Who would've thought?

The boys get regular baths given by me! Lucky them! ;)  However, despite being short-haired dogs that do not need to be groomed, I still have to take them to the groomers periodically.  You see the boys have banded together in agreement to not ever let mommie come near them with nail clippers.  For the sole purpose of getting their nails professionally clipped they go to the groomers.  Plus it's a nice break for me once in awhile to not have to bathe them!  This past Thursday I was on the phone setting an appointment for the pugs to be groomed.  Now it's a Thursday, I was not trying to make the appointment for the following day on Friday, I was instead interested in an appointment the following week(this week).

I asked what they had available on Monday as well as late in the week.  Nothing was available on Monday(today).  I was then told my only options were Thursday(the 27th) or a split appointment on Friday(the 28th). A split appointment means one pug's appointment would begin at 3:30 and the other pug's appointment begins at 5:00.  For them to have so few options available sounded odd to my ears.  Especially since I was attempting to make this appointment somewhat in advance I was not expecting next day grooming at all.  I know from previous experiences groomers are quite busy around the holidays, mainly the bigger holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. However, none of those holidays are immediately upon us.

During the conversation with the groomer I said I was surprised they didn't have more options for a week in advance.  She then told me why.  Due to the new healthcare law(Obamacare), they are restricted on how many "bather's" they have on staff during the week.  The boys only receive baths while at the groomers, no trimming of their coats.  Therefore due to the new restrictions, the boys need to go on days when the groomer has an extra "bather" on staff for the day.  If the boys were needing to be trimmed then they could go to a full-service groomer on staff.  Since they don't get trimmed they are instead taken care of by "bathers".  Bathers on staff are still getting their complete grooming license, they are essentially doing an internship.  They're working with animals while pursuing their full license. 

Apparently from now on I can expect few options when making the boys grooming appointments. Anyway, after the appointment was made it was a bit funny to me that the new healthcare law is affecting the pugs. Now who could have predicted that?