Yes, me and Manuel headed towards my parents' summer-house Friday afternoon, and came to a windy(stormy), rainy, lovely -yes lovely place! It took Manuel just a minute to place himself at his favourite spot in the garden. This morning we went for a long walk on a very very stormy beach, it was hard to move in one of the directions.

Manuel is currently dropping his coat...or that was a huge understatement. He is also "dropping his suit" and "dropping his underwear" . The real winter "wool" he dropped in March, but then you have the "shorter wool" and the guard-hair which always have come spring/summer. 

But I still got comments on his muscle-bound body yesterday. Or, actually it is thanks to his lack of coat that one actually can see that it is his body and muscles that make him look powerful - not due to a blow-dried coat. Today he could wear the harness that was too small when he is in full coat. Now you can see his skin when it is windy...On the other hand I help him a lot to get rid of it, since it is a big source for scratching if not dealt with.

He scratches on his side, I have a look, and there it is..some hair to remove and then he is satisfied.The only "but" is that sometimes he scratches near by the area that needs help, i.e. he can't really reach that area, so that is yet one reason for helping, preventing him from scratching the wrong area all the time.

Scratching the arm-pit is usually just an attempt to scratch his chest or shoulder... Currently touching his head/eyes with his paw is actually a clumsy attempt to scratch his nose, since he is shedding there as well. There is always a reason for scratching. So now we ended up in the area where I get upset, mentioning stupid human statements. There is always a reason for smelling bad from the skin, mouth, ear... Dogs don't "normally smell bad" "normally scratch themselves all the time" just like that...it is said by us ignorant humans. Of course that could be minor, minimal reasons like; a fly crawling on the nose...but still - a reason. /Charlotte