The Christmas rush

It is that time of year again...already!

Every groomer knows that Christmas is crazy.

It feels like one of the longest and fastest months of the year.

The month of December just fly's by.

As a matter of fact, I feel like December snuck up on me.

Wasn't it August last month?

Who am I kidding, December sneaks up on me every year.

I miss Wal-Marts Fabric Department.

That came out of left field didn't it?

Let me explain.

Every year I like to cut fabric into bandanna's for my customers dogs.

I used to be able to go to Wal-Mart and find really pretty Christmas fabric at a good cost.

I unusually make around 180 bandanna's.

For the last couple of years I have had to go to a local fabric store.

This year I went this past weekend to get fabric.

I waited too long.

All of the pretty Christmas fabric was gone, either that, or the store buyer has really bad taste in fabric.

The only thing that they had left was childish looking patterns.

I like my Christmas bandanna's to have a pretty, elegant pattern.

All of the bandanna fabric this year is okay for the male dogs.

These are just two of the patterns.

I don't think that I will be using them on too many of the females.

I bought ribbon for the girls to put on their collars or in their ears.

Once again I forgot to order ribbon for the dog's bows, so I had to get ribbon from the fabric store.

I got lucky, all of their ribbon was on sale for 50% off this week.

I still could have gotten a better deal through one of the pet supply stores.

There is a lot more ribbon on their rolls, and it is a little stuffer.

The stiffer ribbon makes puffier bows.

This is how I make my bows.

Take the ribbon and wrap it loosely around your fingers.

I wanted to make a large collar bow, so I wrapped the ribbon around 4 fingers, spread apart a little to make the bow the size I want.

If you want a smaller bow, use 2 or 3 fingers.

I use 2 fingers for ear bows.

For this bow I wrapped the ribbon around 4 times.

With this ribbon, 6 time around would have been better, 4 times is good with a stiffer ribbon.

The more times you wrap, the fuller your bow will be.

Be careful not to wrap too many times, or it will be too thick to work with.

Now fold the bow in half, careful not to flatten the round ends.

Take a pair of sharp scissors. (Not your grooming shears!)

Cut half way through the ribbon, on an angle.

Unfold the ribbon, careful not to let it unwrap.

Get your small rubber band, and place under the narrowest part of the ribbon.

You should see a loop of the rubber band on each side of the ribbon.

While holding the rubber band in place, take one loop and pull it across the ribbon and over the 

other loop.

Now grab the second loop through the first loop and pull till tight.

I hope that made sense.

I am fighting a head cold right now, and I think I am seeing double. :)

This is what it should look like so far.

  Starting from the inside loop, pull one loop out at a time.

Pull gently and twist a little, then grab another loop and pull out on the other side and twist.

Keep alternating from one side to the other, so the loops don't fall back together into one loop.

Be firm, but gentle so that you don't pull the bow apart.

This is what it will look like.

As I said before, 6 wraps would have made a fuller bow with this type of ribbon.

When making smaller bows for the dogs ears, I wait till after I have put the bow in the ear before I open it up, so that I don't smash it while putting it in the ear.

Now I find the long loop of the rubber band, and hold it open with two of my fingers.

Again, careful not to stretch the rubber band too far and break it.

Then I feed the collar through the rubber band.

I wait till the dog is going home to put the collar back on, so that the dog will not lay on it and crush it.

I have different colors, and try to use the color that I think will looks the nicest on that dog.

If you want to mix your colors, for example a red and green bow, put one color ribbon on the top of the other color before you start wrapping it around your fingers.

When you are using two ribbons, each wrap will make two loops.

Example, wrapping it 2 times around your fingers will make 4 loops, wrapping it 3 times will make 6 loops, and so on.

Okay, it is time to go cut my head off before it explodes.

I can feel the pressure building.

I hope that this post made sense.

If it doesn't, I am sorry.

I don't even have the excuse of the effects of cold medicine, because I haven't taken any yet.

I know, I am bad, I don't like medicine.

Hope to be back tomorrow. :)

Happy Grooming, MFF

Tuesdays Tip #5

I had a client about 7 years ago start bringing in a little sandwich bag of Baking Soda for each groom.

This owner is very allergic to a lot of things, so her dog only gets a Hypo Allergenic Shampoo and no cologne.

The owners Holistic Vet told the owner to bring us Baking Soda to use on her dog.

