TheBanyanTree: Christmas puppies, the other side

[NancyIee at aol.com]

A friend has a dog grooming business.  As the days to Christmas run out, 
everyone seems anxious to primp up the family pet for company and the festivities. 
My friend's business boomed, and I went to help her out.  I washed the dogs, 
and she sculpted, combed, trimmed them, and they went home smelling sweet and 
wearing Christmas bows.

But, one customer brought in three dogs so matted and stinky I had a hard 
time determining what breed they might be. They were so dirty and matted I could 
not even see which end was which. As my friend started clipping, trimming, 
cutting away the excess fur and snarls, we talked. The woman has eighty of them, 
my friend told me. She breeds them, my friend told me. She sells a lot of 
puppies, my friend said.

As my friend worked, we discovered that two of the dogs had recently given 
birth, the third was a male.  Their coats were long and matted, clumped together 
and badly snarled, and stinking of poop and urine.  The little dogs yelped as 
my friend tugged away the mats and clumps. No matter how gentle her hands, 
pulling snarls and debris from the coats sometimes hurt. Her clippers heated up 
as she worked; the matted coats came off the little bodies like fat felt 
quilt. Or sheep wool. She tried to clip them in the manner accepted for their 
breed.  After the initial clipping, I bathed them, sometimes having to soap them 
two or three times to loosen the matter stuck on their little bodies.

I washed  and then toweled them dry.  They had winsome brown eyes, and licked 
my hand as I rubbed their bodies with the warm towels. They cuddled into the 
towel and against me. I wondered if they got any attention at their home, with 
all those other dogs about.

After the bath, my friend finished the grooming task, and we had three 
attractive, sweet little dogs.

The woman has Christmas puppies to sell, you see.  Potential puppy buyers 
coming to the house might want to see the parents.  Thus, the parents were 
groomed. No doubt, the potential puppy buyers were not shown the other seventy-seven 
dogs or their quarters.

I love dogs, we have four of our own.  Today's work made me sad. Lucky the 
little puppies going to good family homes.  Unlucky the little parents which, no 
doubt, will be bred again for Valentine or Easter or for next year's 
Christmas puppies.

I came home sad today. I keep thinking about eighty loving little dogs and 
the lives they live.

NancyLee