Doggie Dermatologist Part 2

I know I promised part 2 of our visit to the Doggie Dermatologist, but I've been busy following Dr. F's recommendations. Whew, finally, a moment to write:

When we last met our heroine (that would be me) she was slaving away in the kitchen (not her favorite room) accompanied by her trusty sidekick Baron, and, well, a duck. The duck, having no idea he was part of Baron's new hypoallergenic diet, was happily quacking away, when he wasn't doing laps in the bath tub. Baron, delighted with his new friend, had no idea that the bath tub was a prelude to his new weekly routine.

Yes, dear poodle-lovers, our sadistic doggie dermatologist, Dr. F, has required our rambunctious, oversized (almost 70 pound) toddler standard poodle, to have at least one bath per week, preferably two. Dr. F blithely suggested hosing him down, shampooing him with his new oatmeal shampoo followed by oatmeal conditioner (to be left on for 10 minutes). By the way, the shampoo and conditioner are only available through her office, conveniently located in Chicago (where I am not). Doing the math, I quickly realized that by the time I am done with his diet, baths, ear cleansing (did I not mention that?), toy sterilization (to remove remnants of previous food) I would have to give up my career and devote myself entirely to the care of one young Baron (aka Jaws). Also, I was not optimistic about his cooperation with this new regime - particularly the baths. Poodles are water dogs, but unfortunately, bathing doesn't seem to qualify.

Fortunately for our heroine and her curly-haired sidekick (that would be Baron, not the duck), a brief review of the situation brought to mind only one solution - weekly hypoallergenic baths at the groomer's. Unfortunately, Baron's brand new $$$$ groomer, who has only had the pleasant experience of grooming him once, raised her rates for bathing our dog after considering (briefly) the possibility of weekly contact with him. I know this had absolutely nothing to do with Baron's behavior, but I made a mental note to bring her his certificate of graduation from Puppy Dog Obedience Class. It states that he successfully completed the class and passed into Beginning Dog Obedience (where, unfortunately, well, never mind).

Thank goodness I did find a groomer willing to bathe him weekly and at a discount (she doesn't know him well). As terrific as this sounds, here is the scenario: Our heroine enters the shop with the aforementioned poodle. Baron warmly greets everyone by getting on his hind legs and leaning on the counter, scattering papers, receipts, etc. His bedraggled sidekick (that would be me, our heroine) is clutching a bag which contains the following:
1) Bottles of oat meal shampoo and conditioner
2) Bag of hypoallergenic duck and potato dog treats
3)Certificate of graduation from Puppy Class (with picture - he does look cute in class).
Baron spots a big bowl of - OH NO - ordinary, non-hypoallergenic dog treats. He goes for the treats, but our heroine (boy, am I busy) is ahead of him and quickly pries the offending wheat-infused treat from his mouth (because, if you recall, even one non-duck and potato treat means starting his 2 month diet all over again).

The good news - he smells good. The bad news - we are already almost out of conditioner, and the woman who groomed him requested 2 weeks off. I called the doggie dermatologist for alternative conditioners, as frequent visits to Chicago to pick up his grooming supplies are not in the cards. She conceded that if I'm desperate, I could use any good cream conditioner. As luck would have it, I just purchased a huge bottle of Deva conditioner for curly hair. This conditioner was developed by the woman who wrote the book about curly hair. Let's face it folks, Baron has curly hair (not unlike our exhausted heroine).

All for now. I will keep you posted on the success of our new routine. I am happy to announce that so far, Baron is in excellent spirits; unfortunately I can't say the same for our devoted heroine.

Botswain