THIS IS WHY...

This is why... Oh! That's better. Why you shouldn't let your dog's ears get so matted. This scruffy pup is Charlie, the miniature poodle, at Doggy Styling for a much needed haircut. Once he had finished exploring the bath, Victoria lathered him up in degreasing shampoo and Charlie started to get increasingly concerned about this whole grooming business. Unfortunately, it's tricky to escape the bath upwards, even if it does look really cute. Not impressed. So Charlie chose violence instead. Having safely removed her fingers from Charlie's teeth, Victoria was least able to scrub his front paws very well and even his face eventually. Now finally lathered up, Charlie was ready for a rinse. To be a bit less offensive for Charlie than the shampoo. The warm towel was even better, especially when it comes with a cuddle. Or maybe he was just looking for an exit. Table, Victoria used smaller dryers to start blasting and Charlie tried tangled as possible. Safely unthreaded, Victoria could start brushing out his thick, curly coat. Unfortunately, Charlie was quite knotty in places, starting to realise why his owners might struggle to brush him. With that unpleasantness out of the way, it was time for an uneventful nail and paw trim. Victoria next started to clip him. Wasn't a fan of the brush, his owners had him a bit shorter. Victoria clipped him to about half an inch all over. It was time to tackle those ears. Unfortunately, the bottom half of the ear is completely encased in matting, so Victoria used one of the shorter blades to gently ease it away from the ear. The top half was much better, so it will to hopefully cover the shaved edge. Now, matt free, Victoria could start to tidy the edges with scissors. The paws were trimmed nice and tight, and then Victoria could attempt the other side. With the tail finished, Victoria could take a crack at scissoring his face. Unfortunately, parts of his muzzle were also matted, so Victoria had attempted to leave the bulk of the hair to cover those areas. The hair left on his ears was trimmed, this little monkey was all finished and ready to show shorter style.