A shave and a haircut

Before

After

Lexie has a hot new look for summer 2010 that I'm sure will start a cool trend in the doggie style world. We both visited the doggie cleaners today for our pre-summer/pre-vet-visit bath. While I lost a winter's worth of dirt and a few tangled mats of hair, Lexie lost all of that plus lots of hair. Because Lexie's coat is twice as thick as mine, Cheryl decided to have her shaved. The outcome: Imagine a golden retriever head and tail on a yellow Lab's body. "What do you think, Bax?" Lexie asked me nervously when Cheryl picked us up. After taking a moment to get over the shock, I said, "You look 20 pounds lighter and 10 dog years younger. Who knew you were that lean under all of that hair?" Well, lean may not be the word, but she needed some encouragement. I caught Cheryl snickering under her breath on the ride home and then when we got there I overheard her tell Duchess she was not allowed to laugh at Lexie. "She hasn't laughed at your opossum tail," Cheryl reminded Duchess, who's on medicine that makes her hair fall out. "So how do you feel, my pretty girl?" Cheryl asked Lexie once we got back in the backyard. "Like you do when it's 100 degrees outside and you take off a fur coat, I guess," Lexie said, and then rambled off to take care of some business. Of course one of the first things Cheryl did was get her camera and start taking pictures. She e-mailed one to Gram and Gramps Moose. Their response: "They sent the wrong dog home with you." Nope, she's still our Lexie. I keep sniffing her to make sure. Well, we're both off to take a nap. The day of pet pampering made us dog tired.