'Pet' Westie Cut

Below is a description and pictures of the way that I groom my customers Westies.

'Pet' grooming a Westie means that I will groom the Westie any way the owner wants.

Most of my Westie customers want a Westie pattern, but the length of the hair on the back, the skirt, and legs vary depending on what the owners want.

I also don't do the teased, shaggy Westie heads that you see on the dog bone box and in the Westie breed books.

I don't know about other groomers, but most of the Westies that we have come in our shop don't have the type of hair on their heads needed to give them the 'Breed Standard' Westie head.

When I do get a Westie in that has the right type of hair on their head, the owner does not want the 'Breed Standard' Westie head.

This is one of the sweetest Westies that I groom.

She spends most of her time in the wood behind her house.

Her owners want her to look like a Westie, but they also want her coat easy to maintain.

Most of my Westie customers let me decide the length that I use on the back.

I decide what length that I am going to use by the texture and thickness of the hair.

This little girl has the kind of hair that I love on a Westie.

It is thick, with a mixture of soft plushy hair and wiry hair.

So many of the the Westies that I have come in have a very thin, course straight hair with no plush to the coat at all.

  I am not an expert on breeding Westies, so I am not entirely sure which coat is preferred by breeders, but I like the mixture of plushy and wiry.

To me, it is easier to blend, and leaves a really nice finish when clipped with most any length blade.

Since this little girl spends so much time in the woods, and her owners want a length that is easy to maintain, I use a #4F on her back.

 I start clipping at the back of the head.

About three fingers down from the occiput bone.

That is the bone that sticks up at the back of the skull, just in case your wondering what the heck I am talking about. :)

My first cut is straight down the spine line.

All of the way to the base of the tail.

I continue down the back turning the blade at a slight angle to blend the back into the skirt.

 I slowly turn the blade as I am clipping so that by the time I reach the top of the skirt, my blade is moving straight down, so that I can skim the blade off of the top of the skirt.

You want to turn the blade slowly so that you do not make deep cut marks in the hair.

The arrows pointing up in the picture just means that I am lifting the blade up and away from the skirt.

 As you can see, the cut of the blade is smooth and blends nicely into the skirt.

I use the point of shoulder and point of hip as a guide to where I place the skirt.

I only use that as a guide.

How low or high I place the skirt depends on the weight of the dog.

Fat Westies and Scotties look better with a lower skirt, in my opinion.

When clipping around the head and neck, make sure to follow the growth of the hair.

Westies always have a cowlick on the side of the neck, under the ear.

When you bare that cowlick, it looks like you have skinned the dog in that area.

It can be hard to make the owner understand that it was a cowlick that you bared, and that you did not skin their dogs neck. :p

 This isn't the greatest picture for showing the front apron...sorry about that.

Once again, what I do with the chest depends on the type of hair, how much hair the dog has on the chest, and how many cowlicks are in that area.

With this Westie, I clip to the breast bone and then lower on each side, matching with the skirt.

That didn't make the least bit of sense, did it?

If you were not able to blend the skirt well with the blade, you can always go back and use thinning shears to blend the skirt and the body better.

Now on to my incorrect Westie head. :)

I start by shaping the beard and side of the head.

I scissor from the front of the beard to the ear.

Then I fold the ear in half and continue scissoring from the beard up into the ear.

Next, I comb all of the hair on the head forward and scissor over the eyes.

After I think I have finished scissoring the eyes, I hold head head down to let the hair fall the way it would if the dog was sniffing the ground and scissor up any more hair that falls forward.

I also, very lightly, scissor down the sides of the head just to blend, shape, and soften the edges.

Blend in the back of the ears and head with either scissors or thinning shears.

 I like the head blended neatly into the back.

It would be fun one day to groom a Westies head like I see at competitions and in shows, but that will only happen when I get a Westie with a good head and an owner that will let me groom it that way. :/

Last of all, the tail.

I like to scissor the tail.

I feel that I have more control with the scissors even though I could probably get the same results with a blade.

I start by scissoring the top of the tail, blending it into the body.

While scissoring, remember that you are scissoring a carrot shape.

Leave the tail thicker at the base, tapering to a  semi point at the end.

Scissor out well under the tail.

For this Westie, I also shortened up the skirt and legs.

Well, there she is. :)

That is the way that I groom my Westie customers.

Hope this helps. :)

Happy Grooming, MFF

Bloopers

I haven't been posting as much lately, because I have been working on a Christmas present for my customers.

Something simple, but it takes a lot of my time up at night.

 I am taking pictures of my furry customers and making calendars to give to their owners at Christmas.

I did this for my customers about 5 years ago and it was a hit, so I am doing it again this year.

As everyone can see from my blog, I love taking pictures.

I am very much an amateur photographer.

My pictures are for fun, but I do try really hard to get a nice shot of the dogs to give to their owners.

I give professional pet photographers all the credit in the world.

It must take them hours to get the perfect picture.

I only have a few minutes after each groom to get the best picture that I can.

I am convinced that some dogs are real hams in front of the camera.

I have had some dogs where I have only needed to snap a few pictures and all of them come out great.

I swear that they sit there and pose.

Some dogs are down right scared when I pick up the camera and put it in front of my face.

I have had a couple of dogs freakout at the fabric hanging on the wall behind them.

There are others that can not be trusted for even a second, for me to back away from them to take a picture.

