Full Short Feet

Every once in a while I will get a customer in that wants me to take their dogs feet short, but at the same time they want them fluffy.

Then there is the owner like the one that was in today.

They want the feet short but fluffy, and they do not want the toes, or the toe nails to show.

No problem right?

Of course.....on a dog with perfectly tight toes and very short nails!

So, what do you do with a dog whose nails can't be taken as short as you would like to take them, because of a long quick, and toes that splay apart when the dog is standing on its feet.

 These furry feet belong to a Cavalier Spaniel.

She gets clipped with a #4F all over.

My instructions are to take her nails as short as possible, take her feet short, but leave them fluffy.

Also don't let her toes or toe nails show. 

 First I clipped her nails as close as I could which was not as short as I would have liked them to be.

I start trimming her foot by clipping the hair between the pads first with a #40 blade.

The dogs skin type or coloring will help make my decision on whether or not I will just shave the hair even with the pads, (leaving some hair between the pads) or shave the pads out like a Poodle foot.

Because this dogs pads are mostly pink, I leave a little hair between the pads to protect the sensitive skin.

I am also careful not to clip too much hair off the sides and front of the toes.

Even though I am aiming for a fluffy foot, I like to take the hair at the back of the foot pretty short.

This will not effect keeping the rest of the foot fluffy.

When scissoring feet that have toes that splay when you set the foot back down, I like to put the foot down each time after I cut hair, to make sure that I am not cutting too much.

Now I want to scissor only around the bottom edge of the foot.

Here I have scissored about half way around the foot.

I scissored close to the back pad, close to the side pad, leaving the hair a little longer as I go around the front of the toes.

Remember, be conservative with your first cuts, because you do not want to take off too much hair with the first cut.

 Set the foot down again.

Let the dog put its full weight on the foot so that the toes can splay the way they naturally do.

This way you can eyeball how much more hair you can take off when you pick the foot up again to scissor.

 Scissor under the toes at an angle so that the hair close to the nails will be short, but you are still leaving longer hair on the top of the toes.

Blend the back and sides of the foot into the leg.

Set the foot back down and shape up around the edges while the dog has weight on the foot.

This dogs leg and top of the foot are naturally short haired.

The only hair that I have to work with to keep the feet fluffy, and cover the toes and nails, is the hair that grows out between the toes.

Because of the limited mount of hair, I must be very careful not to scissor too much, which is very easy to do. :/

 Once I have rounded off the foot and shaped the edges, I brush the hair up.

I give the foot a little jiggle to let the hair settle naturally, then I set the foot back down on the table.

 Again I make a mental note of how much hair I want to cut.

I pick up the foot again and scissor just a tiny pit of hair to shape up the hair on the top of the toes.

If I cut too much the toes will show.

They're not the prettiest feet, but they are short and fluffy.

And, the toes and toe nails do not show!

Here are all four of the feet.

Hope this helps someone. :)