More about Paisley and his haircut

There was one additional benefit to Paisley's getting shorn—he got his collar back.

Do you remember his collar? It was a very fancy one, a gift from our friends at Paco Collars, and more beautiful than one can even imagine. The very nicest leather. The very finest hardware.

The problem for Paisley was that the collar took up a lot of room where his coat needed to be, and so he spent a lot of time scratching at it with his back legs. (This is a maneuver I sometimes attempt, but he is better at it than I.) He has such sensitive skin! While it would have suited a less finicky longhaired dog, the collar simply wasn't a good fit for Paisley under all that hair.

FarmWife gave the collar to B.G. the goat, which worked out well enough except that poor Paisley was no longer well-dressed. B.G. wore the collar for a couple of months, which actually served as some very good product testing. It went through blackberry brambles, got chewed on by kids, got worn in the elements, and lived in the barnyard 24/7 for all those many weeks. Yesterday, it came back looking showroom ready. A quick polishing with some murphy's oil soap and it's back on the dog! Paisley, with his new butch cut, wears it comfortably and proudly. It looks nice. He doesn't scratch. It even makes him look a little less embarrassed, I think.

Photo: The state of the collar after a few months on a goat.

Ears,
Fenway Bartholomule