I have to say, the first time I used the Baking Soda I was amazed at how soft it left the dog.

I now use Baking Soda on almost every dog I bathe.

 Baking Soda can be used a few different ways.

How to mix it:

 I use a cleaned out shampoo gallon jug to make up the Baking Soda Mix.

I fill the gallon jug up with warm water.

I put two tablespoons of Baking Soda in to the bottle of warm water.

 It does not have to be an exact measurement.

Turn the bottle upside down and shake to mix.

I used a drill bit to drill 5 to 7 holes in the lid of the shampoo bottle.

The number of holes depends on the size of the holes you make.

First Tip:

Baking Soda is great to use on large hairy dogs that take a long time to rinse.

After you finish shampooing and before you start rinsing, mix up a fresh batch of Baking Soda.

Pour the Baking Soda, generously, all over the dog, on top of the shampoo.

The Baking Soda helps break down the shampoo and it rinses out much faster.

 Second Tip:

After you have used creme rinse on the dog, pour Baking Soda all over the dog and do another quick rinse.

I have found that the Baking Soda keeps a creme rinsed from taking forever to dry.

Third Tip:

If you have a dog that you do not like to creme rinse because they always seem to come out greasy, mix up the Baking Soda and pour generously all over the dog after all of the shampoo has been rinsed.

DO NOT RINSE BAKING SODA OFF.

Towel dry as usual.

I think you will be amazed at how fluffy and soft the dog is.

I like using Baking Soda on Poodles that have a very thick curly coat.

It helps with drying time and helps straighten the curl for scissoring.

Do Not get the Baking Soda Mix in the eyes.

I do not use the Backing Soda on any heads.

I don't want to take a chance that they will turn their head at the wrong moment.

This is 'Ashley' after her blow dry.

She has a very thick curly coat.

I creme rinsed her and then soaked her with the Baking Soda Mix.

I rinsed the Baking Soda off.

It took me 30 minutes to completely HV dry her from the tub.

I hope that this Tip helps make some of your grooming easier.

Happy Grooming, MFF

  

Grooming Changes

Shortly after Grooming School I came to the realization that the school I went to left a lot to be desired.

The school that I went to mainly concentrated on Poodles and #7 clip downs.

Skip tooth #7 clip downs!

It still makes me shiver now when I think about it. All of those matted dogs that I shaved down with a skip tooth blade.

I only own one skip tooth #7 now, I rarely use it.

It comes in handy for skimming sometimes.

Anyway, before I get too far off topic, shortly after I got out of school, I bought a book for grooming all breeds.

It has seen better days.

 I graduated in 1984 when this book was written.

For more then 10 years I used this book as a reference if I ever had any questions about a pattern on a breed.

More then 10 years ago I started noticing some changes in some breed patterns when going to dog shows or watching dog shows on T.V.

I had stopped going to Hershey after I started having my kids.

That was a mistake.

I groomed a lot of years the hard way, because I did not continue my grooming education.

I remember when a new customer brought in his Airedale one day for grooming.

He had printed out instructions from the computer.

Don't you just love that.

When I looked over the papers he gave me I was surprised.

The owners instructions were different from my trusty Grooming Guide.

Had the pattern really changed that much?

I was sure something was wrong.

All of my other Airedales were groomed in the old pattern.

I always thought I was pretty good about change.

I try to be a modern girl.

I try to keep up with the times.

I use the word awsome.

I don't say "that's cool."

I say "that's awsome!"

Well, I try.

So why was I finding it so hard to change some of my ways of grooming?

In 2004 I bought the new Breed Guide.

This is an excellent Grooming Guide.

Every groomer should have one, and every grooming school should give one to their students.

I pulled out my 1984 Grooming Guide, and my 2004 Grooming Guide today.

I put them side by side and had a great laugh.

I took pictures of some of the breeds that have changed patterns in the past 20 years, and I was going to post them.

Then I thought better of it.

I don't want anyone mad at me for copywrite.

So I decided to draw the changes myself and scan them.

I am sorry if some of the dogs looked deformed, but the patterns are exactly how they are in the books.

This is The Airedale Pattern when I graduated from grooming school.

This is the way it is pictured in the All Breed Dog Grooming Guide.

This is the way that I clipped Airedales for 10 years.

This is the way they are groomed now.

This is the pattern in The Notes from the Grooming Table.

I have found that the Terrier Patterns are the ones that have changed the most.

