Charlie

Charlie is our long-haired dapple dachshund. He is ridiculously cute and the sweetest dog you will ever meet. As I write, he is laying next to his water bowl patiently waiting for someone to come fill it. If I take too long he will gently nudge it with his nose and look over at me with his ears up, head tilted as if to say "Whenever you get a chance, I'm kinda thirsty". I'll be right back.
Okay- water bowl is filled. If you've met him, you understand. Everyone that meets Charlie loves him. You just can't help it- he's that sweet. But no dog is perfect- not even Charlie.
Charlie has two issues. 1- He's a barker. Not a mean, growl-at-you-get-out-of-my-yard barker- but a hey-how's-it-going-nice-to-see-you barker. Which is really kind of worse as far as noise goes because he doesn't have to feel threatened to bark- he just has to have something to say and he, apparently, has a lot to say most days.
2- His long hair drags in every thing from pine straw and leaves to trash. So my messy house is then dirty as well.
(My kids would add that he has a 3rd flaw which is that he is fat. I wholeheartedly disagree with this as does our vet who says he is NOT fat- he just doesn't need to gain any more weight.)
So about twice a year Brandt and I endeavor to cut Charlie's hair on the back part of his legs which we call his "short pants" because it hangs down like little short pants. (Brandt has argued we should say they are capris because of the length but I say he just has short legs and on top of that,boys don't wear capris.) Anyway- yesterday we attempted the bi-annual event with poor results. Last time was not much better but we were atleast able to finish the job. What resulted was a spiky, poky looking monstrosity from the rear of which we assured Charlie no one looks back there anyway.
This time we gave up and took him to the groomer for the first time in his 4 years. They did a much neater job and even trimmed up his fluffy paw pads. He can now go throught the summer with most of his dignity intact. Brandt and I can put our scissors away for 6 months atleast.