My Life by Jade: Grooming

My mummy is having more and more senior moments. She forgot to ask me to write this for her to post it yesterday, so it’s a day late. Sorry about that. The other day she forgot our grooming routine and I had to go and get her out of the office to do it half way through the morning. It meant I didn’t get my treat for being a good girl until nearly lunchtime!

Ever since I had my teeth scaled at the vets, we’ve had this new grooming routine after breakfast.  It’s good because everything gets done at once and there’s no chance of forgetting to do any of it. At least, that’s what mummy says.

Mummy collects what she needs on a tray and when I see her get the tray out I go and lie on my bed, and daddy puts a chair in front of it for mummy to sit on. First she cleans my eyes with a wet tea bag – she was told to do this by the vet because my eyes weep a lot. Daddy teases me about this, saying I’m a cry baby, but I’m not crying really. If it’s not done regularly the hair under my eyes gets all stuck together and hard.

Then mummy has to clean my teeth, which she says is easier said than done because I’m not that keen on her fingers in my mouth, but I do like the taste of the toothpaste. She uses her fingers to make sure it gets where it should. After that she puts a little bit on a baby toothbrush and sticks that in my mouth as well. After that she has to bathe around my mouth with salt water on cotton wool and dry it with a paper towel.

Finally she has to brush all the tangles out of my ear hair, and give me a brush all over – at least the bits she can reach when I’m lying down. I have to admit that one side gets more brushing than the other.

After I’ve put up with all that, I think I deserve a treat, don’t you?

Grooming and Weight Problems

I went to see my beautician today, to have the hair removed from my chin and face and get my eyebrows waxed. Every time I go I marvel at my ability to withstand torture for the sake of how I look. What fools we women are. Nevertheless I already feel better only five hours later.

I paid her £17.00 for 20 minutes work, which is far more than I could hope to earn in the time. Why are writers paid so badly? (Rhetorical question.) Of course, at my age I shouldn’t be working at all really, but I certainly couldn’t afford things like that if I didn’t.

I also booked in Jade for a grooming session and that will cost £30 but I don’t begrudge that. She will come home looking sleek and clean with all that winter fur gone, and she won’t pick up as much grime with less hair for it to cling to.

Jade of course is another reason for me to carry on bringing home the bacon. Last week she went to the vet for her annual boosters and check up. I won’t tell you how much that cost. I’m just relieved that she got a clean bill of health, even though I now have to put her on a diet and cut down the number of treats she gets. She’s a big cavvie and a little too heavy, was the verdict. Just like her mum.

We went to Sandbanks beach on Saturday and she went wild with delight and ran round and round for about 20 minutes, so that should help. Something strange has happened to the beach. It was difficult to get on and off the promenade because the sand has been blown up into dunes, with a huge drop like a moat against the sea walls. It’s usually just a flat expanse as it is in this photo, so it really did seem strange.

Beach Walk and Grooming Day

It's been a gorgeous day here today, much like it is in this photo. We started our walk from the far end of this  promenade this afternoon. We didn't get this far, or anywhere near. The beach and the prom is several miles long.

I took Jade on the beach and down to the sea while hubby stayed on the paved walkway. Jade was busily dashing back and forth between us to make sure we were both still there. It was such a lovely day the area was packed with people and dogs since from October 1st, dogs are allowed to roam the beach as long as they are supervised by their owners. Jade kept stopping to make friends and progress was slow. Eventually we left the beach to walk up a small chine and along to the top of Canford Cliffs where we could look down on all the action below before descending another path and going back to our car.

At home I decided to trim the fur on her paws before giving Jade her monthly shower. She's not keen but she tolerates it once I have carried her into the shower cubicle. Afterwards she does look sorry for herself and I get really reproachful looks from her. I have to get partially undressed myself to avoid getting all my clothes wet in there, so after I've used the first towels on her, I drape another over her and let  her walk out to hubby who gives her another rub down while I am getting dry and dressed and tidying up. Then I get going with the hair drier while she sits patiently - she knows that such a good dog will soon get treats.

Then it was time to start cooking my roastie, so needless to say, I didn't get very much of my writing work done today.

Jade Has Been Shorn

From this

To this

 And this

To this















I put a little coat on her to go out today as the darned weather has turned cold again. It shouldn't take long for her coat to grow again, of course. Just in time for a heatwave, I dare say.

Dogs Benefit from Writing Too

When I checked  my emails this morning I found another article of mine had sold at Constant Content. I love it when I get an unexpected sale like this. It was one I had only written and submitted on Thursday so it was doubly gratifying. It had been accepted by the editors there on Friday and I didn’t have to change anything before it went into my portfolio, then it was gone again before the end of the day.

I don’t get much time for CC articles these days as I have so much other client work. It’s funny but now that I am supposed to be retired, I have more work dropping into my lap than ever before. I get a list together at the beginning of each month and work through it to meet all the deadlines.  After that I can write whatever I like, although sometimes, like last month, I choose to research and write for a specific request. That one sold very quickly as well, while the two I managed to submit at the end of January are still sitting in the CC catalogue.

Anyway, my writing income is making life more comfortable for hubby and me in our retirement. And it means it doesn’t matter if my son is out of work, because he lives with us and I can support him. He does agency work on construction sites when it’s available, and there is often a hiatus between assignments.

It also means that Jade can have some treats.  She is going to the dog groomer on Tuesday, although I’m not sure if she will class that as a treat. I have been trying to snip out the knots in her coat when I find them, and to keep the fur around her feet cut short.  Now she will be clipped all over so no more knots for a while. I’ll take some pictures to share when it’s done.

We didn’t have the hassle of so much white fur with our lastdog who can be seen here. He was a gorgeous smooth haired staffie who broke our hearts fifteen or so years ago when he contracted cancer and eventually had to be euthanized at the age of eight. Let’s hope we have many more years than that with Jade.