Speak softly and carry a big stick

This would be Mike's motto if not for his exceptionally (for a border collie) loud mouth. I think I've mentioned before his barking gets him into trouble. He overflows with the joys of life and it empties out of his mouth. I am constantly having to tell him to shut up! So he usually will go find something, anything he can put in his mouth to soften his vocals. He also does not play fetch with us. He likes to have a toy in his mouth and run after the other dogs or just bounce back and forth behind them with his toy. The other day he decided to listen to Teddy Roosevelt and kept the barking to a "pianissimo" (very soft) but carried a big stick. It kept him quiet which was good, but he kept wacking the other dogs in the head with it.

Being the talented, well bred sheepdog he is however, he quickly found his balance point.

Ahh...Spring has come. And with it matted dogs. A woman came in with a cocker spaniel last week. This dog had extreme mats. It's ears and legs were encased in hard cast like mats. It was a wonder the dog could move at all. It was a very time consuming and tedious job trying to get those ears and legs out of their prisons. The owner was not the person who let the dog get in this shape. In fact she had rescued the dog from the neighbor who had been neglecting the dog. She said she'd see how abused she was and couldn't stand it anymore so she became the new owner and first stop was my shop.

This is Hersey before. That is one of the whole ear mats that I'm holding.

This was a leg cast being removed.

And this is Hersey freed from her bonds. She was running around like she felt great and kept coming up and kissing me. It made me happy to have helped her.

full circle (sorta)

Sadie was the very first customer in my shop. In fact when she came to me for grooming, my shop wasn't even officially open. Sadie came back in today. She was quite a mess having not been groomed for over 4 mos and her hair was so curly she looked like a poodle!, but she's a very easy dog to groom so it didn't take me that long to having her look like a Schnauzer again.

In like a lion?

What is that saying about March? In like a lion, out like a lamb? Well it seems to be true at my shop.

This is princess. Although today she is queen of her pride.

She usually looks like this.

I wonder how many lamb clips I'll get at the end of this month?

photoshop

I finally bought photoshop. I've been wanting a photo editing program for a long time. I was just messing around with it this morning, trying to figure out how it works. This is what I made.

This is a picture of sheep that were across the road from where I lived and I put Meg on top of it. It's not the best but I think I'm going to have fun with this program!

My shop made the most money so far for the month of Feb. I'm hoping March is much better. I have more dog food and other stuff now. I think it looks much better. Can't take a picture without a dog in it. Or two.