Bad Day!

All I can say is that I want to groom anonymously from now on.

I would rather deal with a day full of biting dogs, and never talk to another insane owner again.

Do they have to come in with their dogs?

Isn't there some magical way to transport the dog to me without ever talking to an owner?

This owner had my daughter in tears and my son ready to pick her up and throw her out.

I can't even type about it right now.

It all started over having to wait till May for an appointment.

It was an unbelievably stupid confrontation.

The customer IS NOT always right.

No on will ever change my mine on that!

My shop gives excellent customer service, and I will not be told how to run my business.

I am getting too old for this.

I will take dogs over people anytime.

I think I'll close up and go groom for shelters, on dogs that have no poeple attached to them.

Oh, I can't do that!...I would end up taking them all home.  :)

Sorry for the rant.  :-/

Tomorrow will be better.

Happy Grooming, MFF  (I hope)

Bangs with a Bow on a Shih-Tzu

This little sweetie is growing up.

She is now 6 months old.

She came in yesterday for her third grooming.

The first two grooming's were bath and trims.

For her second grooming, her Mom and Dad wanted a Bow in the top of her head.

They liked that.

When the Mom came in yesterday, she said that her husband still liked the bow on the top of the head, but that hair was always falling out into the puppies eyes.

I suggested they try the Bangs with Bow look.

That way her husband would have the Bow, and the hair would be out of the eyes.

She is most definitely ready for a hair cut.

Her Mom wants 1/2 off.

Let's see what I can do with this little mop.

Where to start.

First, I combed back all of the hair on the top of her head, away from her eyes.

Then I cleaned out the corner of her eyes.

I took a little more hair off then I usually would because her eyes water so badly.

Next, I start to slowly comb the hair over her eyes forward.

The amount of hair that you comb forward for the bangs will be different depending on the size of the dogs head and the thickness of the coat.

Be conservative at first, because you can always comb some more hair forward, but once you cut the bang you can't go back.

Before I cut any of the hair for the bangs, I use the last couple of teeth on my comb to get a nice even circle of hair for my topknot.

* Note: I like to let the dog rest it's head on the table while I work on the top of the head.

They tend to stay still longer this way.

At least for me.  :)

You'll see in the picture above that I started out with just a little hair at first.

Then I started working more hair up and into the topknot piece till I had the amount of hair that I wanted.

Again, the amount of hair in the topknot depends on the length of the hair, the thickness of the hair, and where the ears are set.

I like to tie pet topknots up with a small, soft childrens pony tail band.

Then I stand back and look to see if everything looks okay.

*Note: I also like to, very gently, pull up on the topknot band to make sure that the hair is not tied too tight.

Time to cut the bangs.

Once again, I am conservative with the first cut.

I don't want any oops.

I hate oops.

Don't move.

Don't move.

Good girl.

After that first cut, I can now see the eyes and start to shape the bangs.

I curve the bangs down the side of the face and blend them in.

I like to angle my scissor in under the bang to take away some of the thickness of the bangs.

It opens up the eyes without taking more length away from the bangs.

Sorry, I know that most likely I did not make any sense.

I hope you can understand what I am saying by looking at the picture.

Oh, is it just me or is this picture scary.

I am the one who scissored the dog, and this picture still scares me.  :-/

Anyway, I also like to take the eyelashes and a little bit of the hair right above the eye very short.

This also opens up the eye more without taking the bangs too short.

Just the  little bit of hair, right over the eye.

Can you see how it opened up the eyes.

You can now see the eye clearly even with the bangs hanging over.

I also do this with Schnauzer eyebrows to open up the eyes.

Next, I trim the top of the topknot.

How much I take off depends on the owner.

I like to give it a curvy shape.

This is a side view of the bangs.

There she is.

Bangs with a Bow.

I only have a handful of customers who get this type of head.

This is the way I do the Bangs with a bow.

I am sure that there are other methods out there.

Some are most likely easier then my way.

Didn't she do great for her third grooming and first hand scissor hair cut?

They grow soooo fast!

Happy Grooming, MFF

Tuesday's Tip #17

Today's tip is short, and most likely most groomers already have used this trick while grooming.

I know that every groomer out there has experienced the dogs that try to hide their front legs underneath them when you are trying to brush, comb, or scissor their legs.

This little lady can not stand for you work on her front legs.

She acts like I have fire in my fingers when I try to brush, comb, or scissor her front legs.

She also likes to fold her leg up as tight to her body as possible.

So, how in the world do I manage to scissor her legs?

I hold up the opposite leg.

This way she has no choice but to put down the leg that I want to work on.

 This method works most of the time.

It always works on this little lady, but there have been some dogs that will actually pick up their leg even though I am holding up the other leg.

The the next thing you know they are standing on their hind legs looking at you asking; 'how did this happen.'

When that happens, I just keep holding up the opposite leg and wait until they slowly come back down and stand on the leg I need to work on.

