A Beautician, I am not

My Border collies are almost perfectly designed for farm life. The tail is the exception. Both Border collies have semi-rough coats that shed the dirt and mud they pick up on their daily rambles through the fields. Their tails, though, are both a broom and a sponge. The six-inch long hair sweeps across a surface, picks up the mud and carries it inside. When given the choice between beauty and the practical, I'll choose the practical. I get the scissors and thinning shears and cut. The long wisps are reduced to two inches in length. Much of the hair is thinned. They don't look like show dogs. But they are happy dogs to be roaming the fields, hunting for mice, and snuggling inside with their humans and cats.