Bear’s butt sucks.

I’ve been telling myself I’m going to take my dog (Bear) in for grooming soon. Unfortunately, I believed myself. Why is this unfortunate? Because:

1. I keep thinking there’s no point in me brushing him, since he’ll be getting the full grooming treatment soon, and
2. It’s been five months since I started telling myself I’d take him in soon.

A Great Pyrenees that hasn’t been brushed for five months is a mess. Bear’s hind end has loads of “mats”, and there are smaller ones under his ears and on his chest. Finally, I had a mobile groomer come to the house last weekend. She gave him a quick brushing but said his butt mats have skin twisted up in them. She said this is common for his breed, but she is not allowed to try to trim/brush the mats out when they get skin twisted into ’em. She further stated that I need to take him to a veterinarian, as vets have a “special tool” that safely and painlessly separates the skin from the mats. She didn’t charge me anything for the visit, and even offered me a discount if I have her come back and handle the rest of the grooming once the vet has cleared up the skin entanglement.

Today I took Bear to his usual vet facility, and explained what the groomer told me. The vet tech said they have no such “special tool” and she’s never heard of hair mats getting skin caught/twisted in them. She called in their resident groomer, who also said no such tool exists (though later I heard her wondering aloud about whether some ‘hair rake’ tool she had might be able to get the mats out without irritating Bear’s skin). In any event (excluding the Boston Marathon), we set up an appointment for Bear to get a full grooming at the veterinary facility a week and a half from now. They didn’t charge me anything for today’s visit.

Also, Bear has gained three pounds since his last vet visit. He’s up to 112.