I have no idea when this change took place and how long I was doing it wrong.

The Schnauzer Pattern has also changed.

I never did hula skirts.

My teacher from school did teach us to blend, but my skirts were much higher.

I have also found that most owners do like more skirt left on the dog.

The top schnauzer pattern is from 1984.

The bottom pattern is from 2004.

Messed up a little on the 2004 pattern.

I don't draw as much as I used to. 

Westies have also changed.

The 1984 pattern was straight across from point of shoulder to point of hip.

The Westie head is what has changed the most.

Personally, I am not crazy about the teased, spiky westie head.

Of course, most of my customers do not care for it either.

I do the softer round Westie pet head.

The Bichon is the one I laughed at the most.

I like Bichons, but I am not at all crazy about the way they are groomed now.

It is fine for show, but totally unrealistic for a pet trim.

All of the angles drive me crazy.

I don't know about other groomers, but 95% of my Bichon customers could not take care of a Bichon in the official pattern.

Forget the head.

If I did the head and neck the way the book says, my Bichon customers would be mat balls every time they came in.

Note the ears in the 1984 Bichon picture.

This is exactly how it was pictured in the book.

The 1984 instructions were:

*Short on top of head so the hair does not fall into the eyes.

*Blend back of head to neck.

*Do not shorten beard, only make even.

It did not mention the ears at all.

I have a question; Who is the person that makes up these cuts and changes them?

It is just my personal opinion, but most official breed trims are not realistic for the average pet owner.

I only posted a few of the breeds that have changed over the years, there were a lot more.

I will follow the new breed patterns, because I do like some of the changes, but I will modify them to fit my customers.

I know that some groomers would disagree with me on that.

They think that to be professional you must do the Breed styles the way they are supposed to be.

I respectfully disagree.

I groom to please my paying customer, not other groomers. :)

I love learning new things in the grooming world.

I also don't think that you always have to go strictly by the book, unless you are competing.

Especially when someone out there likes to change the rules.

I'd like to meet that person some time.

Happy Grooming, MFF

Black and White

We all seem to have those days.

You know the ones, where all of the same kinds of dogs come in on one day.

One day most of your dogs are Poodles.

The next day most are  Cockers, or Bichons, or Shih-tzus, ect.

You don't plan it that way, it just seems to work out that way.

It amazes me how many times I get all white dogs in on the same day.

I feel like I am blind by the end of the day.

Today was unusual in the fact that a lot of our dogs were Black and White.

I don't seem to have a Black and White dog day very often.

When the fourth black and white dog walked through the door today, I thought, wow that's a lot of black and white dogs on the same day.

Then, two more walked in.

Half of our day was black and white.

This is 'Cambel'.

He is 3 years old.

He was just rescued yesterday by a very good customer of mine who's dog pasted away a couple of months ago.

'Cambel' is a sweetheart.

This is 'Lola'.

What a nervous little thing she is.

Just snapping your fingers would send her across the room to hide.

This is 'Lucy'.

She is 'Lola's' sister.

'Lucy' is a very happy and outgoing dog.

I know she is black with white, but there is black and there is white, so, I am including her in with my black and white collection today.

This is 'Toby'.

What a good guy he is.

'Toby' stands very still on the table.

Imagine that, a large Shih-Tzu that will actually stand up for the whole groom.

He is a pleasure to groom.

 This is 'Lucy'.

What a great dog she is.

She is a Terrier, and her hair doesn't grow any longer then about an inch and a half.

If she were mine, I would never cut her hair, but her mom likes her shaved with a #7F, everything off. 

The only thing her Mom wants left is 'Lucy's' whispy eyebrows.

 Last but not least.

 This is 'Zoey'.

She is a very sweet dog to groom, until...

you do her nails, then she turns into a little mini Kujo.

When you finish her nails, she is as sweet as pie again.  :)

Oh, and if you haven't guessed, she is extremely camera shy.

These are 3 of about 15 pictures that I took just trying to get her to look at the camera.

This is the best picture that I could get.

That was our Black and White day. :)

Happy Grooming, MFF

Rough Cuts

I love to watch the grooming competitions at Hershey every year.

I watch a lot of the groomers use clip combs to take off the excess hair before they start to scissor.

Some go over and over and over the dog till they can't get anymore hair off.

If you watch closely they are changing comb sizes depending on where they are clipping.

One length for the rear, one for the chest, one for the sides.

