Bad owner! No biscuit for you!

I snapped, I’m sorry. I know that I’ve had a page all about Shibas and it’s helped a lot of people and that some people consider me the living end of Shiba knowledge (I’m not! Try Shiba Inu Canada or the National Shiba Club of America). But I’ve proven myself to be a bad, evil dog owner and not deserving of the title Queen of Shiba.

I took Tierce to the groomer’s to get his nails clipped.

Now I know that I should be stoic in the face of his whining, moaning, bitching and complaining, his earsplitting wails, and his sulky pulling away, but I’m not. I’m terrified of hurting him and he’s terrified of me hurting him. It’s safe to say that we both hate the procedure.

One day, a few days ago, I looked at his paws and they resembled a bear’s, with nails out to —– here and knew that I was just prolonging the inevitable.

Dog ‘N Suds is a grooming/care facility not very far from where I live, so I slouched there to deliver my little brat. Tierce, of course, was extremely excited and interested, even in the trio of Dachshunds threatening to rip out his throat on his way in.

He behaved himself, at least, even when it was his turn. The groomer whipped him under her arm and carried him into the back with the ease of long practice. Two or three minutes later of whining, moaning, bitching and complaining, he was out, congratulating himself on his miraculous escape from death. It was the best 10 bucks I’ve ever spent.

No, seriously. Best. Ten. Dollars. Ever.

Even if it makes me a bad puppy owner who can’t stand to clip my dog’s nails, if there are competent people who will do it for a price. If there wasn’t anybody, I could steel myself to do nails, but I’ve tasted the lack of stress and it is sweet! Now I know why Mom pays for Shassi to get groomed – it’s just EASIER.

(Best part of all, Tierce is in the nail clipping program and it only costs $5 per visit!)

5 Comments

  1. Agreed best money one can spend is on nail clipping for a shiba. Doesn’t make us bad owners, I don’t want to deal with the screaming and stress either. I think I would do it no matter the cost, actually. 🙂

  2. i completely agree!

    i will be looking into the grooming thing done by someone else as well. =)

    Nikko’s Momma

  3. Not a bad owner!

    I take Sukoshi to the groomer for the works every so often.

    The groomer says she is the best behaved Shiba she has ever groomed.

    The way I look at it:
    1) Groomers have experience. They can do stuff more quickly and with greater ease than I ever could
    2) I am not “doing this to Sukoshi”, so in her mind, while I may take her to the place, I am not physically responsible for her momentary discomfort. So our relationship is not strained by “grooming battles”.

    I also have my brother, who has more experience with Shibas, help me with nail clipping. I hold, he clips.

    There is nothing wrong with “cooperative ventures” to make sure that your Shiba looks good and is healthy.

    Sukoshi’s mom

  4. Best thing I ever did was start taking Cortez to the groomers for a bath, brushing, ear cleaning, teeth cleaning, and nail clipping. Best $20 spent because when I do all this, it is almost like a wrestling match sometimes to see who is going to win.

    I believe that this makes me a good shiba owner. The girls there just love and dote all over him (and they often take pics to hang on the wall of how much fur comes off him), he loves the attention and he looks great afterward.

    There are no fights, no shiba screams, no arguments.

    This makes me a very good shiba owner.

  5. I have clipped my cats’s claws most of my life, but Pepper’s nails are black and I can’t for the life of me figure out where the quick is.

    The groomer has no problem at all and for $10 every 6 months or so (all that running on the road with my husband seems to grind Pepper’s nails down), it is so worth it.

    Dorene

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