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April Fools

Our son’s company (Redtail Technologies <—–shameless fatherly plug) is well known as a very dog-friendly employer.

So much so that its Sacramento headquarters has its own dog park, employees are encouraged to bring their dogs to work each day and the firm is active on a variety of civic and charitable projects that focus on canines.

Redtail Logo

Note dog logo.

In fact, the company was named after our son’s red Golden Retriever, the much beloved Tucker, who passed away awhile back at a ripe 13 years of age. Tucker and Max loved each other and played well together despite a significant disparity in size and age.

Tucker’s successor is Jet more familiarly known as “Max’s Nemesis.”

Jet JUly 4

You may remember Jet from an earlier post. Or maybe not.

Anyway, with all that as background, I guess I should not have been surprised that the company’s April 1 prank would involve a pupster.

On April Fools Day, Redtail Technologies published an “ad” that purportedly touted a new software feature that will permit clients to use their dogs’ paw print to authenticate user identity, in addition to the existing fingerprint verification.

Pawthentication

Was I foolish for believing this might be true?

I don’t know how many people were fooled. I hate to admit it but they got me. I was looking at the phony ad and thinking that must be the stupidest enhancement ever developed. Then I saw the date.

Max’s April Fools Day didn’t spark joy for the furbundle because it was grooming day.

Max Hi 5

Reaching out to pawthenticate.

He was even more miffed when he learned that his regular groomer, the lovely Miss Eileen, had called in sick. His replacement stylist was the equally lovely but far more extensively tattooed Miss Sabrina.

Max 1

Receiving sympathy and consolation from the AJF.

The Alpha Japanese Female was mightily concerned! The AJF did not know Sabrina nor had she seen any of Sabrina’s work. I asked the AJF, foolishly as it turns out, “what’s the worse that could happen? It’ll grow back.”

AJF: “At an appropriate time, you need to just shut up.”
Me: “Ummmm…”
AJF: “Right now would be an appropriate time”

As it turned out, we really liked the haircut that Sabrina gave to Max. He looks much younger with shorter ear hair and a shorter but fluffy tail.

Before and After

For his part, Max claimed PTDG which apparently stands for Post Traumatic Dog Grooming, a condition that entitles him to extra share of bacon treats. He may have gotten some.

Categories: The Dog From Rancho Cucaracha

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49 replies ›

  1. I wouldn’t have thought Max could look any cuter, but I was wrong. And you’re right, his new “do” makes him look younger! Hmmmmm, I’m having my hair trimmed tomorrow. I wonder if I went to the dog groomer if I’d come out looking younger too. Lol.
    Jet is one handsome boy, and from the expression on his face, he knows it. I love it.
    How great it is to read about a dog friendly company. I’ll bet it’s human friendly too.
    And it sounds like the AJF gave you some sage advice about knowing when to shut up! “What’s the worse that could happen?” You’re kidding, right? Grooming mishaps are probably right up there with plastic surgery mishaps. Yikes!! But clearly Max was in good hands with the tattooed groomer, so you got to live another day even after putting your foot (paw?) in your mouth. 😜
    🐾Ginger 🐾

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    • Yeah, Max’s “before” picture makes him look like a dog that drives a truck and drinks Hell Cat Maggie whisky while the “after” shot makes him look like he goes to Starbucks in a Prius and orders a chai latte. Thing is, the AJF thinks he is nw “cuter” and that translates to extra affection from her and that means extra goodies so Max is completely on board with his sartorial transformation. I just whisper “wuss dog” under my breath as I walk by. He sneers in return.

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    • It’s amazing how dogs can figure things out. We deliberately try to fake Max out by never using any of the “trigger” words but still he seems to know what we’re up to.

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    • The “happy” part is uncertain. Max loathes trips to the groomer no matter how kind they are or how much of a fuss they make about him. These are the times I am happy he is only 15 pounds of fur and mean attitude.

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  4. I must remember that appropriate time quote……
    Don’t feel too bad about being fooled… when you think of some of the stuff technology buffs come up with to torment their customers…
    Max looks great, but I hope you had laid in a side of bacon with which to gruntle him.

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    • There are always treats at the groomers. This time they were offering alligator treats. Never saw that before. Max seemed to like them. He inhaled them as fast as bacon. But the subsequent doggie breath with Eau d’Alligator was dreadful.

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  5. OH, Max looks so handsome and he does look younger! 🙂 Cooper says he’s glad Max survived and got some treats, too! Cooper understands PTDG!
    How wonderful about your son’s doggie friendly company! I love this! 🙂
    Jet is handsome and I’m sure Tucker was, too! We had a golden retriever adopt us years ago and he was a wonderful family member for many years…Stetson…Stetson was so gentle, fun, friendly, etc. I still miss him. 😦
    HUGS to you and AJF!!! 🙂
    PATS and RUBS to Max!!! 🐶

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    • Goldens are such wonderful pups, loving, gentle (usually), and very handsome too. A little too much energy and maintenance requirements for us at this stage, though. At this point, a hypoallergenic, shed-free pocket pooch is more our speed. When Tucker was a puppy he was a real rascal and actually ate the front bezel off my watch. Like most things in life, it passed. 🙂 Jet is still a young’un and he terrorizes Max but without a mean bone in his body – he’s just a big goofball. Max and Cooper can get together and complain about how unfair it is that they have to go to the groomers. Chew the bone, so to speak.

