Our dog Tommie Girl is just about the perfect pet, except for one thing. She sheds. And, she sheds. And she SHEDS!Tommie is half Newfoundland and half Blue Heeler. It wasn’t my idea to get her, but Andy was in need of a new service dog after the death of his magnificent Sheba. He found her photo on a rescue shelter web site called Pets and People. When Andy showed me the photo I burst out laughing at the gangly 10 month old pup.
“Honey, that is the UGLIEST dog I’ve ever seen!”
He insisted that was the dog he wanted.
So, just before Andy’s birthday in the year 1999, I went down to Pets and People and adopted her. The dog was a great birthday gift, and I am really glad I did that for him.
Even though Tommie grew into a much prettier dog than I expected, she is very high maintenance as far as grooming is concerned. Because of the Newfoundland in her she always sheds a huge amount of undercoat this time of year, so I was quite pleased yesterday when John took it upon himself to brush her without being asked.
I happened to walk into the den to find PILES of dog hair all over the room. I very nicely asked John to please clean up the hair. A short while later he was playing video games, so I asked him if he had picked up the dog hair.
So much like his dad, John gave me a sly grin and said, “Go check it out!”
This is what I found:
That boy is enough to make me tear my OWN hair out!!!
3 comments:
That is hilarious! By the way, I have 2 big dogs that shed a lot also, and it's driving me crazy this time of year. My friend (a vet) recommended this brush: www.furminator.com
You can find them at Petsmart, about $50.00 for the big dog one, but worth it! It really gets that undercoat O-U-T!
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
I went to the post about Sheba, and it brought up so many good memories.
I had a Lab who was a drop-out from Canine Companions for Independence. Her name was Unger, and because she was born with bad hips, she couldn't stay in the program.
Around the corner is one of my bestest friends, who I've known longer than just about anyone else. Diane had a dog, Opus, who was 'released' from the program a few months prior to Unger getting released. I used to tell Di, "My dog was let go due to a handicap. YOURS has an attitude problem."
He was a golden retriever, who never quite understood, "it's time to stop playing and time to start working."
Thanks for the trip down memory lane!!
Wow Nancy! Canine Companions is the very organization Andy was referring to in his essay! The first site was located in Santa Rosa, California.
Andy qualified for one of their dogs, but the cost of staying there for weeks made it impossible to consider. Back then we were just barely above paupers wages. :)
Tommie also went through the training but although she did OK, she was never the assist dog that Sheba was. She is like your friend's dog Opus, she was too much of a clown with Andy, where Sheba knew when she was supposed to be working. Sheba was an incredible dog, sweet, loving, loyal and hard working. She is the best dog that was ever in our family.
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