Giovanna was a magnificent dog and Kent’s Kanines model.  She was the first Italian Spinone I had ever groomed.

She was adopted by my client when Gio, her nickname, was 3 due to fact that her original family had 2 dogs already and Gio the third was just too much so, my client who was looking for very specific characteristics and researched diligently, found the breed Italian Spinone. When I first saw her, I thought what a goofy girl; she was big and sort of gawky. But, as time went on and I groomed her every two weeks, I began to change my mind. She became a devoted companion to my 85 year old client, who looks and acts like he is 50 and I truly began to fall in love in with her!  My client who has a grooming table in his laundry room taught her to climb the chair and then the table. I taught her to enter the tub and she would wait as I put the rubber mat in the tub and then she would gently enter the tub upon giving her the OK command. She was so compliant and sweet and would stand without protest or any movement. She allowed to me to do whatever I needed to do to groom her. As you will see in the video, she would bring her polar bear with her into the grooming room when I arrived and offer it to me as her gift to me. Each and every time she did that I just had to smile. I groomed her for 6 years every two weeks and I miss her a lot.

During the summer of 2011, she was not herself and my client took her to the vet and thank God he did. The vet had found that her belly was full of blood and that her spleen had to be removed immediately. Upon further testing, it was discovered that she had Lymphoma. We were all devastated. My client did agree to chemotherapy treatment and Gio did very well inspite of one very harsh dose. She did loose all her hair but, did have a remission for a many months. When I came to groom her for the last time, her hair was finally coming back and I thought things were really going well for her. She demonstrated no signs of stress or discomfort on the table. I was absolutely shocked to learn that the following day she began to feel unwell so my client took her to the vet. Blood had accumulated again in her belly and my client, upon consulting with the vets did not want her to suffer any longer.

When I was told that she had died, I cried. She was just one of those dogs that I will always remember as remarkable. Below are some pictures and videos of her. She is featured in gallery 9 in the portfolio on my website, www.kentskanines.com