El Dorado
El Dorado came to us by way of a local Sacramento animal shelter. He
had been running loose for several days and was finally caught by some generous people who thought they
might want to keep him. He was a challenge for them, since they didn't know anything about the breed and
El Dorado kept getting out of the back yard. They were also a little taken aback by the challenge of all
El Dorado's fur. Regretfully, they turned him into the shelter hoping a more suitable home could be
found.
GPRNC got the call from the shelter that they had an 18-month old male Great Pyrenees, so we went
to pick him up.
We needed to give him a bath but his coat was so matted that I knew the water would
never touch the skin. So I solicited some help. Jeff and Moya Lateer volunteered to help groom this
young male so we met at a show to do the job. We used rakes and combs and scissors where the mats were
too bad to even try to comb through. Well, 9 person-hours later he was in better, not great, condition
and ready for the much needed bath.
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Jeff and MoyaLateer, Debi and Brandon Carpadus work at stripping out the old, matted coat. |
I brought him home from his grooming adventure and jumped him into the bathtub. He loved it! He liked biting at the water and loved having his body massaged. It must have felt good after having had such a matted coat.After his bath we spent another 4 hours blow-drying him and trying to get the rest of the undercoat out.
El Dorado is in a much healthier state now with the mats gone, but will always be a grooming challenge due in part to the fact that he has so much hair. Well kept, his long, dense coat will be a thing of beauty.
Here's the happy ending to the story.
Now called "Dorado", he is at home with the Larry Webb family of Santa Clara County. They have another dog in the home, Harley, and the two have become great friends. Larry writes, "Great news; Harley and Dorado have started to play together. I am really happy they are getting along and Dorado really seems to fit in. We had a dinner party shortly after he came and Dorado was not a problem. He really craves a lot of attention and never wants to go outside when we put him to bed at night. Thanks for giving us Dorado."Thanks to everyone who contributed to the happy ending for this wonderful dog.