Then they start to scissor.

That just seems like too much extra work to me.

I don't spend a lot of time with the clippers.

I just get the excess hair off and then start scissoring.

I love to scissor.

Sometimes I don't even use the clipper first.

I just scissor the entire dog from start to finish.

 Of course, I am not doing a true Bichon cut.

I am doing the pet cut.

My rough-ins look pretty messy.

If I were another groomer watching me, I would probably think, 'how is she going to fix that mess?'

 

My daughter most likely thinks that, because her clipper work is always very neat.

She always gets as much as she can off with the clipper, which leaves her less to scissor.

She has excellent scissor skills.

I guess I just like to scissor.

My rough-ins have always been messy and will most likely always be messy.

I love the transformation that I can do with the scissors.

I am left handed, but grooming school did not have any left handed shears, so to keep up with everyone else, I started scissoring with my right hand.

I have always wondered what my scissor work would look like if I scissored with my left hand.

I bought left handed scissors after I had been grooming for a few years and tried to teach myself to scissor with my left hand.

I couldn't do it.

I felt like I was back in grooming school all over again.

I gave up.

I still envision myself sometimes standing at my table with scissors in both hands scissoring away on two legs at one time. :)

Happy Grooming, MFF

It wasn't me!

Isn't that what you feel like saying every time you find something wrong with a dog that you are grooming?

You know what I mean, when you find a sore, a scratch, a wart that bleeds, or a nail that is cracked.

How many times have you found something the owner did not know about, and see the doubt in their eyes when you tell them what you found.

They just don't seem like they want to believe that you found the sore and didn't put it there.

 Especially like the dog I did today.

When I told the owner what I found, the first thing she said was that the dog had just been to the Vet and "he did not see anything."

If only I had a dollar for everytime over the years that I found something that the Vet never saw.

*Ear infections.

*Over grown nails.

*Rashes.

*Bad skin.

*Ect., ect., ect.

Anyway...

This is 'Oscar'.

We have been grooming 'Oscar' and his brother 'Otis' for a few years now.

'Oscar' and 'Otis' get groomed every 6 weeks.

Today 'Oscar' came in with a very large amount of eye crud under one of his eyes.

The crud went from the corner of the eye down, almost to the corner of his mouth.

There was hardly any crud in the other eye.

This was my first warning that something was not right.

As always I like to let eye crud soak with soap and water while bathing the rest fo the dog.

Usually by the time you finish bathing the body, the eye crud has softened enough to easy pick it away from the eye.

'Oscar's' eye crud was very thick and very hard.

The crud had to soak for a while before I could even start to pick it away from the eye.

I started by trying to pull the crud itself part.

I saw bright red.

Warning number two.

I grabbed my camera, I wasn't being blamed for anything.

Warning: the pictures below may bother some people.

This was my first hint of something more then just eye crud.

Red.

I had the feeling it was more than just raw skin under the crud.

Now, do I stop and send to the Vet., or do I go on.

It's me, of course I go on.

Of course, if blood had started flowing I would have stopped and called the owner.

There was red, but it was not blood.

It helped a lot that 'Oscar was so good about it.

I kept wetting his face down with warm water and rubbing the crud between my fingers till it started breaking up.

This is what I found under the crud.

What is it?

I have no idea.

It was not there 6 weeks ago.

A cyst?

A Boil?

All I know is that it is a good sized puss filled lump.

So I took pictures to show how I found it, and that I did not put it there.

Why did I fool with it?

Because, I have found over the years that Vets don't like doing the dirty work.

They give medication for ear infections but don't clean out the ears.

I have had owners bring in the dogs and tell me that their Vet told them to ask the groomer to pluck the ears, or clip mats away from a sore, clean the crud out of the eyes.

So I cleaned the crud off, scissored around the eye and lump so that the Vet would be able to easily see what the problem is.

I also told the owner to get the dog right to a Vet, because the lump was seeping puss and needed to see the Vet before it got covered up again.

'Oscar' was a sweet heart.

I truly think that dogs understand when you are trying to help them.

'Oscar's' owner had no idea that the lump was there, but she did know that the big piece of crud was there.

I know that I take a chance doing this.

So far, all of the owners have appreciated my finding things like this.

You better believe I cover my butt by taking a lot of pictures.

I hope that what I found is not serious.

I know that I helped 'Oscar' feel a little better.

Happy Grooming, MFF