D is for Dogs

Deerhounds are shown 'au naturel', so there's very little grooming to be done even for a big show. Of course it's etiquette to make sure your dog is clean in the ring, so I generally give Emily a bath on the Friday, and then five minutes with the brush is enough to have her ready for the ring. Except for one thing.

The breed standard tells us that the fur on the ears should be short and fine, like that of a mouse. And they do have that, but unfortunately they also grow long, silvery fur over the top of that, and so to have her really perfect for a show, this all has to be stripped out. It's a dreadfully laborious business, because it has to be done by hand - pick, pick, pick, a few hairs at a time, and you don't realise just how much of it there is until you think you've done it all.

I'm gearing up for a whole bunch of shows that I've entered in July and August. We're entered in this year's Royal Melbourne Show, where Emily was Best of Breed last year, and at the last show we were at she didn't perform well in the ring, skipping and hopping like a prancing unicorn instead of displaying her beautiful, even gait. So she clearly needs to get back into practice, hence the many shows I've entered, and this weekend there's a dog match hosted by the Scottish Terrier Club of Victoria, so I'm planning to show her there. 

A dog match is a fun event. There are no championship points, it's purely social, so there's no pressure, and the serious players in the show world aren't going to be there (unless they are also there purely for fun). It's a great way to get your feet wet if you haven't shown before, or have a new puppy, or for that matter if your dog isn't actually pedigreed. I've seen greyhounds entered in a Scottish Breeds match as 'smooth-coated deerhounds'. It's all a bit of fun, and as a bonus, the Scottish Breeds matches always take place in the context of a Scottish Heritage day or Highland Gathering, so it's a lovely day out. Men in kilts, pipe bands, haggis for lunch - what's not to love! And to boot, these matches often have a fancy dress event.

Fancy dress for the hounds. Look at my friend Melissa's wonderful costumes!

So today as my breakout activity I'll be stripping away at the ears. I can't do it for long at a time because Emily hates it. My previous hound would stand there patiently while I did the lot, but bitches are a lot more feisty, and Emily is a Princess with a sense of entitlement the size of New York.

I've just learned from my friend Lene that there are rubber latex finger things - they look like tiny condoms - that you can roll over your fingers and then you get a much better grip on the fur and the stripping goes much easier. I was all set to hunt about to buy some, when I realised they look just like the fingers on my disposable latex gloves that I use for washing up. So today, we're going to put that to the test. But first, a quick trip to the vet to remove the stitch she had from removing a tiny dermoid cyst.

These are the latex fingers my friend recommended.
We no longer need wonder where Mr Trump gets his condoms!

Stitch out and everything's fine, although I note with concern that she now weighs 40.5 kilos which is quite a bit more than her optimal weight, and I think I'll stop leaving out food 24/7. Her eating habits have changed quite a bit since our other dog joined the family, and I think she's eating in response to other prompts than pure hunger. I decide to try having the biscuits out only in the morning.

So at 0930 I finally start work. I'm continuing with yesterday's task, so my goal for the day is 750 words on the new book, and this will likely be punctuated with lengthy chat or phone sessions with the people who've so kindly offered to share their ER experiences with me. I'm going to start writing anyway, though; as a wise writer once said, 'you can edit crap, but you can't edit nothing.' I wish I could remember who it was.

When I break for breakfast I try the latex gloves and they do indeed work extremely well, much better than bare fingers, except that it is more difficult to separate and I feel I am grabbing too many hairs at a time, so that it's more uncomfortable for her. I return to work, unsure whether it's just that it was the first attempt for the day and I didn't catch her in the right mood. 

By 1100 I've got 100 words but I'm now in a chat session with an informant, so writing pauses to focus on this. I'm in awe at the generosity of all the people who've responded to my appeal for psychiatric hospital experiences. I gain a lot of insight from my informant, and when our chat is over, I have another go with the latex glove and it goes much better; Emily is calmer about the process when it's not the first attempt of the day, and I've now got pretty well all of the outside of the left ear done, and I'm sold on this method. 

One ear done! The inside edges still need to be cleared.

The conclusion from today is that the latex gloves are an absolute gift. You have to be a little more careful about not grabbing too many hairs at a time, but it goes so much faster that you can get a lot more done before your hound gets restless.

Now, as this is supposed to be a literary blog (koff koff, hollow laugh) a word about books. I'm currently reading the Survivors series, by Erin Hunter. All the characters are dogs, some feral, some stray. This is first class YA/children's fiction, and this series deals in a subtle way with the problem of the Outsider; the foreigner in a society who struggles to be accepted. It's riveting stuff, an exciting story, and if you're looking for something to buy for your kids, or for that matter a good read for yourself, it's a great pick.