In between Lee working on the rig, we  decided to try grooming Jack.  One of our readers mentioned he did it himself and as long as you didn’t want it to look perfect it worked pretty well.  I actually like the slightly scruffy look, so that wasn’t a concern for me, but I was worried about using the clippers.  I have never in my life used clippers for anything and wasn’t even sure how they worked exactly.  Thankfully, Lee jumped in to help and we both watched a really good You-Tube video.  The dog in the video even looks like Jack, which gave me more confidence.

For once we decided to not over-complicate things and decided to just give it a try.  Lee pulled out our very handy table and mimicking what we have seen groomers do we put him on the table. I’ll be honest at this point we would have been in real trouble if he kicked up a fuss, but aside from a little shaking he did just fine. I held his head up…not sure why but that’s what they do at the groomers.  Honestly it didn’t seem that necessary.  Lee ran the clippers down his body going the same as the flow of the hair and it just started coming off.  The hardest part was figuring out which of the 4 clipper guards to use.  We ended up randomly selecting 3 but really I think we could have gone a little shorter.

Close up view

The body was pretty easy. although Lee had a bit of a tougher time around the legs.  Since he’s a puppy and pretty bony we went easy there.  Once Lee completed one side, we switched so Lee (who is left handed) could do the other side. Then he did the top of the head and the butt under the tail.  We left the ears and tail alone and later I trimmed up the face with blunt scissors that came with the grooming kit.

We had more fun than Jack, but he hung in there, Pro tip: have a bag ready for the loose hair. We didn’t really think that through.

The hardest part was the stomach and this is where Jack got a little squirmy.  In the video they suggested holding him up like he was walking on two legs but he didn’t like that.  Instead we laid him on his side and then flipped him and did the other part.  With the belly you can go against the way the hair flows which makes it much easier in places.  After we were all done we let him run around a bit and then Lee gave him a bath.  I have been giving him a bath once a week, but Lee really wanted to scrub him down.  Jack again hung in there, but you could tell when he was all wet he was pretty disgruntled.

Wet puppy! I don’t own a blow dryer so we just let him air dry.

Once he was dry I let him run around and of course he immediately rolled in the grass.  Still I think it turned out pretty good, and he wasn’t traumatized or anything.  I am not saying we will never take Jack to a groomer again, not crazy about trimming the nails myself for example, but as a “keep the shaggy down” cut I think this will work pretty good! Judge for yourself.

Jack to the left and Hobie to the right.

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Or you can check out our recipe book filled with 80 real recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. The cookbook specializes in recipes that have a limited number of ingredients, without sacrificing flavor and is organized into categories that matter to full time RVers such as Happy Hours, Travel Days, and Pot Lucks   You can preview the kindle version on  Amazon or the Apple version on Itunes.    It is available in paperback on Amazon if you prefer.