About Me:

I am a professional Pet Groomer. I have been grooming for 28 years. This Blog is a kind of diary of my work. I wish I had started years ago, writing some of the experiences I have had while grooming. Most days are fun, some can be sad, some can be just down right crazy. If you are a pet owner and come across this blog, I hope it helps you understand how your pet is groomed. If you are a Pet Groomer, I hope you can relate to some of the stories. Maybe even learn a grooming tip or can leave a friendly grooming tip for me. There is always something to learn, no matter how long you have been grooming.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

What Would You Do? #1

I love the show...What would you do?
I had a dog in today that made me think of that show.

You know the kind of dog.
The one where the owner comes in and gives you instructions that has you scratching your head.
You stand there looking at the dog thinking; 'What should I do on this dog?'

It also made me wonder 'What would another groomer do?'
How would another groomer deal with the instructions that the owner gave me.

I thought that it would be fun to tell you what the owner said and then show you what I did.


 This little Coton de Tulear has a very fine soft coat, with a little bit of a brittle, wiry coat on top.

Her Mom does a really good job of keeping her combed out.

She only had a few mats here and there.

They are the irritating kind of little pin mats that your comb glides right over.



The Owners Instructions:

Shorten her legs pretty good so that they don't mat so much.
(She hates having her legs brushed.)
Shorten the body a little so that she still keeps her natural look.
Trim up around the eyes.









Now...how to trim the legs short, but leave the body basically long without making her look silly.










What I decided to do:






First I trimmed around the feet.

Then I combed all of the hair on the leg up.

I decided that I would scissor the bottom half of the legs to about an 1" to an 1 1/2" left.








I slowly scissored up the leg till I felt that it was enough.

Then I let the rest of the hair fall back down.






I lightly scissored the rest of the leg tapering and blending the upper part of the leg to the lower, shorter part of the leg.

You got that?

That didn't make a bit of sense did it?

Her hair is so thin that I didn't have to take a lot off to blend it.









Because the inside of her legs tend to mat a lot, and was already thinned out from Mom dematting her, I clipped the inside of the back legs with a #4F blade.










The front leg was a little more challenging.








I combed and held up the hair that I did not want to take short.











Then I scissored half way up the front legs leaving the same amount of hair as I did on the back leg.







 I scissored all of the way up to the elbow on the inside, back of the front leg.

Got that?

I am on a roll here trying to describe what I did, aren't I?

Hopefully, if I am not making any sense to you, the pictures will help. :)






Then I let the the hair at the top of the leg fall.

Again I blended and tapered the upper part of the leg into the lower part.







As you can see, I hair on her body is very fly away.

It has a mind of its own.







Because the owner wanted to leave the body as natural as possible, I went over it with thinning shears, being careful not to cut too much, because her hair is so thin.

I just wanted to neaten it up and blend a bit.








Well, that is what I did.

What would you have done?










The owner loved it.

Oookay....(wipe sweat of forehead)

Did I like it?
Not really.
I would have loved to scissor up her body more..but she still looks cute.

Side Note:
The owner of the two Goldendoodles that I groomed last week and posted about a couple of days ago....the two that I said were so easy to groom...

She called back yesterday to say that she absolutely loved them and wanted them groomed like that every time.

So, whats the problem with that?

That was the way I groom them every time!!

Happy Grooming, MFF

7 comments:

  1. I would still be straching my head!!! :/ about the goldendoodles, that is hilarious!!! Maybe very small unnoticeable things make the difference sometimes problem is you wont know what happened! Just hope she likes the "new" haircut form now on :)

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  2. I actually had something like this happen to me yesterday, if only I could post pics on here! A lhasa owner, first time client, brought her dog in about a month ago. I used a C comb all over and handscissored legs. Owner thought that was a little too short, but liked it nonetheless. oooh kay... This time she told me to keep the body long, but leave 1/2 an inch left on the legs.. What?!?! So a C comb on body and a #4 on legs? So she wants a tri colored tick for a dog? Sure thing maam. Instead, I C combed the body, I used a #1 comb on legs, like heck am I going to actually bring the leg hairs down to 1/2 an inch!! I took the #1 comb from thighs down on back legs, and elbows down on front legs. I trimmed the feet (she did say she wanted the feet short due to those pesky stick-a-berrs) then finish scissored where I took the #1, then I fluffied up where the #1 comb and C comb met and blended with some thinners. Beautiful I must say.... Owner picked up and just loved it, ya know, the opposite Lamb Clip.. LOLOL. I just think to myself when people ask for this, it is just like scissoring up a Golden, or an Aussie, or a Pom, you know like a contour trim! Same thing.

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  3. You did a beautiful job with her!! I would have done the same thing you did :3 I didn't find this post confusing at all :D

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  4. Hi Jessica, Anonymous, and Mittens,
    Funny, I think every groomer out there has been asked to do this particular cut on a dog at one time or another.lol
    Thanks Mittens. :)
    Anonymous, I think I groom your customers sisters dog!lol Their everywhere!
    Lisa, MFF

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  5. I love the way that you explain your grooming, it's so easy to follow and not confusing at all. I think you groomed the dog beautifully and not many people could have risen to the challenge. Its hard for me to say what I would have done,, most Cotons I work on are very thick-coated. I guess I'd have to see the dog up close and personal before I could say what I'd do. This makes me think of a woman I work with... When it comes to picky clients, she says to herself, "If you want it your way, go to Burger King!!" lol!

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  6. Thanks Chassy,
    The woman that you work with would not like working with me. If possible, I always do what the customer wants. They are paying me, and they are the ones who have to live with the dog and the cut that they asked for. lol
    Lisa,MFF

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