Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Tuesdays Show & Tail - Prosthetics for Animals

I recently gained employment with a company whose beginnings started with creating prosthetic legs for people.  My job position is in the retail and customer service for orthotics  and durable medical equipment, but I've always been impressed by the devices that have been created to enable injured people not only to walk, but to run and jump and not be held down by a classification of "handicapped" any longer!  Here's a short video about a mini horse, Midnight, who, at 4 years of age, now has a second chance at being a real horse again!  What a delight to see what prosthetics has done for HIM!



Sunday, March 27, 2011

Corgi Coat Blowing Contest?

Last Fall, Mr. Wonderful and I got fed up with all the shedding our 4 Corgi girls were doing.  We decided we could bathe them and put a quick end to the tumbling fur that generally follows us around the house after a bathing/drying session with the dogs - and remember, we also have a smooth coated Australian Shepherd, which makes the total of our dogs climb to FIVE!
First we did baths - one dog at a time, in assembly line fashion.  I hosed them and washed them in the shower, wrung them out - ears to toes, passed them to hubby who then put them each in their own crate and brought me the next dog to bathe.  When they were finally done, we hauled out our Ace in the HOLE - a giant FUR-MINATOR, so to speak !
...A Stihl Leaf Blower!  With that POWERFUL MOTOR that moved rocks, branches, and big clumps of dirt, Corgi undercoat should be no match for THIS tool!!!  I brought each dog, one at a time, out on their leashes.  Hubby UN-LEASHED the strength of the leaf blower on our first unsuspecting subject!  LOW and BEHOLD - the success of Corgi pitted against said LeAf BlOwEr was repeated time and time and time and time AGAIN!

No pictures can possibly have been taken to show you what wonders took place!  I held Corgis whirling and twirling at the end of leashes trying to escape the WHOOSH of air coming out that tube....Corgis snapping, Corgis ScReAmInG like they were being massacred...Corgis clamping their teeth on the end of the tube to the point where it was nearly impossible to extricate their teeth from around and within the heavy duty material that the leaf blower tube was made from!

When all was said and done, not one hair was removed from their undercoat.  Not one.  Score?  Corgis - 4, Stihl Manufacturing - Zero.