He’s always hated being groomed since a puppy and hates the vets with a vengeance. He will not tolerate being poked and prodded and therefore is a very scruffy dog indeed.

 

His hatred of grooming has led to him stealing my grooming scissors and burying them in the garden, checking on them regularly to check they are still in his possession.

 

He’s finally met his match with a local groomer called Justin Tibbs who owns Dirty Dawgs at Crookham Common.

We were desperate to get him trimmed as he had many matts and knots in his undercarriage and it was time for us to take action as things were only going to get worse.

 

We have been home grooming him for years as most groomers have given up on him. The only time we have had a truly successful groom is when he stole Eliza Young‘s M&S ham sandwich and held it firmly in his jaws whilst we snipped bits off where we could!

 

Graeme took charge and found a groomer who specialises in grooming nervous and aggressive dogs.

If you visit our cottage he will greet you enthusiastically, tail wagging, ears down etc. but vets and groomers are on his hit list.

 

At the vets for his annual check up, it takes three of them to muzzle him and pin him down for his vaccinations. No other health checks are permitted so we have to take our chances.

 

Now Wolfie is 12 on Sunday but he doesn’t look or act it but as Justin said ‘ he’s a dog who is used to getting his own way’!

 

I’ll be honest, we were very sceptical about what would be the outcome, in fact Justin and I shook hands and had a bet that he wouldn’t be able to do it. I was wrong.

 

Justin is a very interesting character, larger than life and confident in his abilities. He was so friendly and adamant that Wolfie would not be a problem. He never muzzles a dog and has only used a cone twice.

 

We told him all about Wolfie Dewhirst as honestly as possible and yet he was still undeterred.

 

Now we left Wolfie with him for a couple of hours and visited Thatcham Garden Centre and the cafe. Honestly we were like parents whose child was under the anaesetist, anxiously sipping coffee. If we could pace up and down we would have done.

 

A couple of hours later Justin called us and said ‘All done”! He even videoed it.

 

Now I won’t say that Wolfie was good as gold. I won’t lie, he put up a bit of a fight but Justin’s kindness, experience and patience paid off and we now have a dog who, to be, honest, bears no resemblance to the dog we took in but he is matt free and tidy.

 

It needed to be done and Dirty Dawgs have done a wonderful job on him.

 

We cannot wait for our old shaggy dog to reappear when his fur regrows as we do not like him this short, he’s lost his mojo a bit but he’s getting there. Obviously it’s dawned on him that he’s not in complete control any more and his confidence is knocked. It was absolutely necessary to give him a hard prune. I think he needs a dog coat on when it’s cold as the fur he has left is very fine and silky.

 

We will be taking him back to Dirty Dawgs in a few months time but he will never get in that state again.