How many times do you get dogs in for a grooming that you had to take shorter than normal at the last groom, do to matting?
They come in with a coat that hasn't grown back very much.
You are sure that the owner is going to ask for a simple Bath and Trim, because the dogs coat is still growing out.
I had this Wheaton in today.
I had to clip him with a #3F blade, 6 weeks ago, the last time that he was in, because of matting.
He was still a little shorter than the length that his owners like him to be.
That was why I was sure they would want a Bath & Trim this time.
When asked what they wanted done this time the answer was..."Take a little bit off all over."
"A little bit off".
That is almost as bad as when they tell you to give their dog the dreaded 'puppy cut'.
So, what would you do?
Used a clip comb?
Use a blade?
Use Scissors?
How much is 'a little bit' to you?
Neatening all over?
Take some length off?
Go ahead and just do a bath and trim?
He wasn't that long.
Even after bathing and fluff drying him, he still wasn't that long.
I decided not to use a clip comb or a long blade on him.
For me it was actually faster and easier to just scissor him all over.
I combed all of his hair up and let it fall naturally.
Then I scissored off just enough hair to make him look nice and neat.
As you can see by the hair on my table, I did not take much length off at all.
I took "a little bit" off.
I do like scissoring Wheaton coats.
I think that they are one of the easier coats to scissor.
It took me 20 minutes to scissor 'a little bit' off of the entire dog.
Much faster than using a clip comb or blade, and then following up with scissors.
And yes, I charged for a full clip.
It does not matter that I only took 'a little bit' off.
It does not matter that I am fairly fast at scissoring.
It doesn't matter that it was an easy coat to scissor.
He still got a full hair cut.
He was more than a trim.
I hand scissored the entire dog.
That is what I did.
That is what I do with most of the dogs whose owners come in and ask of 'a little bit' off.
"Puppy Cut'....that's a whole other story. :)
Happy Grooming, MFF
Ok I have to know what's bad about the puppy cut ;-) It is what I tell my groomer all the time, lol.
ReplyDelete'Puppy cut' can mean different things to different groomers.
DeleteSome groomers like to call really short clipper cuts 'puppy cuts' instead of shave downs, because it sounds better.
Other groomers feel that when a customer asks for a 'puppy cut' they want the coat left on the longer side, the groomer just has to figure out exactly how long. Sometimes that is a lot easier said than done.
Lisa, MFF