Then there are the ones that are way too happy and can't stand still to save their lives.

Like this little lady.

She has to be one the happiest Pomeranian's that I have ever met.

You can not talk to her when you groom her, or she will do nothing but wiggle, squirm, and roll over on her back...and do the happy tinkle.

How do you get a dog like that to lift her ears?

Any noise that you make she thinks that you want her to sail into your arms.

And, she moves, and wiggles, and crawls all over the place.

Most of my pictures of her looked like this.

The picture above was one of only three pictures that were not blurred.

The only problem was,  in the picture above, she didn't have her ears up.

I spent 10 minutes making noises, trying to get her to lift her ears.

Ten minutes does not sound like long, but when you have other dogs waiting to be groomed, it is forever.

So, what did I end up with?

A belly shot.

Can't you just see her saying; "Here...how is this for a pose?!"

I have a lot of blooper shots.

I can just see the dogs making comments as I am trying to take the pictures.

So, I thought that I would have some fun and share some of the bloopers pictures, and what I think the dogs are thinking.

Sit back and have fun looking at my blooper pictures. :)

" Wait! Wait! I need to fix my mustache."

" How is this for a grin?"

"Look, I can touch my eye with my tongue!"

"What?...What's that ya sayin'?"

" What did you get me into this time?!"

" What do you mean I moved? I didn't move."

"How is this side?"

"Are you done yet? I would really like to take a nap now."

"How is this for a nice big smile?"

"No, I will not look at the camera."

"Why can't I stick my tongue out?!"

"You told me to put my head up!"

" I don't want to smile."

"Did you get a good picture yet?"

"What is that squeaking sound. Is that a toy? I want it!"

"Wait! I blinked!"

"What do you mean I have to sit next to him?"

"It isn't bad enough that I was dragged in here to have my nails clipped...now this!"

"I am ready for my picture to be taken!"

"Picture? You mean that this isn't my new bed?"

"What do you mean, stop making faces."

"Yaaaawn.....are we done yet?"

"I WANT TO GO HOME!"

"Hurry, take the picture. My ear itches."

"Night, night."

Happy Grooming, MFF

What Would You Do? Customer Request

I have no problem doing what my customers request for me to do to their dogs.

That is, within reason, and as long as it is something that will not hurt the dog.

I have no problem clipping a dog in a style other than the breed standard cut.

I have no problem giving a dog a Mohawk if the owner wants the dog to have one.

Years ago, I had a customer who liked her Westie to have a Scottie head.

He actually looked really cute with that head.

I used to have a Cocker that got shaved feet like a Poodle.

I do try to talk people out of shaving their double coated dogs, but I will do it if they really want it done.

So, why did I have such a hard time today?

It was a very simple request.

It would only take me literally a second to do.

What was the request?

 

The owner of this Schnauzer wanted me to shave straight down the top of the nose.

 From his nose to his eyes.

I did not wait on this customer.

My husband did.

He was positive that he heard her right, and even asked her a couple of times to make sure that she wanted the top of the nose shaved.

So, what was my problem?

Why did this request bother me so much?

Maybe, because in grooming school it was drilled into our heads never to shave the top of a Schnauzers nose.

Never to cut into the top of a Schnauzers mustache.

It is not like I haven't scissored Schnauzer beards very short before.

But, even though I scissor a Schnauzer beard short, I still don't shave down the top of the nose.

 It bothered me so much that the owner wanted the top of the nose shaved just because, the two small sections that I have highlighted here, tend to stick up.

I have only been grooming this Schnauzer since March.

When he first started coming in to be groomed, I could tell that the top of the nose had been shaved.

To be honest, I just thought that a groomer who didn't know any better had shaved the top of the nose, so I left it to grow out.

The dotted lines show where the hair has grown to since March.

A few more months and that little bit of hair would probably be long enough that it won't stick up anymore.

So, what would you do?

Would you have just gone ahead and shaved the top of the nose?

Would you wait and try to talk the owner out of shaving it?

What did I do?

 I just could not bring myself to do it.

Not without talking to the customer myself first.

 I groomed the dog as usual and waited till the owner came to pick up and talk to her about it.

When the owner got to the shop, I explained how, if she would let the hair grow out just a little more, it would stop sticking up towards the dogs eyes.

In the mean time she could put a little hairspray on her finger, and press it on the hair that sticks up, to hold it down.

What did the owner decide to do?

She still wanted the top of the nose shaved. :(

 

 From his nose to his eyes.

I still couldn't take my blade straight up that nose.

So I lightly clipped the top of the nose sideways, keeping the part on the nose.

I clipped light enough to remove the offending hair that would stick up.

Just enough to clean it up but still give the appearance of a parted mustache.

 I also didn't go all of the way to the end of the nose.

I warned the owner that as the hair grows back, the short hairs will stick straight up.

I guess it doesn't look that bad.

What would you have done?

Would you just have shaved down that nose?

After all, it is the owners dog and that is what she wanted.

I can't explain it.

I don't know why it bothered me so much.

How many times have I told owners that it is only hair and it will grow back?

Maybe it is because it takes sooooo long for that hair on the nose to grow nice and long in the first place. 

It seems taboo to shave it off. :/

Oh well, he is not my dog.

The owner liked it.

It was what she wanted.

Now, get over it Lisa.

Happy Grooming, MFF