Excitedly panting, havanese rod toni sits on the dressing table. Christine paulus, owner of the dog salon schnipp schnapp, has just trimmed his fur. Shortly afterwards, he proudly presents his new hairstyle to his wife, ruth scheller, who picks up her favorite. "Now it looks neat and tidy again," says the iphofen resident happily. For six and a half years, she has been taking her toni to christine paulus every eight weeks. That has been preserved. Only last year, when she was abroad on business, did she have to find another hairdresser out of necessity.
Fredy reich, who enters the store shortly after ruth scheller with his havanese-mix rod rocky, is also one of paul’s regular customers. "I actually only have regular customers and only take on new clients in exceptional cases," says the hairdresser. This is because she only has four morning appointments a week for family reasons. Only when customers move away or animals die do capacities become free.
Reich brings his ruden every three months to cut the fur: "it is very warm in the summer. At the moment he always lies down on the cold stairs to cool down. Besides, the dark hair sticks together very easily. Therefore, at the moment he is very difficult to comb."Paulus now changes that and happily welcomes the little dog.
She has been running the salon in the kitzingen housing estate for ten years now. The passion is still as rough as when he was first born. "I have always had animals, whether dogs, cats or horses. Animals have always given me a lot, and that’s still the case today," says paulus with a twinkle in his eye.
The woman from kitzingen had actually taken a completely different path and completed an apprenticeship as a machinist before a three-year stay in america got her hooked on the dog, in the proverbial sense of the word. "I worked in a veterinary clinic there, and the vet had a dog groomer. Then i thought i’d like to do that when the kids are out of the house, too," says paulus, who then completed her training in a dog salon in germany and has since regularly attended further training courses and seminars. Finally, all breeds had their peculiarities. There are undercoat dogs like sheepdogs and golden retrievers that have their undercoat cut to prevent them from overheating. For non-hairy animals like bolonka zwetna, poodles or havanese mixes, like rocky is, the ever-growing fur has to be trimmed, explains paulus, while she shortens the dog’s wool. The dog sits patiently on the dressing table and barely moves.
"Pugs don’t like to have their nails cut." christine paulus, dog groomer
However, not all animals make it as easy for her as rocky, who is also very cooperative during the next bath. "With some dogs it is already bone work, if the animal does not cooperate. Recently i had a yorkshire terrier that completely escalated. He didn’t want to be touched," says paulus, showing the bite and scratch marks. "Pugs don’t like to have their nails cut."Sometimes the four-legged friends were also muzzled. She has also had animals that she could not control. But these were dogs that even their owners had not mastered. But that is the exception, she says, and lathers rocky up properly in the wash tub.
The animals are usually washed twice to make sure they are really clean. Paulus also uses different shampoos. After all, every coat has different characteristics. "If i want to cut him neatly, i have to clean him accordingly. Otherwise the tools or even the cutting machines get broken". Before these are finally used, however, rocky is vigorously dried with a high-performance dryer. The rude man also has to endure unpleasant moments, but he does not get angry.
"It’s like with children. A certain consistency is necessary. I exude a natural authority over the dog. Then the animal that I have the say, but still feels comfortable," believes paulus, who benefits here especially from her experiences in america. A certain knowledge of the dog’s anatomy is essential from her point of view and she gently grabs rocky by the scruff one last time to trim the hair under his eyes and nose. Then, after about an hour, the havanese-mixed dog is finished and, like toni before him, rushes euphorically into his master’s arms.