...I had a new customer today.
He brought in a 7 year old Bichon that he had rescued a couple of months ago.
The Bichon had some mats all over, but I was sure that once I bathed and HVed him that I could get most of the mats out easily.
The owner gave me permission to do whatever I wanted.
"I have never owned a Bichon before, so do whatever you think," he told me.
Oh boy!
A Bichon owner that didn't ask for long ears, or a short face.
Before>
Maybe I could do a 'real' Bichon head.
You see, I groom a lot of Bichons.
None of them want a 'real' Bichon head.
To be honest, that really does not bother me, because I am not that crazy about the 'real' Bichon head myself.
But, I would like to do one just once and get it right.
When I was in Grooming School, I never saw, or worked on a Bichon.
As a matter of fact, I don't think that I groomed my first Bichon till I had been grooming a couple of years.
As it turned out, it really did not matter that I had not groomed a Bichon in school, because no one ever asked for their Bichon to be cut like a Bichon.
Wait.
Let me take that back.
The owners would say "I want a Bichon cut", but not really, because the owners who do want their Bichons to look like the show Bichons, bring them in matted to the skin.
Oh, and 99% of the owners want long ears.
I went to a seminar on grooming a Bichon at Groom Expo one year, awhile back.
I watched.
I took notes.
I tried to memorize all of those darn angles.
When I got back to work, I was all gun ho to use everything that I learned on the next Bichon that I groomed.
I was Mobile then, and my second day back to work I had a Bichon.
He was one of the largest Bichons I have ever groomed.
I had been grooming him for a long time.
His Mom liked him in full coat, with a full Bichon head...only, with long ears.
That was okay, I could still scissor all of those angles on the body that I had learned at the seminar.
I had always rounded the rear off, and scissored full, straight, pillar post legs.
I was fairly happy with the result.
(Sorry, no pictures, this was before I went camera crazy. :) )
It would not have won any awards, but I thought that I got everything right.
I thought he looked pretty good.
Only...
I got a call from the owner that evening.
"Why did you make my dogs legs look crooked?" she asked.
"I scissored them the way they are supposed to look," I explained to her.
I went into more detail, explaining how a 'real' Bichon cut was supposed to look.
"I don't want the 'real' cut," she said."I like him the way you always cut him, I like his legs to look like pillar posts."
I went back to grooming him the way that I always did, and she was happy.
I don't know about other groomers, but I have found that customers don't want all of the sharp angles that some of the breed cuts sport now.
They want the breed to look like the breed, but they want simple, easy to take care of.
< After the bath
Well, his head was too chopped up to do a full, 'real' Bichon head.
The new owners had chopped mats out of the ears and around the mouth.
I also had to cut out some large mats behind the ears and down the neck.
He has also chewed almost all of the hair off of his feet.
It did not leave much to work with.
It figures. :/
So what's the problem?
I am not even crazy about the 'real' Bichon head, right?
It is just that I would like to, just once, scissor a true Bichon head and get it right.
How can you groom for 26 years and never groom a true Bichon head?
Oh well, I probably would have screwed it up anyway.
He still turned out cute, if I do say so myself.
At least the owner was very happy.
That is the most important thing.
One day I will scissor a 'true' Bichon head.
One day. :)
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