otto's first haircut

last week we took otto back to the breeder we got him from for his first haircut. this is him before.

the breeder is teaching me how to do it so eventually i can give otto a haircut myself. he will need his hair cut about four times a year.

all things considered otto was very well behaved and not too worried about the shaver.

 

there were a few times he acted up but the breeder had a firm hold of his beard, and was able to wait for him to relax before she continued with the haircut.

 

there are so many different stages to the haircut, a schnauzer gets a particular hair cut, short on the back, short around the head, and ears and tail, with long hair on the legs, under the body and long eyebrows and beard. 

its more complicated than that with all these 

little details to remember.

using thinning shears otto gets the hair on the top of his nose trimmed and in front of

 his eyes trimmed so he can see.

 

as schnauzers do hot shed hair, they kind of grow a wool that keeps growing. the hair in between the pads of his feet keeps growing, and it needs to be trimmed, every couple weeks.

after the ears are shaved then very very carefully you cut and trim around the edge of the ears. otto needs to be very still while doing this.

there was quite a bit of hair cut off.

 

although the hair on the legs stays long, the edges were trimmed to neaten it up

 

the last part was plucking the hair from otto's ear canal. because he has thick woolly hair his ear canal needs to be kept clear of hair. there was quite a bit to do, but now they are really tidy and i will just need to maintain them. it sounds mean plucking the dogs ear hair, but if you don't then they are very likely to get ear infections or ear mites. otto has already had an ear infection 

so hopefully this will help.

otto got a nice treat at the end and i think forgot all about the ear hair plucking. he looks so grown up now, 

like a big adult dog.

 

this is the after shot, with his shiny soft hair, and you can actually see his eyes.

before

after

 

borris misses the fluffy ears but i think he so handsome.

the breeder said she thinks we got the pick of the litter. who knew?! we were just looking for a family pet.

puppy preparations

i get my puppy tomorrow. there has been lots of puppy preparations going on.

 

i got a basket for my bicycle, it goes on the back and the cage keeps him safe.

i made a lawn area out the front of my house. 

i have planted the seed but its not quite ready yet.

i put a temporary dog fence up in my front yard.

i have also given up a section of my back garden and planted grass seed.

i got a small dog pen to give the dog a safe play area in the house or yard.

i got a dog cage to crate train the puppy.

and i made a dog bed with removable cover.

i have also read 5 books on how to raise a puppy and being a good dog owner, i got 6 different chew toy options, some puppy food and a dog bed. 

i hope that i am grown up enough for this, and ready and responsible. i am nervous - and excited.

now all i need is the puppy.

am i responsible enough for a puppy?

yesterday i went to visit a friend (who i don't get to see often enough) and her dog and a puppy that she has been looking after.



this is the puppy, a mini schnauzer, his name is knuckles.



and this is my friend's dog cricket, a beautiful cocker spaniel.

now i have been thinking for a while that i want to get a dog. about a month or so ago, i met a mini schnauzer and decided that this was the kind of dog i wanted. i live in a small place so i need a small dog, but i still want a dog that is bigger than a cat.

i like how mini schnauzers have bushy eyebrows and mustaches and beards, and grey hair like an old man. i had a crazy idea to name this dog i don't own yet in memory of my grandpa, so either Digo (grandpa in Ukrainian - sounds like gee-doe) or Ivan.

borris isn't crazy about the idea, but he does love dogs and is known as the dog whisperer sometimes. i think if i got a dog he would be happy with it and forget about the responsibility that he is afraid of. or that is the plan anyways.

my question is though, am i ready for the responsibility of owning a puppy? next year i will be unemployed for a while (yippee! looking forward to that) and i thought this was a good time to get a puppy as i will have lots of time to spend training it to be a good dog.

any pet owners out there have any words of wisdom, or caution? how will i know if i am ready?