Temporary ESAs!

[Amber]

I am missing Maigee, and have several times looked around for her only to realize I'm in another country!  Last night my room mate made some noises with her mouth in her sleep, like Maigee licking her lips.  My first thought was that it was Maigee.    Oops!

But I have some temporary fill in ESAs for right now.  There are two dogs at the house we are staying at, they are right outside the door, so I am convinced they will let me know if someone is coming to kill me (unfortunately, they also let me know if there are any animals in the woods  ).  The one is a fairly big Jindo dog named Jindori (a Korean breed, they are pretty cool!).  The other is a little terrier mix, who is apparently not so smart as he was sitting out in the rain and now is not only shaggy and matted, but also very wet!  His name is Jonah (well, a Korean version, but sounds like Jonah).  I said earlier he looks like he was swallowed by a whale 

The place where my brother works also has two dogs, Ajee and Dohee (I don't really know how to spell their names).  They are both Jindo dogs and are mother/daughter.  Very sweet and friendly, but also always outside dogs.

Yesterday I was getting a bit anxious after having met everyone, sitting in a small space crowded in, and then having very loud music (which creates pain because of the CRPS), so I said I had to go to the bathroom (outside, on the way to the dogs) and went out and petted and played with Ajee and Dohee for a while to calm down.  I like to say random Korean words to them and they don't care how badly my accent is.  I also tried to convince them they should speak English.  It is nice to have animals around as something familiar when not much else is!

I am planning to steal an old pair of scissors and give Jonah a bit of a trim as he makes me feel sad right now.

Pictures:
Jonah, digging a hole to...America? - http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=37619748&l=b3f139d8b0&id=39511930
Ajee and Dohee - http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=37619758&l=b665ef4d38&id=39511930
Jindori (look at that beautiful face! I love the hexagon face of the Jindo) - http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=37619746&l=2ad4ade254&id=39511930

[Kirsten]

My first thought was to wonder if this is anything like temporary tattoos.  Don't know why that jumped into my head.

I'm sure you told us, but I can't recall:  how long will you be there?

[Roxie]

[Last night my room mate made some noises with her mouth in her sleep, like Maigee licking her lips.  My first thought was that it was Maigee./quote]

I know what you mean!!!! 

[Amber]

I leave on July 20, so a bit over two weeks total.

And I found out today that Jonah is actually a female...oops!

[AshertoAsher]

This is what happened with me here in Alaska!

I've never really had an ESA before, but living alone with Mattie and Thor made my MI a lot easier to deal with, especially because being alone tends to set off my depression.

[Magesteff]

Amber, ask before you trim Jonah! I have left my dog with my housekeeper, her son and her fiance - and the fiance clipped his eyebrows off, not just trimmed them. It's taken months for them to get back to looking like Max's distinctive look as part scottie!

[LolaMarigolda]

I'm surprised the dog hasn't been shaved.  From what I've seen, skinning them with clippers is the national pastime; I've seen everything from Labs and Goldens to several Olde English Sheepdogs, Huskies, Jindos, and GSDs walking around nearly naked.  The first time I saw a shaved OES I did a double take, spent 10 minutes trying to figure out WTF and finally asked; it sorta looked like a Poodle mix.

[Amber]

Ha ha, a shaved OES?!  I can't imagine...


And I have permission to trim Jonah...though I'm not quite sure how to go about trimming a terrier type dog.  I may just do his back/sides/legs and leave his face a little shaggy.  Just trim most of the matts out.

[Magesteff]

  Just trim most of the matts out.

Oh I agree with that totally. I started clipping mats off with scissors on Max in April, and kept finding more hiding under the hair. After removing about a third of the hair from his body, I decided I better just clip everything down so he at least looked even. Except his eyebrows (which at that point had been clipped by the Housekeepers SO). He looks like a different dog.
I clipped off the mats, then the housekeepers son washed him for me ($10, fun for the kid and the dog). Then I used the barber electric clippers to smooth his hair out and make him look more even on his body and muzzle. Feet and lower legs I used scissors as Max is touchy about his feet, but I got them done.

[Kirsten]

I believe terrier coats are usually stripped rather than trimmed. 

If you want to de-mat without leaving big divots in the coat, you might try a dematting tool, such as this one:
http://www.petedge.com/product/Grooming/Grooming-Tools/Combs-Brushes-Rakes/Master-Grooming-Tools-Ergonomic-Dematting-Tools/pc/190/c/214/sc/276/55311.uts

It's basically a comb where the edges (not the tips) are sharpened to cut hair.  You comb the dog's hair, and loose hair moves out of the way of the blades, like a regular comb, but mats encounter the blades and are cut into long strips.  The result is that some of the hair, any hair that is entirely within the strip, will remain full length, and other hairs will be of varying lengths, instead of them all being cut very short.  Once the mat is cut up a bit, it is easier to comb it out in smaller pieces without so much time or discomfort for the animal.  The side is sharp, so you need to be careful, but it should not injure the dog if used correctly on a dog willing to hold still enough to comb.

I've done something like this with plain scissors.  Just be very careful to correctly identify skin from hair.  In a mat, it's not always as it appears to be.