate Chaz’s life in pictures. The first set are from his grooms, as well as from times he stayed with us.

This second set are pictures his Mama sent us. Isn’t he a doll baby?!

Goodbye, precious boy. We send you our love and hope we will all be reunited some day on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.

August 3, 2011 to May 30, 2022

Grooming with Mom on Awww Monday

Hey there folks, this is Lucy, Ace Reporter with another episode of Grooming with Mom. Let’s shout out a huge thanks to Comedy Plus for hosting Awww Monday!

Today we have three new grooms to wow you with. These folks found Groomer Mom on our local Nextdoor app. Let’s start with Rudy, a six pound yorkie who hadn’t been groomed for a while.

Besides pooping and peeing all over the floor, he was (mostly) a good boy. Here he is after his groom.

Now I can hold up my head with pride! Thanks, groomer lady.

Next up is Ollie, a four pound senior citizen yorkie. Groomer Mom failed to get a “before” picture, but she does want me to note that he was the best behaved of all three…other than pooping and peeing on the floor, of course. He was in constant motion, so this is the best picture we could get.

I didn’t know my eyes are so big! Can I go home now?

Finally, here is Trinket, the smallest of the trio, weighing in at two pounds. She was scared and very “active” on the grooming table. She also found it necessary to “relieve” herself all over the floor. Next time the yorkies three will have to stay in their kennels when they’re not on the grooming table or in the tub. Here’s Trinket’s “before” picture.

Trinket’s Mom gave specific instructions on how she wanted her groomed. After Groomer Mom took this picture she cleaned up some hairs sticking out. She also wanted to cut the hair along the sides of her face, but Trinket’s Mom wanted it left, so don’t blame us!

Wags and wiggles from Lucy, Ace reporter, wrapping up today’s session of Grooming with Mom.

Grooming Molly, Cooper & Zeke

Lucy, Ace Reporter, with a story about 3 new grooms.

Once again, JoJo’s Mom sent a co-worker to Groomer Mom. This new client has three pups: two yorkies and a yorkie/dachsund mix. I guess if Chia is a Jacksund, then Zeke would be a Yorksund?

Groomer Mom offers what she has named “winter grooms” when the weather gets cold. With a “winter groom,” the pups gets their face and paws groomed, along with their “private” areas and little touchups where needed. Of course it also includes the removal of ear hair, a nail trim and/or filing, and a bath and brushout. Her clients love this option, and I think the pups appreciate it, too.

Why don’t we start with Zeke? He’s 6 1/2 years old, a quiet, gentle soul, and the largest of the three. This is Zeke after his winter groom.

Do you like the manly tie Groomer Mom gave him for Christmas?

Next up is Molly. She came to us right after her 7th birthday. It is noteworthy that she is JoJo’s mother. This is her pre-groom picture.

All three pups were in similar condition, but this is the only pre-groom picture available.
Here is sweet Molly after her winter groom.

Last up is Cooper, who is 7 1/2 years old. You may have noticed a pattern here…they are all six months apart in age. Cooper is the smallest and wildest of the three. His Mom said she wanted his hair very short around his eyes. And remember, Groomer Mom did not take hair off anyone’s body and legs. In this shot, Cooper is done and ready to go home.

Their Mom was thrilled with the grooms and the price and included a nice tip. Groomer Mom told her they were all good pups and she would welcome them back. Afterward, the new client texted asking if the pups did ok for her, and asking if she would do them again when the time came. Mom reassured her that all went well and answered absolutely!

Today we are joining Brian’s Thankful Thursday, with special thanks to Brian for hosting it!

That’s all for this week’s edition of Grooming with Mom. Lucy, Ace Reporter, signing off until next time.

Grooming with Mom – JoJo

Lucy, Ace Reporter here on the Groom Beat.

Today we have a new yorkie to introduce to you. You may rememer Chaz and Chloe, long -time clients and friends. Their Mom knows JoJo’s Mom. So when JoJo needed a new groomer, her Mom asked, “Who grooms your yorkies? They always look so good on Facebook.” We got four-year-old JoJo in the next day, right after Chaz and Chloe. Here she is after her groom.

