A Good Summertime Haircut

The summertime heat and humidity really takes it out of you.  We did a lot of sweating this weekend. I got a short summertime haircut and it helps somewhat.  Animals struggle in the heat, too.  Big Boy is our Great Pyrenees dog.  The breed has origins back to the Pyrenees mountains which border France and Spain where they were used as livestock guardian dogs for shepherds in the mountains.

Our Maker's Acres Family farm sits in a rural setting at a whopping 22 feet above sea level.  That is quite a difference from the Pyrenees Mountains!  So I felt sorry for ol' Big Boy as I saw him in the shade under the trampoline, digging one of his huge holes that he digs to get comfortable in the cool dirt.

Big Boy in his foxhole

But I had a plan.  If a short haircut could help me feel more comfortable in the heat, perhaps it would do the same for Big Boy.  "Here Big Boy!"  He came lumbering out of his most recently dug crater.

I enlisted Benjamin's help and we got our livestock clippers from out of the attic.  These are the clippers that we use to groom the dairy cows before the livestock shows.  Benjamin plugged them in and fired up the clippers.

Benjamin the Barber

Big swaths of white hair began falling off of Big Boy with each pass of the clipper.  The blades on the clipper were really dull and Big Boy's hair was really thick, making it hard to do a good job, but as Benjamin and I justified, every bit of hair that comes off has got to feel cooler and better for Ol' Big Boy.

Take a little off the top, please.

Finally, we were done.  Or at least as done as we were going to get.  Tricia came out and said, "Big Boy, you look terrible!"  Okay, Dog Groomers, we are not!  Benjamin will not be in contention for any American Kennel Club dog grooming awards.  But, I know that Big Boy felt better once we finished and he doesn't have access to a mirror.

Would you look at all the white fur scattered across the yard?!  You would sweat that it snowed in June!

Poor Big Boy!

When we were finished, Big Boy lumbered back to his nest under the trampoline, closed his eyes and wondered what one has to do to get a good haircut anymore?

Maybe in a few weeks we can put sharpened blades on the clippers and spruce things up a bit.  Until then, his haircut at least provides him with a bit of a respite from the sweltering heat of summer.