A Haircut and a Sweet Potato

That pretty much sums up Oscar's Sunday. He was getting a little shaggy (okay, maybe a lot shaggy) so we brought him to the groomer's to get him all spruced up again.

Thoroughly soaked after a walk
in the soggy spring streets.

I'm not sure that he can even see through the hair.

Desperately in need of a pedicure!

Shaggy all around!

I've mentioned before that we're not fans of the schnauzer cut - no offence to those who are - so the first time we went to the groomer's, we asked for him to be cut all one length. They asked if we wanted a "round head" as well and we said sure...mostly because we didn't know what that was. We ended up with a really short-trimmed schnauzer with a very fuzzy head, and personally I think he came out of there looking a little crazy. His head looked gigantic in comparison to the rest of him! The second time we went, we left his coat longer, and asked for the top of his head to be trimmed the same length as the rest of him, and I think he looked much better.

This time, we brought him to a different PetSmart than usual, and they asked if we wanted his head to be groomed the same as last time, so I said yes. Mistake. I should have clarified, because we ended up with the dreaded round head haircut again. It makes him look like a doggy lollipop, since the rest of him is so skinny. I forget how little he really is when he's covered with all of that shaggy hair!

Looking much neater, but his head is a little poufy!

They said that Oscar was a good dog during his grooming. When we got there to pick him up, he wasn't done yet so we got to watch him while they groomed him, although we kind of hid because we didn't want him to get excited if he saw us. I agree that he was a very good dog. In fact, he was shockingly well-behaved! I expected him to be wriggling around and trying to escape, but he was very calm as he was groomed. I was very proud!

As a reward for Oscar for being so good, I made some dried sweet potato treats by following the instructions on the Dog Treat Kitchen site (more or less). They have a ton of recipes that look pretty good and that I'm excited to try my hand at making. The dried sweet potato treats essentially just involves slicing the sweet potato into slices and baking them. I just realized now that the recipe says to cut the sweet potato into slices that are 1/3 of an inch thick, and no thinner than 1/4 of an inch. I cut the sweet potato into 1/4 inch slices and they were definitely too thin (oops). I left the slices in a 250-degree oven for about 2 and a half hours rather than the 3 hours called for in the recipe, but even then I had to throw a few slices out because they got a little too dry and singed. I'll cut thicker slices next time and leave them in for a shorter period of time (and keep a closer eye on them!). Even if the slices look thick at first, they do shrink up a lot so I'd recommend thicker slices if in doubt.

They made the house smell lovely, and Oscar enjoyed them. It takes a while for him to chew through them, so they are a good alternative to the normal treats that we give him, which he inhales in seconds.

Delicious!