Her Mom said it had been four weeks, and apologized about how bad she looked when she dropped her off. Groomer Mom just kinda scratched her head at that one. Four weeks. Not long.

JoJo was scared and saying No! with her mouth when it was nail cutting time. Thankfully Dad was home during the groom and held JoJo in his arms while Groomer Mom trimmed her nails. With just her here and not a lot of barking and other stuff going on, we hope, with time, she will start feeling safer and less afraid. Her Mom loves her very much, so JoJo feeling better will make her happy, too.

JoJo’s Mom said she had been looking for a groomer who worked out of her home instead of one of these drop off and leave all day places. She was thrilled when she came back for her an hour and a half later and asked to make her next appointment. She said the last groomer had her coming every two weeks. (Well, that explains the apology for four weeks.) When Groomer Mom said she grooms her own dog every four weeks, and JoJo would do well with that, she booked the appointment right then.

We are happy to welcome JoJo the Yorkie to our grooming family!

Lucy, Ace Reporter, signing off with another successful groom.


We are joining Comedy Plus with much thanks for hosting Awww Mondays.

Chloe and Chaz Visit

Lucy here with a different kind of report today.

First, Riley has been here with us for about a week. At first he missed his Dad a lot, but he’s settled in and plays with me and adjusted to our “sleep all night” and “regular feeding times” routine.

Riley: My bowl’s empty Mom Amy. I think I could eat a little more.
Lucy: His bowl’s empty Mom, and come to think of it, so is mine.

Do you remember Chloe and Chaz who come to get groomed? They’ve been coming for so long, you probably don’t. So let me re-introduce you to them, which won’t be hard since they are staying here with us while their Mom and Dad run off to Gatlinburg to have a jolly good time. Let’s start with the fast and easy one. This is Chloe.

Where you see her is where she stays. The door’s always open, but she only comes out to go potty (sometimes even outside). Her Mom thinks she was abused as a very young puppy and has never gotten over it. Her dogtor even thought one of her ribs might have been broken. She lets Mom reach in and lift her out and hold her and doesn’t even seem to mind Mom grooming her.
Riley stuck his head in to say hello and you shoulda heard her growl at him. He just laughed and left her alone, which is what she wanted anyhow. This morning Xena stuck her head in Chloe’s kennel (I think she was checking for food). Xexe has learned to back fast and far in her Freestyle training, and she put it to good use this morning when Chloe growled at her!
The other thing about Chloe is she wouldn’t eat her first supper and breakfast here. Mom tried cooked chicken, her dry food, and Riley’s canned food. No luck.

So last night Mom cooked up some hamburger and Chloe ate it all. Here’s her and her brother’s breakfast this morning. Chicken, ground beef and canned dog food.

They both cleaned their plates. Their folks are coming to get them after lunch today. I guess that’s why Chazie got a bath.

Chaz is an outgoing and friendly little guy. He walked in our house like he owned the place. From the start, he wasn’t even afraid of giant Riley or mouthy Xena. He never causes trouble either, he just wants to get along and do whatever the rest of us are doing. So of course, we’ve all treated him proper, just like one of the pack. Riley’s even careful not to step on him, BOL. Chaz does have to wear his belly band all the time in the house or he will “mark” everywhere.

Well, we just heard from their Mom that they are leaving soon for home and will be here after lunch. We’ll end today’s report with this picture that she included with her text.

Bye, bye Chaz and Chloe. I think I might actually miss you!
Love and kisses, Lucy

Awww Monday with Chief

We are joining Comedy Plus with much thanks for hosting Awww Mondays.

Hi, Lucy here. This isn’t an official “Grooming with Mom” post by me, Ace Reporter on the Groom Beat. But it has to do with one of our newer grooms.

You may remember that each time Chief comes, we’ve been noticing the color changes on the puppy’s hair. Mom predicted in October that he had reached his adult coloring. Chief was here last week, and we want to look back to see if there is any change.

Chief is still a very active and wiggly puppy. That means that both grooming and photographing can be challenging. Here are just two of the photo failures.

