Tired Of Other Dogs Asking If He Knows Bo ‘Bama

When we lived in Utah, we were only allowed to take Porter to one groomer, who happened to be the daughter of our breeder. She was very good, but also very expensive. I mumbled about it every time I had to shell out the money, but we had to have him in a certain cut for showing, so there weren’t alternatives. When we moved to Pennsylvania, I contacted probably 30 different people out of our Portuguese Water Dog Club member-book, and asked about local groomers. The closest I could find was almost an hour and a half away, and after he got his championship, the cut didn’t really matter so I wasn’t willing to travel that far. So I settled on a local grooming shop that assured me they could do the breed-standard-cut.

Right. Not so much. I decided to move on to another groomer who said that not only could she do it, she had experience with many different breeds and had regular show-dog clients.

Right. Not so much. In fact, every time I went to her, Porter’s cut got further and further away from what I was asking her to do. I would say that I wanted his body to be an inch long, with his head and legs 2 inches, and his tail shaved up to the fan. When I showed up, his entire body would be 1/2 inch, including his legs, his head would be more like 3 inches, and his tail wasn’t touched. And the feet. Oh the feet.

I remember my breeder telling us her horror-grooming-stories, like the co-owner who had someone who was unapproved cut her dog, and the unapproved groomer gave that dog Poodle feet. Poodle feet! Can you imagine?!  I had no idea what she was talking about, and it became a joke between Tom and I – the horror of Poodle feet. Well, now I know what she was talking about. And honestly, having short hair on his feet made him look a little girly. But regardless of what it looked like – it wasn’t what I asked for, and after the last time when he came home with a crooked head and tufts of long hair on his belly, I had had it. If he was going to get a bad haircut, I could do that for the cost of some good clippers and some time.

So I bought the good clippers and Tom and I devoted an entire afternoon to brushing and cutting. And then we had him bathed, and went at it again, devoting another good half hour or so to finishing the cut. I was planning on doing my best to simulate the retriever cut for the breed-standard, but there was a slight mishap with the clippers. I was using a shorter comb to cut around his face, and I got lost in the moment and moved to his head without switching to a longer comb. Oops. We had no choice but to just go with it and shave him down short all over.

In the end, I think he looks pretty good, but he doesn’t look a thing like a Portuguese Water Dog. It’s almost as if he’s gone undercover as a black Lab. From experience, I know the hair will grow back fast and he’ll most likely be back in his curly dreads by Fall – but for now, we’re enjoying our incognito Portie.

Before:

After: