Monday Makeover...2 Shih-tzus

This Monday's Makeover will be on two Shih-tzu's.

They live together, but they are not litter mates.

They each have different coats, but the owners wants the same cut on each dog.

This guy has a nice coat but it is full of wavy cowlicks.

 

This little guy has straighter hair that is thinner.

The owner likes their hair cut to be short, but not too short, and does not want their legs to look like toothpicks.

The owner also likes both of their face short and tight.

I don't think that I need to say that the owner also likes the ears and tails left very long.

Even though these two Shih-tzu's get basically the same cut, I do clip them a little differently.

 First, they each get a good bath and blow dry.

They were both bathed with DoubleK® Desert Almond Shampoo and Cure Care Hypo conditioner.

The bath is followed up with a Baking Soda rinse.

 All bathed and blow dried and ready to be clipped.

I start by clipping the body with a #4F blade.

 The yellow lines show the direction that I clip the body with the #4F blade.

I clip to the top of the dogs hip and lift the blade off.

I don't use the #4F to blend the leg on this dog because of the cowlicks in his hair.

I don't want to hit a cowlick and put a hole in the hair that I would have to repair.

The creme colored Shih-tzu has straighter, thinner hair.

So, I run the #4F blade down his hip to mid thigh, and clip the bottom part of the back leg with the #3F blade.

The yellow lines show the direction that I take the #4F blade and how far I go down the back leg.

The --- lines are showing where I start to skim the leg to blend.

The bottom of this leg has been clipped with a #3F blade and scissored to finish.

 Back to the other Shih-tzu.

This picture shows the direction that I clipped the body with the #4F blade.

On both dogs, I clipped to just above the dogs elbow, and blended on the front legs.

 On this Shih-tzu I use a clip comb attachment on the legs.

The #3F  blade would take off more hair than I want, and would be more likely to bare cowlicks.

A clip comb leaves a little more hair than I want, but I have more control scissoring up the leg to avoid baring any cowlicks.

This comb attachment (brown Wahl 13mm) is not much longer than the #3F.

 The legs are just slightly longer than the body so that they are short, but will not look like toothpicks.

On to the head....

 

As you can see, the owner has done some cutting of her own.

I must now match the top of his head with what the owner cut.

Unlike the body hair, the hair on the top of the head is very straight.

I use a #5F blade, careful to clip only with the growth of the hair, and try to blend in with what the owner cut.

 The #5F did not take the top of the head short enough to match what the owner did, but I do not want to use a #7F blade on this head.

I am afraid that the #7F will take it too short.

So, I will finish the top of the head with scissors to get everything even.

I'll get back to the top of the head in a few minutes. :)

Next, I clip out the corner of the eyes.

As I said, the owner likes around and above the eyes very short, so I use a #15 blade to skim out the eyes.

By skimming, I mean that I do not use full pressure when clipping around the eyes.

I skim down the side of the cheeks and face with a #4F blade, going in the direction of the hair growth.

Then I follow up with scissors.

Scissoring the hair nice and tight around the mouth without making it look shaved.

 A before and after of the face. :)

There we are...back to the top of the head.

I scissored it up to match the owners hair cut. :)

I think that he is happy...what do you think?

Looks like a big smile to me. lol

The belly's were clipped with a #15 blade.

I like to clip high, above the penis on male dogs so that they will not pee on themselves when going to the bathroom.

I tell the owners that I am going to do this when they drop their dog off.

So far I have not had any owners of male dogs tell me not to do this.

Most of them love the idea of keeping the dog from peeing on itself. :)

Another little thing that I do to help with sanitary issues is to scissor some hair about an inch to an inch and a half up, under the tail from the rectum, to keep poop from getting caught in the long hair of the tail.

This does not always keep poop from getting in the tail hair, but it does help a little.

Especially on those dogs whose owners like to keep the tails very long.

Here is what I did on the first Shih-tzu. 

Last but not least, the second Shih-tzu.

Okay, I think that I covered everything.

Oh, I call this cut a 'Short Lamb Cut'.

I hope that this helps someone. :)

✂ Happy Grooming, MFF ✂