And here are post-groom pictures of Chief since he started coming to us for his spa day.

I think Mom’s prediction was right. What do you think? You can click on each picture to biggify it.

Lucy (Ace Reporter) giving you wiggles and licks

Grooming with Mom on Awww Monday

Hi again friends. Sometimes Mom feels bad that she doesn’t have a puppy picture of me. I assure her that I looked exactly like I do now, just smaller BOL! Here, let me show you what I mean.

Left: How I think I looked as a puppy. Right: me now.

Today, instead of reporting on new grooms, I’m taking my reporter hat off to show you an awww moment. Slider is a pup who has been coming here for a haircut and bath since January of 2014. I’ve shown you pictures of him, but to refresh your memory – or for those of you who weren’t with us then – here’s a pre and post groom look at him.

OK, maybe not much difference, but it makes his Mom happy.

The new thing I wanted to show you is his puppy picture his Mom shared with us today. Can you even believe it’s the same pup?

I hope to be back soon in my Ace Reporter mode to show you more of Mom’s grooms.

Thanks to Comedy Plus for hosting Awww Mondays.

Love and kisses, Lucy

Grooming with Mom: Georgia and Chief

Hello friends. Lucy Ace Reporter back with you on the Groom Beat.

Xena: Hey Lucy, I thought I would continue with my story today on my blog.

Lucy: First of all, it’s our blog. And Mom asked me to report on our latest new groom today, so you will have to wait until another day. I was just giving Sweetheart Bear some loving time since you’ve been ignoring her lately.

Xena: Coming next week: Xe Tours Paris on her Magic Flying Carpet

Lucy: Hmm, that was easier than I expected. So, moving on, in today’s edition of Grooming with Mom, I bring you Georgia A. Georgia is a very tiny yorkie puppy. She is less than three months old, and this is her first groom. Mom’s previous client – the man named John who sent his daughter here for her tiny yorkie’s first groom (click here if you missed that) – sent Georgia’s family here too. John can’t come any more because he no longer has his own yorkie, but we bet he gets lots of yorkie loving from his friend’s yorkie puppie Georgia and his daughter’s yorkie puppy Chief.

Georgia before her groom

During the groom, Georgia alternated between wanting to crawl onto Mom’s head and giving her sass about everything Mom was doing. Mom instantly fell in love with her and wanted to keep her, but didn’t think that dog-napping would go well for her grooming career.

About 90 minutes later, Georgia looked like this.

Mom trimmed under her eyes more after the picture was taken. We sure hope she grows into her ears.

When her dad picked her up, he told Mom who his folks are. They have Maggie, a poodle /shih tzu mix (pictured here) that Mom has been grooming for several years. Many of you sent prayers and positive thoughts for Maggie’s Mama, who had cancer, and she is fully recovered.

So this was actually a double referral to Mom, from both sets of Georgia’s grandpawrents. And speaking of yorkie puppies Chief was back this past week for his second groom. He did quite a bit better this time, but he screamed with every little bit of hair Mom had to pull from his ears. She was afraid the neighbors would think she was torturing someone, and was glad that the cops didn’t show up. Chief had a dark hair coat his first time here, but he is getting really light.

From what his undercoat shows, we think he is going to be even lighter next time.

Aren’t puppies great?

This is Lucy Ace Reporter signing off with wags and wiggles and a reminder to watch for Xena’s next episode of her adventure tales, coming soon.

Ella and Achilles on Vacation: Day 2

Achilles: So, Lucy, to continue with telling you about the stuff I have to put up with at home… that pig! After all this time, he hasn’t even learned our language. He goes around grunting at us and using body language that me and Ella can’t understand. I used to try to stay out of Morty’s way, but it gets so tiring.

Lucy: But what does he do? And what do you do, my darling?

Here, let me show you Morty’s latest travesty.

I was sleeping peacefully on the couch when he jumped up, laid down next to me, and threw his back leg right across my nose, in front of my eyes. Aghh! I guess it could have been worse…

Lucy: What did you do, dear? Did you bite him?

