Last Saturday, I took the dogs to be groomed.  Since we brought Stevie home in June we had tried brushing her and keeping her clean, but we weren’t able to get her groomed until she had all of her shots. Then we left for vacation and suddenly we were at the 2-month mark of her adoption and she was getting a little mangy. While she did have some hair issues she was looking adorable with her hair all grown out.  In fact, we started calling her little bear because she looked like a sweet little teddy bear…that is until Saturday happened.

As soon as I took little Stevie Nicks into the groomer I knew it wasn’t going to go well. She immediately asked me how short they could cut her hair.

“Umm, well…I like it like this.  Maybe if you could just trim it up?”

Her head was shaking and she was making this clucking sound…

“So, are you saying you might have to cut it really short or possibly shave her?”

“We will try to brush it out, but she has a lot of knots in her hair.  I am not sure we can salvage it.”

Stevie looked at me and literally began whining as if she knew what was ahead of her.  As I turned to leave I heard the groomer say to her assistant, “yeah, she said we could go as short as we needed.”

Okay, that is not what I said at all!

I tried to prepare myself for what I might find when I returned.  I wasn’t prepared.

As I was paying the lady said, “Stevie looks so different.”

“Different as in she looks so clean and adorable or different as in you had to shave her and she looks like a naked mole rat?”

“Umm, well, we did have to shave her because we couldn’t get a brush through her hair, but she still looks cute. You also need to get her a new collar because this one doesn’t fit anymore…because she doesn’t have any hair.”

“omgomgomgomgomgomgomg.”

You know the saying, “a face only a mother could love?”  Yeah, that is pretty much what Stevie was thinking as she lowered her head and walked out of the back.  She was not her usual squealing with delight pup.  In fact, she seemed downright humiliated.  The groomer knowing I wasn’t likely to be thrilled with the outcome brought out her fur to show me how awful it was. She actually saved her entire coat of fur!

Okay, yeah, I got it.”

“Sometimes it’s best just to start fresh and this sweet little girl needed a fresh start.”

I think that we have now covered all of our bases when it comes to little Stevie Nicks.  She has had every test imaginable for diseases and parasites, been spayed, had tons of blood work, teeth cleaned, vaccinated, dewormed, licensed and now shaved of every last remnant of her previous life.  It is safe to say that she could not have a fresher start than where she is right now.

The rest of the day Stevie moped around the house and hid.  This is the dog who follows me everywhere at every moment and now she was looking for places to hide.  At bedtime she disappeared.  I found her snuggled up with a fleece blanket in another bedroom.  She was clearly cold.  I picked her up along with the blanket and brought her to my room to sleep.

When we awoke the next morning she was not pawing at us to play she was curled up in the tightest little ball shivering.  OMG, my dog was freezing to death.  I looked at Reese and we both said simultaneously, “she needs a sweater!”

Reese and I ran to the store to see what we could find because even going outside that morning in the 55-degree weather was traumatic.  She couldn’t stop shaking!

When we arrived at the pet store we found only Halloween costumes for pets.  I mean, it’s August, I wasn’t sure what kind of pet clothing we would find, but Halloween wasn’t what I was expecting. Stevie did not need a pink tutu or fireman’s jacket, she needed a nice, warm sweater.  In the end we settled on a black and white sweater with skulls on it and a new pink collar to fit her tiny little neck.  It’s like diva with a little bit of edge!

I am not even kidding you when I say as soon as we put the sweater on her tiny little body she was so much happier.  She started playing and snuggling up to us.   Crisis averted, she no longer had to feel naked.

Now, I am not sure Stevie is any happier about this part of her fresh start than I am, but it can only get better from here, right?