Thank GOODNESS I read the grooming section before I picked Steel up. Before I continue thank you all again for this site! So my neighbors next door are landscaping and annoyed the neighbors behind us both. The neighbors behind us decided to have their property surveyed. This lead to huge metal sign like posts and wood posts with bright orange flapping in the breeze ribbons shoved right in the edge of my yard. All over. The ribbon things were tied to all the tree branches and bushes too. I live in a wooded area. Besides unsightly, imagine at night standing out there trying to watch your puppy to know when he has gone potty and at the same time looking for deer, fox, coyote, raccoon, the bats are something else. Let me just say I don't need anything else flapping and distracting. The heebie jeebie level is over the top. Sooooo, Steel and I took a walk to take all the stuff out and off. The posts were way too far in so I decided I would need to grab my oldest son and some gloves and come back but I untied all the ribbon tape stuff from the trees and bushes. Steel was getting some good sniffs in - he has never been in that part of the yard before. I went back up to the house to get my son and he bent down to smooch Steel and his lips were covered in burrs - I don't know if I'm spelling that right. Oh my I mean he had a black mustache. They were the little ones and tight up to his lips on the top and bottom. All of his mustache and beard hair was tangled to the root! They were in between his toes too. Once he realized what happened and started to scratch it got worse and they spread. Here is where you all come in.....I have a designated drawer for grooming in my home. Out came all of it. I have metal comb with different length prongs. That was my 3rd choice and that worked the best and no tears from my poor baby (or myself) I thought for sure I was going to have to cut his hair and I was so sad because I'm so waiting for the pony tail and I could only imagine a bald chin! It took 2 hours and my hands were bloody because although I have been working with him to get him used to brushing and hair dryers and such, I have never done his LIPS! He is a puppy and those teeth hurt! The end result was the brush I use on my hair - it's a no tangle long hair - hair brush (my hair is down to my rear) and that got the balance of the tangles out after the burrs were out. I should have been watching him closer but it was so nice to have a drawer full of all of your wisdom to save the day.....Thank you all again so much and Steel thanks you too!
Don't feel too bad, burrs happen. Before we moved into town, we had this HUGE blackberry bush in our yard and in it was burrs too. Now being the smart sheepie Lily, is she LOVED eating the blackberries off the bush but only the ones in the middle of the bush would do. You can see where this is going...lol
Oh yeah, a variety of burs in coat and yes, face. Conditioning spray helps with removal. Anymore for us it is either puncture vine or sand burs. We try to control them but only takes one, spit out by dog into the carpet for a middle of night bare foot experience to know we missed some.
May you not have to deal with porcupine quills or skunk stink. But there is yet to come a good slide in goose/duck/deer or worse poop (bear is nasty!)
Yes we have suffered our way through few gruelling sticky bud removal sessions
Oh my gosh stop it you are killing me! Yes, I have the poop and although I am often teased for trying to figure out which animal it belongs to I am positive NONE belongs to any bear and I've never seen a porcupine! That picture hit the nail on the head!!!! Except his hair is still short so it was all up to his lips - he had no hair at all. It's kind of like he is a magnet to those things like you have all said - The woods surround my manicured yard but that certainly doesn't keep the wildlife out, I just try to keep my 4 legged babes in! He had something in his mouth the other day and I reached down to get it out and it was a 1/2 eaten toad! Somehow he had grabbed this thing while walking - we hadn't even stopped! All the parts and pieces were there and no ick in his mouth but the toad wasn't going anywhere! So glad I found a breeder that would let me keep his tail the thing was going a mile a minute, you would have thought he won the lottery! Herding not hunting dogs right?! Haha. You are making me feel so much better because between the toad incident and the burrs I was about to hand in my mommy card! Thank you!
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