Achilles: No, no, no. I might look big and intimidating, but you should know I would never hurt a fly. Well, maybe a fly. But I’m a pacifist, like you. Sometimes I get a bit worked up when I see other boy dogs, but I try to keep it under control. Anyhoo, here’s what I did.

Achilles: Enough about me. What have you been doing, beautiful?

Lucy: Hmmm. Mom’s been extra busy grooming during this COVID thingy. I’ve been working tirelessly helping her.

Sometimes I catch the hair so she doesn’t have to sweep it up. And when the pup on the table is nervous, sometime this makes them laugh!

We’ve been getting quite a few new and “haven’t been here for a long time” dogs in to be groomed. The last one was a tiny Yorkie puppy. Dog, was he a handful. Literally.

Finally, Mom agreed to let him lay in her lap while she worked on him.

Mom must have taken her patience pill that day. She said that Chief is only about three months old, and this is his first groom. First grooms are hard on everyone, so she tries to make sure the pup doesn’t get scared.

Achilles: How did it end? Did Chief survive? I’ve never been groomed, or even watched a groom.

Lucy: Like you showed me pictures to explain things, I’ll do the same for you. Here’s how it all ended.

Achilles: What happened to the table in the “after?” Did Chief get so light from losing all that hair that he floated?

Lucy: BOL! Mom just played with the picture so that Chief was the sole focus, BOL!
Give me another kiss and then let’s go see what Ella’s doing and if my Mom’s fixing us anything for lunch.

To be continued…

Just Pictures on Almost Wordless Wednesday

Grooming:

Chaz after his January groom
Chaz’s sister Chloe after her January groom

Sleeping:

Sometimes Xena has to sleep in her own bed.
Lucy doesn’t like to sleep alone.

SEE YOU NEXT TIME

from left: Xena, Riley, Lucy

Thanks to Comedy Plus for hosting the
Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop!

Grooming with Mom – Landry, Dallas and Bonnie Blue

Hi folks! This is Lucy Ace Reporter on the Groom Beat. Today I am here to tell you about three of the worst messes my Mom has groomed, all from the same owner.

This is the “before” picture of Landry, an 8-year-old shih tzu.Landry was at the vet in October, and you can see on his back where the techs there tried to shave him down. They said they couldn’t do any more and stopped. From October to now, that hair has never grown. When he came to Mom, his legs, tail, ears and face were completely matted, some clear down to the skin. Urine and feces were in his back leg hair. Landry didn’t want groomed, and he kept trying to bite Mom. Even a muzzle wasn’t enough – he was going crazy. Super Hero Dad to the rescue! Dad held Landry while Mom shaved him all over, even his face. He got a good bath and ended up looking like this. Landry seemed much happier by this point. You can sorta see how overweight Landry is. He can hardly stand up. Mom thinks it’s his thyroid, especially with the hair not growing on his back, and asked his Mom to get him checked.

Mom’s next challenge was Dallas, a 12-year-old Yorkie, who is diabetic. She forgot to get a before pic, but he looked something like this. Most of Dallas’ hair wasn’t as matted as Landry’s except for his legs. Mom had to muzzle him to shave his legs and feet, but Super Hero Dad did not have to be called. You can’t really tell from his “after” picture, but Dallas is also very overweight.

The final dog of the trio is a 10-year-old Pomeranian, Bonnie Blue. Let’s just get right to her “before” picture.Mom brushed Bonnie for a whole hour, using a dematter, a horse curry comb, and a slicker brush. She thinks she brushed enough hair off to make another dog. Bonnie also had to be muzzled for her feet with Super Hero Dad holding her, too.I don’t know if I am supposed to say when Mom has favorites, but I am going to tell this time. Bonnie Blue stole Mom’s heart. Doesn’t she look happy after her groom? She even gave Mom a thank you kiss on the nose. Unfortunately, under all that clean fur is another fat, er, overweight dog.

Mom – and especially Dad – hope the lady brings Landry, Dallas and Bonnie Blue back before they get in such bad condition again.

This is Lucy, Ace Reporter on the Groom Beat, signing off