Step #1 - Go to the Groomer
Step #2 - Bring Home from Groomer
It always amazes me the energy level of my setters. For those without setters try to imagine a really hyperactive child after you fill it up with soda and pixie sticks. I can walk Fiona multiple times a day and let her run off leash at the dog park and she'll still challenge me at the end of the day like "That's all you got lady? Well I am going to run around the yard for awhile while you sit on your lazy duff and think of more ways to tire me out."
Hence it is always a pleasure to get her groomed. Besides the obvious reasons like she smells real swell , I also love the fact she is completely sacked out after a visit to Katie at Heads to Tails. I don't know if it the hair bows that put her over edge or the sudsy oatmeal shampoo but she is zonked out every time I bring her home from the groom shop.
I think the core of the matter is my darling Fiona is really not too much of a girly girl. Being glamified at the salon is both emotionally and physically exhausting for the dog who would think nothing of using clumps of mud in her ear hair as accessories instead of bows. Unlike her Irish Setter sister Caelan, Fiona is not prim and proper. Even when I brush her at home in a vain attempt to keep her looking spiffy she immediately goes and rolls in the grass or on the carpet to get the "neat" off of her. She is repulsed by the lavender freshening spray I use and runs at first sight of the bottle as if I am attempting to poison her. If I was ever trapped on a deserted island with her I am pretty sure I could start a rescue fire simply using the objects found matted in her fur. There is always sticks, dry leaves, burrs, and other yard waste clinging to her for dear life. We won't talk about her affinity for mud or the fact she seems completely unaware when she is covered in it or the fact I do not want it on my couch.
In sharp contrast Caelan loves to be brushed. She steps daintily in the dewy grass so as not to get too wet and muss up her fur. If she gets a stick in her coat she will limp and whine until it is removed it is so disturbing to her. She will literally bark and rat out Fiona when she is digging in the mud. I don't know what she finds most offensive, the fact Fiona is trying to tunnel her way out of the yard or that she is most certainly clumping mud under her perfectly dremmeled nails.
I guess any Dogmom would have to make peace with the fact her girl dog with the elegant and feminine name of Fiona is at heart a messy tomboy who prefers mud to pink accessories. I just am happy to have found to secret to making her sleep so soundly...a day of beauty.
That is so funny about Fiona being tired out after grooming. Max & Sadie are sacked out for the rest of the day after they have been groomed which they are going to the groomers on Sunday. It's always my Sadie who comes in from the backyard full of mud while Max comes in clean as can be!! I try to tell my lil' Sadie girls are suppose to stay clean, but she doesn't care!
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