A Pair of Poodles

The other day, I got to groom two Poodles from the same family. One was an adult Toy Poodle, and the other was a 5-month-old Standard Poodle puppy. They were quite an interesting pair! Anyway, I took a lot of photos to give you a sense of the process I go through when grooming Poodles.

Here is the before picture of the Toy Poodle. She's all nice and curly and straggly, and when dogs look like this, you wonder how much of the curl will come out with the bath and blow dry and how much will be matting left over after the dryer.

Here she is after the bath and blow dry. See how her front legs and body are now fluffy, but her back leg still looks scraggly? Those are pin mats that I will need to brush out. Not fun, but they aren't bad enough mats to require shaving. Brushing those legs was a little time consuming, but it wasn't very hard on the dog; I was very gentle.

This is her all brushed out and with her feet and face shaved, but no haircut on her body yet. All groomers have a different order that they do things in; some groomers may do the feet and face very first or very last, for example. This is just my order.

I do what is called a Town and Country (or sometimes called a Lamb) clip on her. In this picture, I have cut the hair on her body but not her legs yet. This gives you some sense of the pattern involved.

Next I take her legs a little bit shorter. I haven't yet blended the pattern or trimmed around her feet, I've just taken the length of her legs down.

Lastly, I neaten up her legs and cut her topknot. This is the final product.

Isn't she cute? She took me a solid hour and a half from start to finish.

Here's the Standard Poodle puppy. 5 months old. Isn't he huge?

Just in case you can't tell exactly how big he is, here he is next to his Toy Poodle sister.

FIVE...MONTHS...OLD...

This guy is going to be ENORMOUS.

Anyway, that is how he looked when he first came in. They wanted him to get a full haircut for the very first time. Since he had a TON of hair to wash and dry, I quickly shaved his face and feet before the bath so that I would have less hair to wash and dry, especially since most dogs don't like having their faces dried. I wasn't going for perfect here; I just wanted to get some hair off before the bath.

Here he is after the bath. I've already gone back and fixed his face and his feet and brushed him out, but I haven't cut any of the hair on his body yet.

And yes, this guy was surprisingly mellow for such a young puppy. They started bringing him in November when he was 3 months old and have brought him once a month since then - the change in him from that first groom to now is AMAZING - he is so much calmer and relaxed now that he knows the whole process and has gotten used to me. That is why it is SO important to start puppies of any breed as young as possible, so that they can get used to everything before getting a full haircut.

Anyway, they wanted a little bit of length taken off, but not too much. They wanted a longer cut than any of my guard combs would provide, so I had to hand-scissor his entire body. Here's a picture of how scraggly his hair was before the cut.

Here is how that same spot on his back looked after I scissored all the straggly pieces off.

I have to say, I'm rather impressed with how my hand scissoring has improved over the last six months or so.

Here's the final product. He looks so grown up now!

He is also clearly a Poodle now, where before he looked an awful lot like a Doodle. This guy took me a shade over two hours from start to finish.

If anybody was wondering where else I do things in my process, I cut the nails very first thing after the bath on all dogs (unless they HATE it, in which case I leave it for last - or do it before the bath if they like to pee and/or poop when they get their nails cut), and if the dog needs its pads shaved, I do that right after the toenails. I then proceed to shave the sanitary areas, and most of the time I will go shave the corners of the eyes next. From there I work on the body, legs, then head. I clean or pluck the ears very last thing, then add perfume and a bandanna or bows.

I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek into how one groomer does Poodles!

Dirtiest Dog Ever?

Listen to the video clip while looking at the following pictures for added amusement ;-)

(The music starts at 0:15, don't cheat and look ahead - if you time it right, this is awesome, I promise!)

This may not be the dirtiest dog I have ever groomed, but he is certainly in the top 5*. I work in a major metropolitan area - when I worked in the outlying suburbs, we would get the occasional farm dog, but now that I work closer to the city, farm dogs are few and far between. This guy had just been at the dog park.

Obviously.

