creative dog grooming.

As loyal readers of Paw Nation know, we've covered extensively the controversial creative-dog-grooming competitions in the U.S. (featuring the gallery of elaborately groomed dogs that brought out your awe and ire). We've been following the trend in China as well, where the craze has moved beyond the show room to everyday dogs. That's why when we saw this new video at the Washington Post, exploring the Chinese canine fashion, we knew we had to share it. The video features an upscale Beijing pet spa that's making a name for itself clipping and dyeing in an effort to transform English sheepdogs into fairly convincing pandas, and bichons into miniature Spider-Men. The cost for such fancy ...

Without a doubt, one of the most talked about posts Paw Nation ran in its first year was this gallery of creatively groomed poodles shot for the U.K. Daily Mail by animal photographer Ren Netherland. The photos document some of the weird and wild styles found at creative grooming shows, a particular subset of dog grooming/dog shows that features poodles cut and dyed to resemble -- well, almost anything. According to the Daily Mail, it takes just two hours for the dogs to be transformed. We received a vocal response to the gallery when we first ran it. Some of our readers loved it, while others hated it. Some thought the dogs looked were sweet, adorable, and fun, while others were outraged ...

Six finalists in the Creative Grooming Contest at the SuperZoo convention in Las Vegas earlier this month clipped, dyed, and pruned their dogs into visual representations of everything from Pac-Man to the garden of Eden. These aren't the only folks who like to shave and dye their dogs. Aubrey O'Day is known for putting foils in her Maltese's fur, and who could forget these insane poodle transformations and China's latest dyeing trend. Check out the gallery below to see their creative results and cast your vote for who you think should have won. Find out who actually took the big prize after the jump. ...