Tis the Season!

It's that time of year again... my favorite time usually. I love the feeling of Christmas and the giving and sharing of gifts. I generally think the world is a much more happier and beautiful place at Christmas.. (probably due to all the sparkling lights) But this is also the time of year that people look down at the matted mess of dog they have avioded all year. And since the family and friends are going to be visting they feel the need to get little Sparky all cleaned up. When they arrive at the shop looking like a mop from 1945, we have to assume there really is a dog in there somewhere, so when we tell the owner that shaving the poor dog down is the only option.. they proceed to say that they really only wanted a LITE trim. "Ma'am, I know you obviously take good care of your dog, it obviously shows, but we had to shave him down."... they try to explain that they really do brush them everyday. Well we eventually convince them the best thing for the dog would be to start fresh and that bringing him in more often would really help him to not get so matted. When the dog is finished and we call the owner to come pick up what is supposed to be their pride and joy, but yet 6:30pm rolls around and no sign of the owner.. they forgot. Long story short too late... Can someone tell me how you feed this dog everyday and pet this dog and not notice that you havent seen his eyes or nose in months?? Do they not see the clumps of hair and thorns and fecal matter stuck to his rear end?? As a groomer it's quite obvious when this dog gets dragged in, I look at the history and the last time we saw this dog was December 20th of last year. We like to call these our "Christmas Dogs"... Merry Christmas!