How long do you suppose it took me to wash all that mud out of his hair?

It took 3 scrubs and 50 minutes just to wash him.

Then it took another hour to dry him (we groom all dogs straight through at my shop, so kennel drying was not an option).

The owner was almost 10 minutes late for her appointment, so that means I didn't even start his haircut until he had been there for two hours already - and he was only scheduled for a 2-hour appointment!!! Luckily he was my last dog of the day and I had an extra hour to work until close.

Because who doesn't love working more than an hour later than expected?

Here he is clean and a little bit roughed in. Just in case you weren't sure how dirty he was, go back and look at the original picture and compare the color of his non-muddy fur to the color of his actually clean fur.

I had to take his entire stomach down to a little less than half an inch.

Because of course he couldn't just be filthy, he had to be matted, as well.

I had to take his neck down to 1/4 inch.

The owner had wanted me to only take about half the length off his body (knowing his neck and stomach would be shorter), but his body was a little bit matted, also. Having spent two hours just washing and drying this dog, I was not about to spend half an hour dematting so that he could look ridiculous with a banded neck and false skirt and fluffy body.

So I used my longest blade, 5/8", all over his body. He still had a little fluff, he wasn't naked, and it blended well into the short spots. 

He may not be as fluffy as his mom wanted, but I think he turned out darned cute, considering what I had to work with. He hadn't been in for almost 3 months.

One more time, just to make it easy on you, here is the before and after side by side.

        

                                    

Yes, that's the same dog.

And you probably weren't asking yourself, but just in case you were wondering what the tub looked like afterwards...

...And that's after I had cleaned the half of the tub nearest the drain.

Still think dog groomers have an amazing job where we get to play with puppies all day? 

*I wrote this post yesterday but didn't post it. Today it occurred to me that I have done Labs and Goldens that were that muddy, but this Doodle was probably the hairiest muddy dog I have ever seen.

Before and After Pics 1/22/13

Here are some more before and after pictures I took of dogs I groomed before the holidays got really crazy.

First we have a REALLY dirty Doodle (side note: I really don't care or bother to remember which dogs are Labradoodles and which are Goldendoodles. They're practically the same thing and get the same haircuts.) On top of being dirty, she was quite matted. 

I had to take her a little bit shorter than usual, but with a good scrubbing and blowing her out with the high velocity dryer, I didn't have to shave her all the way down to the skin, which the owners were very happy about.

This next Cockapoo is one of my regulars. Needless to say, I don't put bows in her ears anymore...

Here she is after. I had to basically do Cocker ears on her because I had to shave the mats out, but at least I was able to save the bottom of her ears. I like my Cockapoo's (Dillin) ears  really short, but I am the exception to the rule. Most Cockapoo owners like big poofy ears on their dogs.

Here is a cute little Toy Poodle puppy. I did him again recently, and I don't think he's a pure Poodle, but it doesn't really matter. Anyway, this was his very first groom.

He fluffs up quite nicely, don't you think?

This is another of my Doodle requests (I do A LOT of Doodles). Here she is curly and dirty before the bath.

Here she is all clean and fluffy. Her hair is so curly that I'm still surprised by how fluffy she is under all of that curl. 

And here she is all done. What a pretty girl. She takes me forever because her hair is so thick and curly, but she always turns out so nice when I am done. 

This is another of my regulars. He is a Yorkie/Bichon mix puppy, and his coat has changed colors and textures about 3 times as he has grown up. She brushes him regularly, but he always looks scruffy when he comes in due to the odd texture of his hair. 

And here he is after. He has become such a good dog to groom - he was a really crazy puppy. Sadly she just moved out of state. :-(  She says she will come back and visit her daughter frequently and will bring him in then to get groomed, so this may not be the last time I see him, but it was a bittersweet day nonetheless.

I hope you all enjoyed this latest batch of before and after pictures!

