Much diminished

One annual ritual at Goat Rope Farm this time of year is the shaving of Arpad, our Great Pyrenees security chief. After a winter of running around, barking all night in the woods and brambles and eating rotten deer carcasses and getting sick--in the line of duty--his coat is rather nasty. Plus, he's so hot that all he wants to do is lay around.

We take him to a place with a dog whispering groomer who does the job, which usually takes more than two hours. When it's all done, we learn that he is mostly composed of hair and the summer product is a fraction of the dog he used to be.

Although I'm sure the procedure makes him more comfortable, he seems self conscious for the first week or so and doesn't like to make public appearances. I hope he won't mind this exception...