Then praise, praise, praise while you are combing, brushing ,or scissoring.

Sometimes you only have to hold up the opposite leg for a little while, until the dog leaves it's leg down.

It works for a little while with this dog, but then she realizes that I am touching her front leg and not holding the other leg up.

Back up the leg goes.

Once again I have to hold up the opposite leg.  :)

*Note: When scissoring the hind legs, I will hold up the opposite leg of the one I am scissoring, in order to scissor the inside of the back leg.

I hope this helped someone. :-)

Happy Grooming, MFF

When Grooming Makes You Smile

Early Saturday Morning I had the daughter of a very long time customer come in with a dog she called about earlier in the week.

She wanted me to trim around the dogs eyes and rear.

This little guy had been rescued off of one of our very busy highways after being hit by a car.

His pelvis is broken.

The vet is letting it heal on it's own because he thinks surgery could make it worse.

Nobody told this dog that his pelvis was broken.

You could not even tell.

He does not limb or favor it in any way. 

What a great personality he has.

We were booked, but when I saw that the dog was overgrown and matted, I could not help but offer to give the dog a full grooming.

He had been through enough, and I did not want him to have to wait for a grooming appointment to get those mats off.

Right now he is being fostered by the young lady who brought him in.

She has fallen in love with this dog and wants to keep him.

He was great for the bath, and didn't mind the HV drier at all.

I did turn the HV down, and used it very gently around his back and hips.

He never showed any signs of discomfort.

As I was clipping off his mats, I was thinking ahead about clipping the mats off of his belly, and the tight mats he had around his scrotum.

I did not want to lift his legs to clip his belly and take the chance of hurting his pelvis more.

I also didn't think picking up his front legs to get to his belly was a good idea either.

He stood great on the table, and was very good about letting me do whatever I needed to do, but I didn't think he would want to lay on his side, on my table, to get to his belly. 

So I called my Vet to get his opinion on what he thought was the safest way to clip the mats off of this little guys belly and scrotum.

(He will be getting neutered in a couple of weeks.)

My Vet agreed with me, and then the next words out of his mouth caused me to have a 'why didn't I think of that' moment.

"Have someone hold him in their arms while you clip his belly so that you don't put any extra pressure on his pelvis."

It worked like a charm.

Once again I have to say that for an un-neutered male dog, this guy was a pleasure to work on.

He didn't constantly check on the family jewels.

He didn't slobber on me while getting horny.

He didn't slam his butt down on the table to protect the family jewels every time I came close to his back legs.

He didn't try to hump.

He is most definitely a keeper.

An Angel was watching over him on that Highway.

Sometimes, fitting a dog in on a busy day, just to help them feel better, makes being a groomer worthwhile.

It also makes you feel good when the (soon-to-be) owner really appreciates what you did, and thanks you.

I have to say that this little guy stole a piece of my heart.

I'd take him in a minute!

Happy Grooming, MFF

Bathing and Clipping Matted Dogs

What a week!

 It is only March 19 and I have seen enough overgrown, matted dogs to last me the year.

It still amazes me that so many dog owners still believe that letting their dogs grow out for the winter to get all matted and filthy is the right thing to do.

Then add:

Large...and matted.

Old...and matted.

Groomed once a year...and matted.

Did you ever have one of those days when you looked up at the clock sure that it will say that it is close to 4:00pm, only to see the hands on the clock saying 11:45am.

You look closer to see if the seconds hand is still moving, because you are sure that the clock must have stopped.

I felt like that today... (actually yesterday, I keep trying to get this post published, but I keep getting pulled away :)

The Self-Serve was non-stop.

There were walk-ins for nails.

Walk-ins for eye trims.

All before noon.

It was a week of big jobs and getting home late.

This guy always feels like I will never finish. He is by far the largest dog that I groom, and the most work. 

I would honestly rather groom a Newfie.

This guys hair shows every scissor mark.

You feel like you are never finished.

I have to make myself stop grooming him, there is always some piece of hair that seems to be sticking out!

It is a good thing that he is such a sweet dog.

Non-stop large, old, overgrown, matted dogs.

The last time this St Poo was groomed was back in October.

When the owner came in, she informed me that they had bathed him twice without brushing him.

She told me he was mostly matted on his hips.

 Needless to say he was matted all over.

His owner didn't want him too short.

(Then bring him in more often...Grrrr)

 Because this dog took longer to dry then I thought he would...a lot longer,I should have wet shaved him.

Live and learn.  :-/

 Talking about matting...this brings me to what I am writing this blog entry about.

Earlier this week I was reading one of the grooming forms.

Someone posted a question about clipping a matted dog with a # 9 blade.

Personally, I don't like or use this blade.

I feel it nicks the skin way too easily to be safe.

That is just my opinion.

I used it a lot for about one year, but experienced it getting caught on the skin a couple of times, on dogs that it should not have.

That was a couple of times too many for me, so I stopped using the blade.

