Our little Maggie is quite the charmer

As I came through the door at the groomers, I could see her cute and freshly cropped face looking at me from a kennel. Miss Maggie had her day at the beauty parlor and she was happy to see her daddy.

As the owner of the shop handed her over I received rapid-fire puppy kisses and the shop’s help squealed with delight. The shop owner said she got quite a few while she was grooming her.

Two things that mystify me were how she was being so good and patient in the kennel and how she could get kisses while grooming the chunky little dog. She barks and scratches if I leave her outside for even a minute longer than she wants to be there. Heaven forbid that she accidently get shut in the garage following me out to the freezer.

If I try and bathe the little she-devil in the kitchen sink I end up soaked and out of patience. Scissors in my hands are her signal to run and hide.

I’ve found the best approach to bath-time is to place her on a shower chair with the shower curtain drawn and me in the shower with her. She doesn’t try to jump down or get away and the showerhead is much better than the clunky nozzle on the kitchen sink.

I dry her off on the shower chair then set her down on the floor while I shower the dog hair off my body.

The greatest down side to this method is that the dog shampoo bottle often stays in the shower where a sleepy-eyed person could learn he’s just showered and shampooed with flea and tick shampoo.

Our little Maggie is a charmer though. and it’s not just the groomers in love with her. My wife regularly has home health folks coming to see her and for the most part they coo over her and lavish her with attention. If they don’t offer it, she’ll seek out the attention.

Right now her favorite visitor is the physical therapist Jennifer, who also has dogs and adores Maggie. I’m pretty sure the dog thinks Jennifer is actually coming to see her, not my wife.

We’ve had a few visitors that obviously weren’t as happy to see Maggie and she cools her jets quickly when they arrive instead of Jennifer.

A while back we had a physical therapist who was coming who, according to his sister, also a physical therapist, always had trouble getting on with dogs even though he had dogs at home. Maggie was no different. At first she thought he needed to be barked at, which kept her in trouble. Finally she opened up to him and began sitting next to him on the couch while he was there.

Our little Maggie girl -- in the end she’s a much better lover than fighter.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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