Dog’s hair was so thick, she could barely move — then Florida groomers rallied to help
A dog’s matted hair was so thick, she could barely move — then Florida groomers rallied together to help her.
Loretta the dog made a dramatic transformation after an animal rescue shared an “urgent” plea. Poodle and Pooch Rescue of Florida took to Facebook over the weekend to ask whether someone could help the pup in “desperate need of a spa day.”
“We knew the emergency request for grooming services on a weekend was a BIG ask, but we also knew we could not wait until Monday to give Loretta some relief,” the organization wrote Nov. 7. “We shared her story on social media and were absolutely overwhelmed with the outpouring of support.”
The team at As the Tail Wags Grooming and Training in Oviedo jumped at the chance to help, volunteering to cut Loretta’s hair on their day off. Pictures posted online show the pup had a much shorter look at the end of her three-hour session.
“The matting was so severe in some places that Loretta’s skin was tearing, which is why you see some open wounds on her body in the photos,” the rescue wrote, adding her long hair also had seriously limited the movement in her hind legs.
Kristie Kingsland, owner of As the Tail Wags, said her Orlando-area business stepped in after noticing the dog’s matting was some of the worst she’d seen in her two decades of grooming. Loretta’s hair was about 6 inches long, and the portion that was cut off weighed 8 pounds.
“She was literally encased in her hair,” Kingsland told McClatchy News in a phone interview.
Loretta is still on the journey toward recovery. Though she has better motion in her hind legs, she has trouble moving one of her front legs, possibly from a broken bone that didn’t heal properly. She also is underweight and positive for heartworms, according to Poodle and Pooch Rescue board member Mary Beth Russell.
Loretta is a sheepadoodle — a mix between a sheepdog and poodle — estimated to be just over 1 year old. The rescue organization thinks she came from a breeder and hadn’t spent much time around people.
“Her real personality hasn’t even come out yet because she’s just been so terrified — a little bit shaky, carries her tail under her legs,” Russell told McClatchy News in a phone interview. “So we’re just letting her decompress for the next couple of weeks.”
As of Nov. 7, Loretta was being cared for in a foster home. The rescue group plans to post updates about her on Facebook and said she could eventually be up for adoption.
