Professional Tips to Pampur your Pooch

Happy JUNE Sandpoint!

DOG EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Bark for Life Dog Walk is June 7, Saturday from 8am to 7pm and starts in Dover. Its a fabulous fundraiser for local charities. I hope to see you there:)

Pampurred Pets is hosting their 10 year anniversary day June 21, Saturday. Many of the local dog companies, including EZDog will be there giving free gifts, and agility training, and courses for your pets fun. Pooch Parlor will be offering free nail trimming and gifts. This is also a fundraiser with silent bidding for the local charities. Come on out from 10am to 2pm and support your local pet businesses and charities.

Enter the Cutest Pet Photo Contest! http://bonnercountydailybee.upickem.net/engine/Welcome.aspx?contestid=130745

Students for Hire: Meet Brittany from Clark Fork, Sarah from Anacortes, and Irma from Rathdrum. Please ask for a student groomer to help these special people perfect the art of dog grooming. Receive up to a 50% discount when you support a student groomer.

Certified Professionals: Julia from Ponderay, Claire from Yuba City, CA, and DuAnn from Las Vegas, are available for your professional grooming needs.

Business Hours: Pooch Parlor is open Mon through Saturday. 8:30am to 3:30 pm (often until 5:30pm in the summertime).

Personal Thanks: Thanks to all of you who support locally owned businesses. Every dollar you spend locally stays in the community 7 times longer than money spent with business superstores.

A big thank you to my husband Mike who is always willing to 'help me with the upgrades and Pooch Parlor remodeling needs. Thanks Mike!

Articles offered: Home Remedy for Hot Spots and Mosquitos, and Sometimes Our least Attractive Features Can Be Our Lifesavers.

Hot Spots and Mosquitos- A Home Remedy that Helps

Hot Spots and Mosquitos are two warm weather issues that can be a nuisance for dogs and their owners. Left untreated hot spots and mosquitos can leave dog’s skin oozing and raw over huge portions of the body. Basic brown mouthwash (NEVER SWEETENED WITH XYLITOL. Xylitol kills pets) can be incredibly helpful for both of these summertime occurrences.

Hot Spots: Always have your local veterinarian give you an initial diagnosis and a plan to help cure and treat hot spots, as hot spots are caused by many internal and external factors. Recurring warm weather hot spots are common for thick-coated, and/or swimming dogs. If the skin is unable to fully dry, a mild to severe infection, or ‘hot spot’ on the skin can occur, which is smelly and gooey. Saturating the area that is predisposed to hot spots with basic brown mouthwash does two things to help the problem: 1. It kills the bacteria in the fur and on the skin that is feeding the hot spot, which reduces the smell, and 2. The high alcohol content helps dry out the skin where moisture feeds the hot spot. For dogs that swim, squirt a generous amount of mouthwash on the skin (usually on the hips tail, and butt end) after the dog finishes swimming, and let air dry. The mouthwash does not burn the anus, or sanitary area, and if the mist inadvertently gets into the dogs eyes, any small discomfort is short-lived as the alcohol content evaporates quickly and easily.

Mosquitos: Basic brown mouthwash is a natural repellent for insects. A squirt bottle that is one half brown mouthwash, and one half water, is an easy way to protect your pets from mosquitos and fleas. Simply mist your pet with the mixture once every other day during warm weather. Let the mixture air dry on your pet. Enjoy a chemical-free pesticide alternative.

Dollar store brown mouthwash is an affordable and helpful product to keep at home for your pets summertime health.

All rights reserved. Copyright DuAnn Chambers 2014

Ones least desirable feature can be a neck-saver

It was a gorgeous late May evening in Priest River, Idaho. The sun had just dipped behind the mountainside, leaving dusk to transition into evening. The stars twinkled dimly above us, preparing for the night shift. The temperature was a perfect crisp 64 degrees, encouraging an extended walk for myself, my husband Mike, and our 3 dog family: Monte, our 10 year old 100 pound standard poodle, Marli, our 11 year old100 lb. pitbull/Rottweiler mix, and Greta Marie, our 5 year old 12 lb. miniature schnauzer.

We had been walking about an hour and a half when we headed back home, relaxed and peaceful, excited to prepare for a weekend getaway. Mike moved to the left, while I moved to the right to let the truck pass.

A blur of blonde and black, came sailing through the air from the back end of the pickup. I turned to see a set of pearly white teeth attach midair to my poodle’s back, and without a sound, the three of us, me, Monty, the attached dog, succumbed to momentum, rolling together on the gravel edge of the road. Without even a second of hesitation, the dog clamped down on Monty’s neck. I could see that our perpetrator was a small, 60 lb., intensely determined pitbull mix. I scrambled off the ground, still not releasing the hold I had of my poodle’s collar.

