More recent pics

These pictures have all been taken within the last couple of weeks; I just haven't had a chance to use them yet.

This first guy is a puppy I do; he just turned 9 months old. He is a Yorkie/Bichon mix, and his hair color and texture has changed several times already. He started off Yorkie-colored with rough hair, then it got lighter colored and fine and frizzy, and now it's turning tan and wiry. I can't wait to see what the end result turns out to be!

Here's another puppy, a Westie this time. She's 4 or 5 months old (I've done two Westie puppies recently; one was 4 months and one was 5 months, and I don't really remember which was which.). This was her first grooming, so we went with the standard minimal trimming we like to do on puppies: the face, feet, and potty areas.

This guy is a new client. I had done a quick-service face, feet, and nail trim on him a few weeks ago, but this time he got the full grooming. Mom loved that crazy beard/goatee thing, so I had to leave it. I wish his face wasn't so blurry; the rest of it was cute. He was also a really well-behaved dog.

This is a Standard Poodle request I've been doing since I started working at the other groom shop a year and a half ago. She's a really good dog, but I'm still not that great at her pom feet. I've definitely gotten better over the last year and a half, and the owners are happy with them, but I know someday I will get them to look even better.

These two Yorkie sisters were both really well-behaved. One of them was "involved in a shaving incident," which is code for "we tried to groom her ourselves and failed miserably." I've seen worse home jobs before. I can tell she had grown in some, but I still think what they did looked okay - there were just a lot of spots they missed, like her neck and knees. Anyway, I fixed her up and the owners were very happy. 

I think I've shown pictures of this Westie before. The owner likes her to look as close to a show dog as I can get. I don't do any hand stripping, so I have to accomplish that same look with a clipper cut. I feel like I'm really good at blending her skirt, which is why I took this side view. A note for any groomers reading this:  I hold my thinning shears vertically against the dog where the pattern meets the skirt and use my thinning shears to blend the entire pattern. It makes a BIG difference over just skimming with a blade (in my opinion).

Here't the front view. Even with hairspray, I can't get her head quite tall enough, but this is the biggest and roundest I've gotten it yet. I'm so much better at smaller, pet-sized Westie heads, but what can you do?

Here's a Poodle/Bichon mix that I do. I just love him to pieces; he has such a great personality! His hair sucks a little bit, but I've been doing just short enough of a cut and she brings him just frequently enough to avoid  a matted nightmare.

This was another new client, a Havanese I think. She was really sweet and had really good hair. I'm really happy with the way she came out, and so were her owners. 

And here are a couple pictures of the other Westie puppy I recently did. I had really vague instructions about the haircut, so I decided to trim the ears but not tip them yet and do just over 1/2" on her back - this was just enough of a haircut for her to look like a Westie, but I didn't take too much of her puppy-ness away. Her hair was SO fine that I couldn't get bows behind her ears, so I decided to scrounge up enough hair on top of her head for one bow.

Here's a side view so you can see how smooth her back is without being shaved as short as a usual Westie cut.

And here's a Schnauzer mix I did. I think this one got a light trim all over. As you can see, the owner didn't want the traditional Schnauzer head with a long beard and pointy eyebrows. I think they look a little strange without their signature face, but I admit that this guy's face turned out awfully cute.

Well, that's all the pictures I have today. I'll bring you more soon!