It's Hard Work...

...being a Newfie show puppy. This past weekend my Mama and Daddy took me to another Dog Show. I competed again in conformation so I had to spend a lot of my free time last week getting prettied up (yes, boy dogs can be pretty and I'm proud of it :-) I was pampered like I was at a spa. Dad took pictures of most everything that was done to me except for when Mama dremmeled my nails. Which by the way, I enjoy because she feeds me little pieces of organic baby carrots the whole time. When Katie and I see the dremmel come out we follow Mama around until she picks one of us to go first. If we are good and don't get in the way Mama sometimes will give us a carrot while we wait our turn.

Line Combing - Mama spent at least 5 hours going over my coat with a fine tooth comb to remove most of my dead puppy undercoat...not all at one time though. I got several nights of combing. Mama lets me lay on the floor for most of it. It feels so relaxing to be gently combed that I get sleepy and limp like a rag doll. I'll let Mama do anything to me when I'm in my grooming daze.


Quick Brush - The night of my bath Mama gave me a quick brushing first to make sure there weren't any tangles.


Wet Down Cycle - Trying to get water down to my skin through all my Newfie hair is a challenge.


Wash Cycle - I love this part because Mama and Daddy both give me a great massage with our Kong Zoom Grooms as they work the shampoo into my coat.


Rinse cycle - This is my least favorite part of the whole beauty routine. It just takes too long to get all the shampoo out. Mama rinses me way longer than necessary because she doesn't want any shampoo irritating my highly sensitive skin. She buys special expensive shampoo just for me that is supposed to soothe my skin and keep me from itching as much.


Spin cycle - After all the rinsing was FINALLY done we went for a walk to let me shake off some of the excess water before we started the dry cycle. I like to get a little crazy when my bath is done, so the walk gives me a chance to work off some energy too.


Dry cycle - They used two dryers at once to dry me in record time.


Final Brushing - OK Mom! Enough is enough!! It must be nap time by now.


I was groomed one more time at the show by my other Mama, Bonnie. She was my first human mama and picked me out of the litter when I was only 4 weeks old as the pup that my forever Mama and Daddy would want to be part of their family. She must be really smart because my Mama did pick me and I am so happy living with her, my awesome Dad and Katie, the best big sister a puppy could ever dream of. Anyway, back to the end of this grooming story... Bonnie fluffed my coat and made me shiny all over, even on my nose. I heard people saying something about me looking like a gorilla right now because of some stage I am going through. Hey, that sounds cool to me. Gorillas are big and I want to be big like my heroes: a Newf named Cowboy and my Newf Dad, Loki.