Freshly shorn puppy

Ready for his cameo
London, ON
October 2013
Thematic gets reflective this week. You can, too. Here.

Schnauzers are great dogs for a lot of reasons, including sweet temperament, over-the-top loyalty, high energy level and major cuddliness. They're also great for folks with allergies, as their fur doesn't shed and doesn't set off the sneezies.

All this comes with a downside, as their coats need regular grooming to maintain that magazine-like puppy-loveliness. Key word: regular. And since it's been anything but regular in our household for a while, taking our not-quite-so-mini miniature schnauzer, Frasier, to the groomer had kind of fallen off the back of our family's priority treadmill. I know, we suck.

So with each passing day, he ended up looking more and more raggedy. A little less worthy of that ever-elusive magazine cover. Who are we kidding? He'll never make the back pages of that magazine let alone the cover, but we still love him to bits and pieces. And scruffy fur or not, we still got on the floor with him and smothered him with affection whether he wanted it or not (I'm guessing he wanted it, but he hasn't said so in so many words. Still...)

But the fur covering his eyes was beginning to bug him. And the mattes on his legs were starting to take on a life of their own. So today was the day to take it all off. And by the time our beloved groomer, Jean, was finished with him, he seemingly lost half his size in fur alone. And he looked a heck of a lot like the pup he was the day after we first rescued him (see here for his day 1 photo, and here for the cleaned-up version.)

Either way, he'll always be our puppy. He'll always be that crazy dog who adds that certain je ne sais quoi to our family's life. And we'll always cherish each day that we get with him.