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    • I have to admit ti feeling pretty stupid for even thinking that pawthentication is a thing. i blame it on there being so many weird things these days popping up in the news that nothing seems impossible anymore. The best April Fools prank I heard this year was the woman who was tired of her husband complaining about all her online purchases who saved up all her Amazon boxes and put them on their front porch as if she had received a massive delivery on April 1st. Practically gave hubby a heart attack. 🙂

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  7. If Jacques and Max ever get together, and Jacques spills, it’s going to be trouble for you guys. PTGD, indeed, and it doesn’t just happen to the dog. Jacques has broken the heart of many a kind, adorable groomer, by turning tail and pulling as hard as he can to get out of the shop — before they even do anything to him. They feel terrible, I do, and for sure Jacques does, especially afterward, when instead of admitting it wasn’t so bad, he becomes hysterical trying to get out of there. Clearly Max knows this part. What he just as clearly has not yet figured out is how to guilt-trip you the way Jacques guilt-trips me. I don’t take him to the groomer any more. I can’t deal with it. I got a set of grooming tools and watched a lot of YouTube. Now I take care of him myself. He looks a little wild, but there’s a lot less drama. Folks still take his picture in the Metro. He can’t have PawID, though. He’d be online constantly, buying himself treats.

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    • I picture the dogs sitting at a bar swapping lies about the horrors experienced at the groomers, showing off their scars from the clippers and bitching about how easy today’s puppies have it. I think it’s great that you trim Jacques at home. I suggested to the AJF that I could do that with Max. After all, I have my own clippers and trim my own beard. She looked balefully at me and said that was exactly why she would not allow it. Max is beloved by groomers because he is such a beta personality that he doesn’t fight the process. He just stands with tucked tail and quivers. It’s pitiful or perhaps just manipulative, we haven’t figured which.

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      • I’m such a wuss. Jacques has me convinced it’s truly pitiful. Maybe he’s that manipulative. I don’t know. They do say Westies are sneaky. All I know is that I can’t bear the thought of cutting into the quick of his nails, so I scrapped the clippers for a Dremel, which files the nails. All the cool kids on YouTube use a Dremel. Even that freaks him out, even more so than the little tool that yanks out the ear hair. Ouch! So my vote for Most Intimidating goes to the electric clippers.

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        • Cutting nails? Nope, nope, nope, nope not gonna happen around here. Gives me the willies just to think of cutting too deeply. Maybe a Dremel since I use that tool for a number of projects already. I don’t know anything about an ear-hair yanking tool and don’t think I want to know about it. Sheesh, this whole discussion has started to give me the heebie-jeebies. I guess I’m the bigger wuss.

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  8. OMD…you have no idea how much this made me smile after spending #$%&* hours today trying to set up a 2-step authentication process on my store. Still not there yet but seeing the pawthentication ad gave me a smile instead of looking like Jack Nicholson from the shining. For the record, I want it clearly understood I HATE technology. Just saying. Hope Max gets loads of bacon and you are out of the dog house. P.S. Ms. Sabrina did a lovely job.

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    • Jet is a rambunctious guy but so was Tucker when young. Tuck mellowed into the sweetest GR imaginable but the jury is still out on whether Jet can fill those dog shoes. Our Max has declared Jet as doggo non grata already.

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      • Pretty much every dog I know has declared the same about Maverick! The good thing is, I kept a puppy journal with Max, so I can look back and realize the Max was a bit of a terror at this age as well, and he mellowed into the best dog ever.

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        • Makes ya think about cloning. I mean, if you could clone a guaranteed 100% exact-down-to-the-eyelash copy of a beloved pet, would you do it? Me…probably yes but if the accuracy was 99%, probably no because there would something, no matter how tiny, that just wasn’t right.

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  10. Now Geordie is complaining that he wants a company logo designed around him. I should never let him read blog posts.

    Max has my sympathy. I have a household usurper too. – Geordie

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    • Well, that makes me feel a little better. If a smart person like you can be bamboozled I guess there’s hope for me but I won’t make promises. Max says thanks for the compliments which he believes he fully deserves. 🙂

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  13. Max might not be happy going to the groomer, but his visit has certainly generated a lot of enthusiastic commentary. His loss is our gain!
    Personally, I’m going to buck the trend and vote for Max’s before look. Love the shaggy dog look. He’d fit in very well around here. In fact, I could do with a trim to the groomers myself.

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  14. Shaggy Max has its appeal. When left ungroomed he’s a fluffy little fur nugget and it looks like we have more dog than actually exists. I don’t think he cares much one way or the other and, if offered a choice, would happily forgo the trip to the evil dog salon. I still maintain that there’s a 50/50 chance that I could groom him myself but the AJF doesn’t like those odds and thinks I’m odd for even mentioning it.

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  15. how lovely they have their own dog park? ooo I loveeee that idea. .. Oh and i can’t believe we didn’t see that april fool’s joke until now I would have sent it to everyone in my office for fun hahah

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    • Yep and they do tons of good work on fostering doggos, too. It’s a great looking office and has won a bunch of awards. It has slides from one floor to another, all kinds of interesting graphics and open work spaces, free cafeteria, all the stuff these young ‘uns now want whereas when I was their age (and dinosaurs walked the Earth) we were happy if we saw a little sunshine during our 28 hour shifts.

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  17. Max looks cute either way. He does look a bit more youthful after his grooming, though.

    How can Max not get along with a dog named Jet? He’d probably get along well with my sweet Jett. Hmm… Perhaps it is the lack of a second ‘t’ in his name that makes the difference. 😆

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    • Frankly, the Malt has a problem with boy dogs. He’s usually fine with females. Given a chance he’ll make friends with guys if they aren’t too aggressive. But it’s always dicey.

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  18. Wow! That made a world of difference. It reminds me of The Today Show makeovers when they find a long-haired Old Hippie and shave him and clean him up. Max looks like he’s in the single digits for sure!

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