Tag Archives: essential businesses

Dog grooming in the time of corona

Tango is looking a little scruffy these days. Grooming in the time of Corona Virus is problematic, to say the least. We don’t know why dog groomers haven’t been considered “essential” – most of what groomers do is absolutely vital to dogs’ health and well-being! The AKC is keeping a chart to update us on the status of dog businesses and services in each state.

Picture of a Brussels Griffon dog who needs grooming

Our own situation is a bit different at the moment. The groomer who’s been taking care of Tango (a rough Brussels Griffon and our only long-haired dog), closed her shop at the end of 2019 in a planned retirement. We knew we’d be facing this year without our Tango-support staff. We just didn’t know every groomer in the area would be closed when it was time for Tango to get a touch-up!

So, Fran’s Brussels Griffon boy didn’t get a haircut for his 11th birthday. He did get his face washed, teeth brushed, nails buzzed, beard/mustache tidied, and a sanitary trim. But he’s still a scruffy dude.

Shut down grooming

We understand that Google searches for “dog nail trimmers” are up tremendously. We’ve also seen some incredibly creative people posting their solutions on social media. Our favorite was the incredibly clever woman who wrapped her head with plastic wrap, slathered peanut butter on her forehead, and got to work trimming her dog’s nails. Fortunately, the video showed she was doing it outside. We can’t even imagine the mess attempting this anywhere else for the first time. 

It seemed to work for her – but she had a big retriever on a grooming table. Our usual position for nails is Fran holding the current victim upside down on her lap while she sits in a chair, and Hope doubled over grinding away with the Dremel tool sanding drum. It works for us, but does require two people.

Oddly enough, our best dog for nails is Simon, who takes a nap and lets us do whatever we want. Tango is next best for behavior accolades, but he flexes his toes constantly. He has adorable, tiny round paws. You wouldn’t think that the flexion would be a big deal, but Hope’s hands get sore trying to keep him in place and uninjured.

Tricks of the trade

We wish we had some magic formula for grooming, but there isn’t one. There are highly-skilled professionals who are excellent at what they do and we hope they can safely return to work in the near future. All of the people with long-haired dogs, we’re sure, agree.

Whenever Fran brought Tango home from the groomer, you could always tell he felt altogether spiffy. He’d stick his little butt up in the air, give a little yell, and go tearing around the house like he was all that and then some. Does your dog seem to know when he or she looks particularly terrific? Isn’t it funny that they know and they’re pretty pleased with themselves?

The dark side

For the moment, Tango doesn’t have a lot to be proud of, appearance-wise. We’re keeping him clean and making sure he can see, but our scissor skills are minimal. It seems that our complete lack of skill in cutting any kind of straight line is magnified with fur. Or you can totally see every single, too-straight line where the scissors weren’t quite where they should have been. 

The nice thing is that, while Tango knows when he looks particularly great, he doesn’t seem to be at all vain now that he’s a scruffy beastie. He doesn’t care that his ears look crooked, or his beard is uneven. Much like age, if he doesn’t mind, it doesn’t matter. But we do hope that it’s safe for grooming to start up again around here. There’s only so many bad haircuts a boy should have to endure.