I pulled Monty toward me and gave the pitbull a quick sharp jab to the ribs, along with a guttural and firm “NO!” fully expecting the dog to suck in air and release his throat-hold. Nothing happened. I did it again with extreme firmness. The pitbull reacted by tightening his grip on my thrashing and crying poodle. The dog attached to Monty’s neck had no intention of allowing him to live. A fear came over me that I have never known before and never want to know again.

Mike tried unhinging the dogs jaw with his fingers, and could not get them unlocked, alarmed further when the dog reacted by grinding more on Monty’s throat.

The owner of the dog, had stopped his truck in the middle of the road and ran to assist us. He was a large man, probably close to 300 lbs, with huge hands. He tried pulling the pitbull off of Monty, which triggered him to move his throat-hold from under Monty’s jaw to his jugular. I didn’t think Monty could breathe. He had stopped struggling, and all four legs were unmoving, midair. I put my hands on his sides as I straddled his middle, and the men worked by his head. I locked my eyes on his, willing him to breathe, hoping he could live through this horrendous experience. Monty looked back into my desperate, crying eyes, sending me not fear, but acceptance and trust. I was helpless to help him, and squeezed him tightly so he could feel and see me.

Mike and the owner struggled urgently with the dog, leveraging over 500 pounds of human male muscle to pry and pull on the pitbull’s locked hold. Nothing was working, and I feared the worst. The owner laid his entire body weight on his own dog, and sacrificing his own hands to free Monty, he was able to pain-stakingly pry the pitbull’s jaws apart for a brief second. “Pull!” he told me and I did! I pulled my poodle with all of my might and at last Monty was freed from the pitbulls jaws. Monty scrambled to his feet and started to run. I called him back to me, amazed at his obedience. He hid behind me, battered, shaky, and bewildered.

We checked over Monty’s injuries, fearing the worst, while the pitbull’s owner fought to secure his dog back inside the cab of his truck. We were amazed and grateful that our poodle appeared to have no life-threatening injuries. His neck skin was ripped and bloodied, but not bleeding, and he

was breathing fine. Monty’s loose neck skin, his least attractive feature, and something he has been teased incessantly about for his entire 10 years of life, had fronted the attack meant for his jugular. Mike and I hugged our poodle with a renewed appreciation for his life. “Maybe turkey necks aren’t so bad, Mont! Thank God for turkey necks!” I whispered in Monty’s ear with a kiss. He wagged his tail at me, eyes shining brightly, and slobbered two fat sloppy kisses across my neck.

This is a true story that took place May 30, 2014.
All rights reserved. Reprinted with owner permission. Copyrights reserved. DuAnn Chambers 2014

The Pooch Parlor is a place for pets and their people that want a clean, safe, professional and family environment for grooming, where professionalism and customer service are held to the highest possible standard.

We offer the following services:
*Doggie Drive thru for dogs under 20 lbs.
* full service grooming for all breeds of dogs and cats by state-certified groomers
*student grooming discounts
*offer ‘no-kennel’ grooming by request
*owner stay grooming by request
*self-service bathing stations
*walk-in appointments
* teeth scaling and/or teeth brushing
* nail trimming and dremeling (filing) on a walk-in basis
*anal gland expressing
* bird nails and wing trimming
*retail grooming tools
*doggie day care
*owner grooming training by request
*doggie and family portraits (free)

Pooch Parlor Groomers/Staff. Every groomer has undergone rigorous training to attain their certification at the state level. The training includes more than instruction about the technical aspects of grooming and scissoring, it includes strict codes of conduct and tight guidelines for ethical treatments of pets and their owners, safety practices, and cleaning standards. This certification is something we are most proud of, as the grooming industry is not regulated, and only 5 percent of all groomers spend the time and money to train under any qualified guidelines. All employees are drug-tested and undergo criminal background checks.

The Pooch Parlor Pet Groomer Academy, is the only grooming school licensed and bonded through the Board of Education, in the State of Idaho. We offer training to students that come from all over the nation to acquire certification. We offer reduced student grooming rates for those customers that want to help groomers-in-training.

We also have a camera handy and LOVE to take pictures of our staff, students, customers, and their dogs. There is no charge for family portrait and we email it to you, just ask. Pictures of your 4 legged kids are really important, since our time with them is never long enough during our lives.

The Pooch Parlor in Ponderay is owned and operated by DuAnn Chambers and her husband Mike. Mike is not a groomer, he is a remodeling specialist, with Git ‘er Done Construction LLC., and helps out in the grooming shop with all repairs and upgrades (unless the upgrade is granite –thanks again Idaho Granite, we love the new countertops!). Mike and DuAnn have been married 20 years, and have no human children. They share the love of dogs, owning a mini schnauzer, 4 year old ‘Grouchy Greta’, a Standard Poodle, Montee, 9 years old, and an adopted Rottweiler cross, Marlie, 10 years. In our spare time, we scuba dive and do home remodeling projects. We thank all of you our friends and customers for making it possible for us to LOVE what we do! Thank you!