Puppy Surprise

Just about every groomer cringes when an owner waits until their puppy is 6 months to a year old before they get it's very first grooming.

I like to start getting puppies used to grooming as early as possible.

The sooner that they get used to being handled, brushed, combed, and bathed the better.

Yesterday I had a customer come in with a dog that I have groomed several times before and their new puppy.

An 8 month old Miniature Poodle. (Well, mostly Poodle. Long back, short legs...I didn't say anything)

Let me say that I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw this puppy. 

 I was pleasantly surprised, because I could tell right away that his owners had been brushing him.

From what I could tell, while the owner was still holding him, he looked to be in very good shape.

I was right.

For as long as his hair was, and his hair was long, they had been doing a really great job of keeping him brushed out.

They had even been trimming around his eyes.

And, they didn't put a hole in his head that I would have to repair!

He was so good for the bath.

He was a little scared of the big dryer at first, but quickly got used to it.

Look at all that fluffy, mat free hair!

Okay, he wasn't totally mat free.

He had one small mat behind each ear, and a couple small mats around his private parts.

As far as I am concerned....that is mat free. :)

 Because it is mid February, and pretty cold right now, his owner only wanted a little less than half taken off.

So, while I was bathing and blow drying him, I was trying to decide whether to totally hand scissor him, or use a clip comb to set the length.

 

Even after so many years of grooming, it can still be a little intimidating when cutting into such a long coat for the first time.

I decided that I would run my longest clip comb over his top line.

I started with a very light touch to see how much the clip comb would take off.

I ended up using almost full pressure.

 This is how much the comb attachment took off.

This is the length that it left.

Just right.

I mainly used the comb attachment on the body and just skimmed the legs with it.

I scissored up the rest.

Half way there.

He was being so good.

I am only showing this picture because I thought that it was so cute, and showed the kind of personality that this little guy has.

 Every groomer out there can understand what a pleasure it is to give a puppy its first grooming without having any heart attacks, or feeling like that puppy drained every bit of energy out of you after you struggled to get a nice cut on a wiggly, moving object (puppy).

What you see in this picture is how this puppy stood for his whole grooming.

Oh well, he did turn his head once in awhile to watch what I was doing. (like in the picture above) :)

Don't you just want to hug this little guy?

✂ Happy Grooming, MFF ✂