Oatmeal ..... Who Knew?

You all know Toni Louise. Our sweet girl is an adventurer. She is always looking for an opportunity to escape and explore. This has gotten her into some bad situations in the past. As a young girl she was hit by a dump truck and underwent emergency surgery to repair her hip.

She has calmed down a lot as she has matured. She is the alpha dog of my small pack and does not take crap from anyone. Except, maybe me.

Eddie, the charmer likes to be in her good graces. The only thing he is opposed to is Toni in my lap. This happens occasionally. Here is Eddie trying to make nice with her.

She rebuffed his efforts today. She has had a stressful day.

That face says it all. She is telling her master all her woes. I gave her quite a hair trim. I actually buzzed it off. She usually sports a long coat and sheds like crazy. I did not cut her hair because she is shedding.

She has some "hot spots" on her back near her tail. She was miserable and I couldn't get to the problem with all that fur in the way. I looked up some remedies and learned that oatmeal brings instant relief. I ground it in the coffee mill and made a paste.

I decided she would need a nice soothing bath before I slathered it on. While I was getting everything ready, I applied it and she stopped scratching immediately. She did lick it off … and eat it.

Toni is not a fan of the bath. She will leap from the tub and shake at every opportunity. Today, the phone rang three times during the bath time adventures. It was not fun for me either.

The only good thing was that she was a lot easier to dry without all that fur. The oatmeal paste has provided much relief for her today.

The doxies were jealous and are giving me the cold shoulder. They love a good bath, but after bathing Toni Louise my back was killing me. The store got busy as I finished and I yanked off the wet shirt and replace it with another. I looked at myself awhile ago and I bet everyone is wondering if HeWho dressed me. My attire does not match in any way.

Thinking about the "hot spots" that plague my sweet girl, I think it is my fault. I used a new dog shampoo last time I bathed her. I was in a hurry to be done and I probably failed to get all the shampoo out of her fur when I rinsed her. Easy to do, but I still feel bad about it. She was thoroughly rinsed today and I used the conditioner, as well. She smells wonderful and her short fur is super soft now. Except for the hair around the hot spots, it is stiff with oatmeal.

I noticed Cujo nibbled some of the oatmeal from Toni's back while she slept. Not only is she the leader of the pack, she provides snacks, too!