Operation Uncover Westies

What can I say about Pat Ozborn and her marvelous husband Henry?  They donated their time, grooming studio, supplies, equipment and skill to this group of eight Westies rescued from that large-scale breeder somewhere in Mississippi.

Operation Uncover Westies was a huge gift that uncovered some wonderful little Westies under the stained fur and lingering kennel stench!

You see, I first got to know Pat after she rescued Annie and Rebel from the local animal shelter in Vicksburg.  It is a story that haunts me to this day.

Pat took a picture of Annie last year with a huge smile on her face after she was clean and groomed for the first time in probably over a year.  I wish you could have seen Annie and Pat kissing when they saw each other on this recent trip to take the recent rescues to Vicksburg for Pat to work her miracles.

We took Mackie and Annie to be groomed at the same time, knowing that Pat and Annie would enjoy a reunion.

I think Annie truly understood when I kept telling her that we were going to see Aunt Pat.  She was extra excited and happy that whole trip. (She is a Go-Go girl anyway who loves her rides in the van.)  I will forever cherish the visual memory of Pat and Annie kissing when they saw each other again!  Annie was just as excited to see Henry when he arrived a little while later.

In the week or 10 days that Pat and Henry fostered Annie and Rebel, they gave her a nickname of "Little Annie Bright Eyes". It is one I use when Annie and I have some private time, and Annie's face was just priceless when Henry and Pat called her that pet name!

Since Pat and Henry rescued Annie and Rebel from the local shelter a bit over a year ago, Pat has opened her own grooming shop in Vicksburg (see the top picture for address and phone number).

They have been involved in rescue for a good long while...something like 30 years I think. I learned so much from Pat that day, asking her a zillion questions.  You will be reading a lot of Pat's wisdom and experience on this blog in the months ahead. She is passionate about rescue (read this).

Anyway, that afternoon was a marathon of puppy baths, brush outs, trims and petting.

Remember these are not house-trained rescues, so there was plenty of Potty Patrol.  Gordon was in charge of taking the dogs outside one by one on a leash. They were too excited by the new smells to do anything outside, so Gordon, Henry and I took Potty Patrol inside.

Can you imagine almost six hours of straight, uninterrupted Westie Grooming?  It took all four humans to keep the process rolling.  Pat and Henry are my heroes!

Elvis kept us in giggles as he quickly bored with his little cage in the corner.  He learned how to push it around, so he just traveled around the building, pushing his cage with him.

As the rest of the dogs were washed and dried and brushed out, awaiting their grooming, Elvis could not figure out why he was still in his little mobile cage while his girls were exploring the room.  We were enjoying watching him take his housing with him like a turtle, but we did let him out after his bath to explore without his mobile cage.

The humans and the Westies were all so tired from that adventure.  Pat gave her day off to the enterprise, "Operation Uncover Westies". The little dogs slept the entire 3.5 hour trip home to the farm.

Gordon has a little some video posted here , featuring Elvis, Happy and Mackie.

Even after two (and for some, three) baths with that miracle Apple Cider rinse, those sweet dogs still had a kennel stench when we took them to Pat's grooming salon.  Pat said the stench and the stained fur might have to just grow off! When I wash the dogs now, I can still smell the kennel smell when the dogs are wet. 

It was obvious to us that the dogs had never been properly groomed or even brushed. The large-scale breeder told me about one of the Westies being "slung up against the fence" when it nipped the "groomer".  She did not know which dog had been abused thus.  Several of the little dogs showed enough stress from the process to indicate past physical abuse.

Pat and I also feel the dogs were just hosed down with a water hose in their cages at that puppy mill because they were so afraid of the gentle grooming water sprayer.

Slowly, their fur is growing whiter as Westies should be.  Lots to tell you about their personalities emerging, but I must return to work. 

Comments

[laura]

Oh what great groomers to donate so much time to this. I just can't understand why someone would hurt any dog much less a westie. thanks for the blog write up.
laura
duncan - our youngest westie
Storm - our beloved passed on westie that lives in our heart