Since then I have also read about a few other groomers experiencing the same trouble, so I know it was not just me.

Anyway, back to the matting.

After reading the replies to this groomers questions, I was a little irritated.

In all of the replies, only one groomer mentioned bathing the dog first and HVing the mats away from the skin to get a longer blade through the matting safely.

Most of the replies told the groomer to take a #7 or #10 blade to the dog.

A couple mentioned wet shaving.

The groomer with the question stated that the dog had loose mats that where not tight to the skin.

Why would someone recommend shaving this dog with a #7 or #10 blade?

Even clipping it before the bath with a #4 or #5 could be possible if the mats are not tight.

Clipping it after the bath and a HV dry could get an even longer blade through easily.

For years I have told owners to never bathe their dog when it was matted.

I still tell them that today, and believe it wholeheartedly.

If the pet owner bathes their dog without brushing out the mats first, and letting the pet air-dry, the mats will tighten, and become harder to remove or even clip off.

The same does not apply for me or other professional groomers.

Every matted dog that I groom goes straight into the tub.

Of course it was not always this way.

For many years I would not dare to put a matted dog in the tub without shaving it first.

For many years, I spent a lot of time, and dulled a lot of blades fighting to clip through a matted, dirty coat.

How many times did I come close to nicking a dog because the matted hair was so tight to the skin?

Those days are gone, and I will never go back.

Bathing a matted dog before the clip is the only safe and sensible thing to do.

Why safe and sensible?

1 ~ If bathed with the proper dematting shampoo and creme rinse, the matted coat can be HVed away from the skin.

 2 ~ Once the mat is blown away form the skin, even if only a little, you have a safe airspace between the skin and coat.

 3 ~ No dulling blades clipping a dirty coat.

4 ~ The blades do not overheat as quickly.

5 ~ There is very rarely any fighting the blade through the coat, because it is clean and fluffy.

   Before -->

6 ~ Clipping a matted coat after the bath and HV dry allows you to get a longer blade through the coat.

**Note: A matted coat must be HV dried straight from the bath in order to loosen the mats as much as possible.

<--After

I rarely ever have to clip a matted coat shorter then a #5F blade. 

I would have had to use a #7 or #10 on this dirty, matted, tiny Shih-Tzu before the bath.

By bathing her first, I was able to easily and safely get a #5F through her coat.

 I have heard some skeptical groomers ask about the time it takes to dry a matted dog.

You would be surprised how often most mats blow right out of the coat if the proper shampoo and creme rinse where used.

 If the dog has very thick mats, it is not necessary to get the mats themselves all of the way dry.

It is only important to get the hair between the skin and mat dry.

This is easier then it sounds.

Take the extra pointy piece of the hose off, (sorry can't remember the name of it right now) and use the wider mouth of the hose.

  Put the mouth of the hose right up against the skin and into the mat.

While drying, move the mouth of the hose back and forth in small strokes, working the mats away from the skin as much as you can.

Don't worry about getting the entire mat dry, you will be cutting it off.

The only part that needs to be good and dry is the hair between the skin and the mat.

For those who say that all of that HV drying is a waste of time..it takes no longer then the time it would have taken you to fight a blade through a dirty coat.

By the time you finish drying the dog, you probably would have just been putting the dog in the tub if you had clipped it first.

<--Before

There is also a major difference in the finish look of a dog that is clipped before the bath and a dog that is clipped after.

I also realize that a lot of groomers feel that an owner that allows their dog to become matted does not deserve to have a longer clip on their dog.

Believe me I understand that thinking.

I just think a little differently.

Everything that I do I do for the dog not the owner.

 After-->

If I know that I don't have to shave the dog with a #7 or #10 blade, because bathing them before the clipping will allow me to get a #4F or #5F through the coat, I will do it for the dog.

There is a lot less of a chance that the dog clipped after the bath will go home and scratch himself raw like the dog that was shaved with the #7 or #10 blade.

 If you are a groomer that is still skeptical about bathing before the clipping, just give it a try.

It won't mean that you have to stick with it.

Just give it a try for a week.

If you don't notice a difference in the finished work, and still like the old way of grooming, then at least you tried something new.

Oh, what about those once a year thick, overgrown, matted coats that you know would take forever to dry, but would be impossible to get a blade through the dirty coat?

All I can say is...wet shaving.

I wrote a post about this a while ago.

I don't wet shave very often, but it has really come in handy sometimes.

Check out the link above to read about wet shaving.

It is what I should have done with the White Standard pictured at the beginning of this post.

I know that a lot of groomers are set in their ways.

I was one of them for a long time.

I truly believe that clipping before the bath has many more pros then cons.

I love trying new tools and new grooming techniques, anything that would help me groom safely.

Some people will also think that I am crazy because I like grooming matted dogs.

I like the challenge of making them look as nice as possible.

I like the challenge of saving the face, ears, or tails, and leaving the dog with a little personality instead of skinning it like a rat.

Happy Grooming, MFF