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Groomer Transforms Dog Into Very Realistic-Looking Polar Bear

Groomer Transforms Dog Into Very Realistic-Looking Polar Bear

The talented groomer has previously styled her pooch's fur as a dragon and a horse

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

A dog groomer in the US is able to transform her beloved pooch into a pretty bloody spot-on lookalike for a polar bear.


Rachelle Lynn McGinnis, who runs grooming business K-9 Designs, is able to pull off a variety of weird and wonderful looks on her dog Bijou, including a dragon, peacock and even a horse complete with a saddle.

The 33-year-old uses vibrant dyes and clipping tools to sculpt 12-year-old Bijou's fur into whatever takes her fancy, claiming that the dog loves being pampered and preened until she looks like a completely different species.

Rachelle, from Missouri, said: "The wackier designs, the better. But Bijou has been everything from a horse to a dragon to a polar bear.

Rachelle Lynn McGinnis transforms her dog with all sorts of weird designs.
Caters

"It's something I love doing and I feel like it shows off my creativity.

"Bijou is colour-blind - she's not bothered what she looks like as long as she's healthy, loved and happy."

The inventive looks aren't just done off-the-cuff, though, oh no. Rachelle says each design is its own project and some can take almost a whole year to prepare for. And then, of course, there's the upkeep once the design has been executed.

"At the moment she looks like a polar bear, and this one requires lots of hairspray," Rachelle explained.

Bijou has previously been a dragon, a peacock and a horse.
Caters

"She's so fluffy that the main part of it is washing and brushing her. To actually style it, the final part only takes about 30 minutes, but to grow her fur to look like a polar bear took 11 months.

"When I first cut the fur into the right shapes it took a couple of hours but I always do it in stages.

"Bijou doesn't need to be standing for hours at a time and it's good to give her the breaks.

"My most complex design was turning her into a horse - she had a saddle, and mane.

"It was such an intricate carving that in the end that it must have taken about eight hours to complete."

Little Bijou as a horse, complete with saddle.
Caters

Naturally, with Bijou's looks being so striking, she attracts a lot of attention, something which Rachelle says her pooch absolutely loves.

Rachelle added: "People always ask for pictures - I've even had people get out of their cars because they want to stroke her.

"For Bijou, it's all about the attention - it's not like she looks in the mirror, she just loves being groomed and stroked.

It can take almost a year to prepare for the designs.
Caters

"In order to get her image looking really realistic, I had to get the polar bear design perfectly.

"I also had to make sure the photos were great, so she had to be stood at a certain angle with her neck elongated and we were lucky - we got some great shots of her in the snow.

"Taken from a distance, she blends right in and it's easily believable that there's a mini polar bear lurking about.

Is it a dog? Is it a polar bear?
Caters

"My plan is to make her a sheep next - the polar bear is hard to maintain, but with a sheep she can have a fluffy body, and then closely trimmed paws, dyed black like hooves."

Well, I can't wait to see that, to be honest with you all.

Featured Image Credit: Caters

Topics: Dog, US News, Weird, Animals