They're siblings, our two little dogs, Jackie and Jillie. When people see them together they ask if they're twins. In a sense, perhaps they are, as the only two in the litter when they were born four years ago. And if so, they're definitely of the fraternal variety. They may appear to those who don't know them as intimately as we do as though they're identical but they aren't, not by any stretch of anyone's imagination.

We can readily tell them apart. For one thing they behave differently from one another and part of that is related to their gender, partly to the fact that dogs, like humans have their own particular personalities. Jillie is a typical female, bossy, the leader, and her brother is the follower though he thinks he's the leader.

Physical differences? Plenty. He is far longer-legged than she is, slightly taller, and lean as can be. She is more 'sturdy', as my father used to say about my physical appearance when I was a child. Their faces are different, his muzzle is longer, his nose is larger than hers. Her eyes have a different shape than his, her face is sweeter in the 'adorable' sense. Her  hair grows out faster than his tends to do. His chest is more delineated, her ears fluffier. She is stubborn and though she doesn't like being chastised, he is absolutely crushed if he is.

Yesterday they appeared to us as though they had been utterly transformed. They looked so neat and prim and quite, quite beautiful. And that's because they finally went through a grooming appointment at the spa next to the veterinarian clinic we frequent. It's called a spa, but it's anything but a luxurious, pampering salon. It is utilitarian by design, but it is staffed by the most pet-affectionate, skilled young women anyone could ever come across.

Their reputation is sterling and they earn it. So that's why there is such a high demand for their services that three months ago when we tried to schedule a regular two-month appointment for our two little devils, we couldn't be accommodated; they were booked right up solid. In fact, when we picked them up yesterday and tried to schedule them for January we were unable to. We have to wait until the end of February, the closest date they can schedule us in. Since they'll be growing their hair long again throughout the cold winter months, we don't mind so much.

So while we were there we went ahead and made a number of pre-scheduled appointments for the next year-and-a-half, to make sure they're never in the same shaggy condition that they presented this time around, when they went from an early August appointment for grooming to a mid-November one and in the time between their hair grew unkempt just at the worst possible time for little dogs who sashay about woodland trails daily, picking up burrs galore.

But they're finally done, and they look spectacularly sweet. Their hair wasn't shaved as close as it is during the summer months, but they still look svelte, their haircoat silky to the touch, slinky and shiny with tight little curls. Their bedding was washed and so were their towels and coats.

When we retrieved them yesterday the wind was wild, whipping newfallen snow about, and it was bitterly cold. In this weather -- when last night's temperature dipped to -17C, and rose to -14C by morning -- when we take them out we dress them in layers; light sweater and a warm winter coat over top. And when the temperature falls below -6C,with newfallen snow on the forest floor, they also need boots for their tiny padded feet to be protected from extreme cold, to allow them to fully enjoy their traipse through the woods.