BLEU'S FIRST HOME BATH

August 30th: Today Bleu got a bath.

His first home bath; he's been to a couple groomers, but we've never bathed him at home. We took him to the groomers because he needed his nails trimmed … but after forking out big bucks from one end of America to the other; and still dealing with untrimmed nails, Holland tackled the job himself.

Apparently Blue Heelers do not take well to having their feet messed with - so, the groomers just took the money and flat out lied to us about the nail trims, "Oh sure, we can do that for 'ya." And then we'd pick him up and Holland's arms would suffer more bloodletting: so, nail clipping at home will be our next {fun} experience ;-)

Holland bought a Dremel tool kit in Wyoming; and tried to use the Dremel tool on Bleu's nails, but Bleu was twisting and turning so much we decided to wait a bit before trying again.

It's time now to try again.

This time Holland says he's going to hog-tie him and get down to business. We bought the soft cord yesterday. As soon as Holland gets his shoulder X-rayed and some kind of relief from the pain, Bleu is getting those chinese-emperor-length toe nails cut.

These nails gotta go.

Dremel Tool set, and soft cord.

It will be an adjustment for him - but it's necessary: for his sake, for our sakes.

I also called several veterinary clinics to try to get Bleu in to be neutered - NO GO; every single one of them insisted he need to be vaccinated, with a 3 week wait before surgery. So, I said, "Sorry, but we do not want to vaccinate our animal: we don't vaccinate ourselves, either. I am not going to fill my animal full of toxins to get his nuts removed - that is nuts."

So, not only will we have toenails to deal with … but we will also have testosterone issues to deal with: I am not looking forward to that :-(

But I'd rather have a healthy dog than a poisoned one.

Holland has worked on ranches - he knows what to do to safely  immobilize an animal in order to finish a job that needs doing. The soft rope won't hurt Bleu - and we are hoping that eventually it won't be needed, once Bleu realizes nail clipping is part of his grooming routine.

The bathing episode went well, all things considered; bleu only escaped the shower stall once, and Holland kept a soothing tone throughout. The floors didn't get too wet, and all in all, Bleu handled the soaking with an acceptance adjustment :-)

Bleu was pretty good … but he was also pretty wiggly.

It sounded like Bleu had escaped the confines of the shower stall - but Holland reined him in, again.

Bleu is clean … and very wet; shaking water all over the upper landing.

And me?

I worked steadily on a new kitchen towel set - which impressed Holland with how speedily I finished.

Sporting some of daddy's cologne, and snuggling next to mama.

Starting a new kitchen towel.

'Simple Fall Kitchen Towel' Set finished; Holland was impressed with the speed from start to finish ;-)

The other towels are showing signs of wear … and in all honesty, I'm glad to be working up new towels that fit my new life with my new husband: these are all welcome adjustments :-)