Magic Wands and Other Stories

So it seems that behind-the-scenes stories from workers in the service industry are all the rage right now, so I'm going to play around with some of my blog posts in that style. I have been particularly influenced by "Waiter Rant: Thanks For the Tip - Confessions of a Cynical Waiter" by Steve Dublanica and "Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality" by Jacob Tomsky. I highly recommend both of these books - they are funny and true-to-life. Not getting the service you want? These guys will fill you in on how to get the best service.

Anyway, I would like to be more honest about what it is REALLY like dealing with grooming clients - the ones with 4 feet as well as the ones with 2. I am not intending to demean or offend anybody, I just want to highlight some of the interesting things that have been said to me over the years as a dog groomer.

Yesterday was an especially interesting day at work, which is what gave me the idea for this particular blog post.

My first dog of the day was a middle-aged Lab with very thin hair, bad dander, and bald spots. A medicated shampoo and thorough blow dry got rid of the dander temporarily, but there was clearly something going on with this dog that the owners may or may not be aware of. Some dander is normal, but lots of dander plus thin hair plus bald spots equals (most likely) a food allergy at a minimum or a medical condition at the worst, such as a thyroid problem or Cushing's disease (an auto-immune disorder).

When the owners came to pick up the dog, I asked them if he had any medical conditions that they were aware of.

The wife's eyes got HUGE. "NO, why?!"

I explained about the bald spots and dander indicating some sort of problem, and she says, "Oh, well he's on thyroid medication..."

Thyroid problems can definitely cause dander and bald spots. Usually, though, it creates a really sticky dander that is impossible to rid the dog of, but this Lab had normal dander, just a lot of it.

I eventually convinced the people to consider the fact that the dog might have a food allergy. Apparently he's been this itchy his whole life. In my opinion, that is not normal.

The point of all of this, though, is that it would have been extremely helpful for these people to tell me about the thyroid problem when I asked if he had any medical issues. Just because he is on medication doesn't mean he doesn't have an issue. In any case, I'm just trying to help, so why wouldn't you provide all the information I need to try to help you?

So that was a little strange and a little irksome. I really do hope a food switch helps. It can't be a fun existence to spend your life scratching yourself bald.

My next dog of the day was a crazy Westie that I had done once before. The first time I groomed the dog, the man brought in the dog and said, "The terror, I mean terrier, is here."

That's not a good sign. The dog was about a year old at the time and had only been groomed once or twice before. He was absolutely wild and very difficult to groom.

I was thrilled to see him again yesterday (said half-sarcastically). Crazy dogs are no fun, but they generally benefit from seeing the same groomer every time they come in and frequently get used to everything and calm down. This particular guy also needed a little bit of a firm hand. Not that I hurt him in any way, just when he would struggle, I wouldn't let him struggle out of my grip. He just needs to learn the rules of grooming. He is young enough that I am hopeful he will become a good dog to groom.

One day.

Anyway, he did show some improvement yesterday, which is exactly what I want to see.

Then the man comes to pick up the dog and says, "He sure has an interesting personality."

I'm sure this man really believes that. I am sure he believes his dog is just crazy.

My thoughts? They own a terrier and have no idea how to handle him. Puppies in general can be very hard to handle if you don't know what you are doing. Terriers, though, really need to have experienced owners. They are very strong-willed and prefer to do their own thing over what you want. Sometimes they aren't even treat-motivated. If you don't know how to handle a terrier, they will run your entire household.

So this man's "interesting personality" is really just an out-of-control terrier who probably gets away with anything he likes at home. Not only is this not good for the dog or the owners, it's not good for me either. It is very difficult to enforce rules while grooming to a dog that does not need to follow any rules at home.

Anyway. That's my rant for the day. I won't claim to be the best pet parent in the world, and it might be hypocritical of me to judge others for their parenting skills, but it still amuses me to think that these people have absolutely no idea that they are enforcing that "interesting personality" every day.

Next I had a cute Pug and a Japanese Chin. No complaints there - both the dogs and the owners were good.

My last dog of the day was the icing on the cake. This lady comes in carrying this dog and this picture:

Ummmmmmm......

