A.J. got a haircut the other day. It wasn’t planned, and it wasn’t a very good haircut. The reason he got a haircut is because, once again, he wandered into someplace he shouldn’t have.

 

We took a different path on our walk than we have been. It was very cold outside, so partway through the walk I stopped to make sure A.J.’s feet weren’t getting too cold. I discovered that his feet were fine, but his legs were a huge mess. Without my realizing it he had wandered into a bush full of burrs, and they were now stuck in his fur. I pulled one out of his ear, then started to work on his legs. It was hopeless. The burrs were completely tangled in his fur. So we walked home, A.J. carrying what seemed like half a bush with him.

 

When we got home A.J. suddenly realized he had all these things stuck to him and proceeded to start ripping them out with his teeth. He had managed to rip enough out that he was bleeding by the time I got him into the bathroom, got the scissors out, and started hacking away. I attempted to make everything look nice and even, but as A.J. was not enjoying the process and kept trying to help it was amazing I even got the burrs out without stabbing either one of us.

 

When I had the burrs out and had trimmed as much of his hair around the hack job as I could, I let A.J. out of the bathroom and went to get a broom. I swept all the burr-tangled hair into a pile. Of course I had to take a picture of the mess:

While I was taking the picture, A.J. came running back into the bathroom – and plopped himself right on top of the pile!

After brushing the hair and burrs off his back end I finally got everything cleaned up. We were both much happier when it was all over.

What a crazy dog.