Tuesdays Tip..Scissoring Pom-Poms on a Poodle

Yes, I know that it is not Tuesday.

This post was for yesterday, but a new patch came out for WOW yesterday.

What is WOW?

World of  Warcraft for those who don't play.

I share the internet with my sons.

There was no way that my DSL was going to handle my son downloading a patch for his game and me uploading pictures and video to Youtube.

So, I turned off my internet and hope that the patch wouldn't take too long.

It took all night. :(

So here I am posting Tuesdays tip on Wednesday. :)

Actually this post is about scissoring Pom-Poms on a Poodle with a little tip mixed in.

Let me start out by saying that I hate this clip.

The Bikini Clip.

The Town & Country Clip.

The Summer Clip.

The Pom-Pom clip.

Take your pick.

I have heard so many names for this clip.

There are most like more that i haven't named here.

I am not sure why I don't like this clip.

I really don't get that many requests for it.

Maybe one of the reasons I don't like this clip goes way back to when I first started grooming.

I had only been grooming for a little over a year, and I just got a job at a pet shop.

I was grooming all by myself.

One day I had a woman come in with four miniature Poodles.

She wanted the Summer cut.

That is what this cut was called when I went to grooming school.

Anyway...

This owner wanted pom-poms on all four of the Poodles.

Do the math...four pom-poms on all four dogs...16 pom-poms.

Then add on the topknots and the tails.

24 pom-poms in one day!!

I had only done this cut one time in grooming school, and that was for a test.

I had gotten a pretty good score, but I remember really struggling to get those darn pom-poms round.

Did I mention that I had only been grooming a little over a year at the time?

I wanted to cry.

Who knows, maybe I did.

I remember having at least one dog a week overwhelm me back then.

Of course it also meant that I was clipping 16 poodle feet too.

I used to do my poodle feet with a #10 blade back then...they took me forever.

The worst part about it was, that I let the owner talk me into giving her a price break because she was bring me four dogs.

I was so naive back then.

One of the other reasons that I hate this cut.

The owners that seem to want this cut almost always have Poodles with no legs....and they want the body clipped with a longer blade.

So, there are a couple of tricks or tips that I do to help get a nice pom-pom.

This Poodle gets a #4F on the body.

First Tip: I use a blade length shorter on the legs to help make the pom-pom stand out.

I used a #5F on the legs.

 I also like to wrap my fingers around the top of the pom-pom so that I don't accidentally clip the top of the pom-pom too low.

This also helps for the dogs that like to suddenly yank their legs upward, causing the blade to cut into the pom-pom before you can pull the clipper away.

Been there..done that. :/

The top of the pom-pom, on the back leg, starts right above the hock.

 The way that I set the pom-pom on the front leg is a little harder to explain.

If the pom-pom is not there and you are setting the pattern for the first time, I take hold of the front leg.

First, I place my thumb over the dogs knee.

Then I gently bend the knee and my thumb.

Make sure that the bend in the knee and the bend in in your thumb are line up together.

Then I clip the leg down to just above the tip of my thumb.

Did that make any sense at all?

Hopefully the picture helps. :)

I have always set my pom-poms this way.

It has always worked for me.

Every once in a while I will lower the top of the pom-pom a little more to balance them if needed. 

 Tip #2:  I also clip the feet higher than normal.

I feel that it helps me get a nice clean line on the bottom of the pom-pom.

It also helps with this dog, her feet are clipped with a #15 because of her sensitive skin.

Next, I comb all of the hair straight down, towards the foot.

Then, I start scissoring by going straight across the bottom of the pom-pom.

I scissor all around the bottom of the pom-pom to expose the foot.

I do not cut into the rest of the pom-pom yet.

I use my scissors to push up the hair to check and see if I have gotten all of the stray hairs around the top of the foot.

Then I comb the hair up towards the leg.

Now I scissor straight across the top of the pom-pom to clean up the line between the leg and pom-pom.

I am still not cutting into the pom-pom yet.

After scissoring up the top line of the pom-pom, I comb the hair up and out.

Then I  shake the leg a little bit to let the hair fall naturally.

 Now I go back to the bottom of the pom-pom and start to scissor from the bottom up.

I start back down at the bottom and curve my way out and up to shape the round pom-pom.

I used straight shears while scissoring this pom-pom.

In the video that I uploaded to Youtube, I used curve shears on the front leg.

If you have  hard time getting the round look, curved shears can help.

Comb the pom-pom often to check the shape that you are trying to achieve.

Work your way around the leg.

I like to scissor small amounts of hair at a time so that I don't accidentally cut a hole into the pom-pom.

The finished pom-pom from the front.

From the back.

I made a video of me scissoring the front leg pom-pom.

Here is the link:

Scissoring pom-poms on a poodle.

Well there she is.

She is such a sweet heart.

Her owner loves her pom-poms.

I hate to admit it, but the pom-poms really fit this little Poodles personality. :)

I hope that this post helps all of the other groomers out there that hate this clip too.

Oh...it's just me?

Happy Grooming, MFF