Owners race to pamper pets with shaggy coats in time for top dog show
From scruffs… to Crufts! Owners race to pamper pets with shaggy coats and bad hair in time for top dog show
- With Crufts fast approaching it was time to get Grace’s barnet under control
- With a coat as shaggy as hers, bad hair days are an occupational hazard
With a coat as shaggy as hers, bad hair days are an occupational hazard – especially when romping around the yard.
So, with Crufts fast approaching, it was time to get Grace the bearded collie’s bountiful barnet under control.
With her offspring Sally and Quincy also due at Birmingham NEC on Friday, that may sound like a hairy ordeal for the trio’s owner Claire Bowden, 46.
But despite each pet needing two shampoos, a blow-dry, nail-trim, groom and spray, it’s a labour of love for her at home in Horsham, West Sussex.
Mane attraction: Grace with her offspring Sally and Quincy. The happy trio enjoy a run-around after a bath
Make-rover: Grace after her grooming and ready for the big show
Ms Bowden – who runs a business called Pawsitive Canine Massage Therapy and co-owns the dogs with her mother Sue – said: ‘Before a show, you want them to look their best, so they have an all-over bath which takes about two hours each three weeks before, and then another concentrating on the feet and face a few days before.’ She added: ‘I find it anything but a chore.’
Eight-year-old Grace and four-year-old Sally and Quincy will be competing in separate categories at this year’s Crufts, which starts tomorrow.
Despite their adorable appearance, The Kennel Club has classed bearded collies as a ‘vulnerable’ breed – after annual registrations of new puppies fell to just 281 last year.
Pedigree glum? Towel-dry time for eight-year-old Grace as she poses in pink during her pamper time
Collie wobbles: She shakes off the suds as it was time to get the bearded collie’s bountiful barnet under control for the big day
Despite their adorable appearance, The Kennel Club has classed bearded collies as a ‘vulnerable’ breed – after annual registrations of new puppies fell to just 281 last year
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