Lizzie's Spa Day

About a year ago, just about this time, as a matter of fact, I decided it would be fun to have Lizzie groomed. Petco was having a sale on grooming and several people I knew had their dogs groomed there, so off we went to the groomer's to get Lizzie all ready for the holidays. I think I posted a video about that at the time.

I dropped her off and went back at the appointed time. They brought her out, ungroomed, and said that they could not work on her because she bit them. So much for getting gussied up for the holidays.

I gave Lizzie a bath recently, but it didn't really do much because I couldn't get to her face.

At the puppy birthday party, Ashley introduced me to Katherine and Miguel Martinez. Kathy is a veterinarian from Venezuela. Miguel is from Puerto Rico. The two just moved to Davis three months ago and are looking for work. Kathy would eventually like to get her license here, but she needs to learn enough English to take the exam and to earn enough money to pay the $9,000 fee.

In the meantime, they are offering their service for dog care: Grooming, hair cutting, preventive medicine baths, nail cutting, ear cleaning, hair drying, anal gland draining as well as Pet Sitting, walking, cleaning,feeding and giving meds.

I talked with them about the problems that we had at Petco and they assured me that they could deal with Lizzie. I made an appointment.

Lizzie was thrilled to be going for an outing and immediately made friends with the Martinez' cat, Catfish, the cat who hates cats and likes dogs. We also met 3 foster puppies they have, who were found under an overpass and who are afraid to come out from behind a tree in a back corner of the yard (I'll bet they are out running around now). Lizzie had a great time playing with their dog, Buddy.

When it came time to get down to business, I was invited to stay and watch (and of course, I took video).

Miguel sat on the ground and held Lizzie while Kathy started clipping her. Lizzie squirmed and squirmed and tried to get away but she never opened her mouth to try to bite them. I was amazed at how gentle and patient they were with her. When it seemed she needed a break (or maybe Kathy needed a break!) they let her run around, and then started again.

I didn't have a clue how to have her clipped, so gave them carte blanche and promised I wouldn't be upset about anything they did. We went for the Schnauzer look.

By the time she was mostly clipped, she had stopped fighting and just stood (sometimes trembling) and let Kathy work.

Next was the bath. Based on the problems I had with her in the sink, I wondered how this would work, but she seemed to love it, even to having her teeth brushed.

Next Kathy took the blow dryer and dried off her fur and brushed her to fluff her up, ending with perfume, powder, and little bows in her ears (bows?).

I felt like calling Walt to tell him I'd traded her in on a new dog because she certainly didn't look like the dog I'd arrived at the Martinez home with! Even Lizzie seems to know that she looks better than before.

Sheila was very confused. She sniffed and sniffed and sniffed as if she couldn't quite figure out what that strange smell was. In fact, I was a little concerned that things were getting tense, so I took them both outside and they chased each other around and everything was fine.

All is back to normal now, except we have one beautifully groomed dog.

The Martinezes also board dogs and I can see instantly that this is a MUCH nicer place than the kennel where we usually put them. I'm not sure what their boarding price is, but I've made an appointment for them for the night that we are down at Michele's memorial service and we'll see how it is. They won't be caged up, but will be able to run around the yard with the other dogs--and the neighbors have barking dogs, so barking (if there is any) won't be a big problem.

I am just thrilled with finding the Martinez family and encourage anybody in the Davis area who is looking for someone to care for your dog to give them a call.