I'm already worried. Then she says something to the effect of "His mom was a Yorkie, so he must be something like this."

How do you figure? He looks like a Yorkie or Silky mix, and you bring me a picture of a Welsh Terrier? Not only is the dog shaped and sized wrong, but his hair is completely wrong. Welsh Terriers have very rough, wiry hair that stands up easily and might have a bit of wave or curl to it. This dog had very soft, silky hair that was as flat and straight as could be. There is no possible way I can make this dog look like this picture.

"Umm..." I say. "He doesn't have this kind of hair. I can't make him look like this."

"Just do the best you can."

"Uh, OK. So...You want me to shave his ears, take the top of his head short, and leave two eyebrows?"

"Yes."

"And...what sort of length are you looking for on the body?"

"Whatever is in the picture."

Okey dokey...

The entire time I washed this dog (oh, by the way, he was only 9 months old and had been groomed only twice before, so he was terrified and wiggly), I tried to decide what I would do. How am I going to make this Yorkie mix look like a Welsh Terrier?

I wound up leaving just over half an inch on his body and 1/4" on top of his head. I shaved his ears and trimmed two eyebrows. I also took the sides of his head really short and trimmed his beard short and scruffy.

Here's the final result:

You can't really see his eyebrows in this light, but I promise they are there. How do you think I did? I think I got the dog as close to the picture as I possibly could. Mom seemed happy and said she would come back with her other dog in the future.

I can't wave a magic wand and turn a Yorkie into a Welsh, but at least I have the skills after so many years of grooming that I can accomplish a close enough look to make the owner happy.

OK, opinion and comment time! Did you enjoy this blog post? Was I too insulting? What do you want me to write more about in the future? I look forward to hearing from you all!

Before and After Pics 1/11/13

I should have known I would be too busy and tired to blog during the holidays. That's the busiest time of the entire year for dog groomers, and when you factor in all the parties and socializing that I'm not used to...I was one tired puppy.

Anyway, I'm back, and I really do intend to blog more again. 

So here we go. We don't usually shave double-coated dogs in my groom shop, but this dog had clearly been shaved many times, and since we are slower at the new shop, I really can't afford to turn dogs away, so I agreed to shave this lady's Pekingese. Here is the before picture.

And here is the after. She has a double chin - I took it one blade shorter than the rest of her body to try to blend it, but I'm not a plastic surgeon, so I just did the best I could. I like to blend the heads into the bodies as much as I can on dogs like this; I've never been a fan of the "Daffodil look," where there is a ruff of hair left around the entire head that isn't blended into the body at all.

Next we have a Welsh Springer Spaniel. This is the first Welsh Springer I had seen in several years; I don't know about the rest of the country, but where I live, English Springers are MUCH more common than Welsh Springers. Anyway, you can see how much undercoat this dog had before the bath. Yes, he was a little dirty, too, but it was mostly undercoat.

Here he is after the bath sitting next to all the undercoat that came out with the blow dryer. Notice how he changed colors.

Now here's the final product, all trimmed up and looking happy for an old guy.

Here's one of my favorite Doodles. I've probably posted pictures of him before - he's very good to groom and takes great pictures. Here he is before.

And here's his after. I leave 3/4" on his body and a smidge longer on his head and tail.

This is an old Maltese mix that I did a couple of months ago. Here he is dirty and curly.

All clean and happy!

Finally I have a Toy Poodle that I groomed shortly after Thanksgiving. This customer came in and said that she had just moved to town and brought her dog to another groomer a week ago, where they did a TERRIBLE job. This poor dog should not be this curly and matted after one week - and I could tell by how short the clean feet were that the owner was not exaggerating about how recently the dog had been groomed. My theory is that she was washed, thrown in a kennel, forgotten about, then had her feet shaved, eyes trimmed, and tail very poorly banded.

Here she is after the bath, all clean and blown out, but not brushed yet.

And here's the final product, all clean and fluffy. The owner was thrilled with the final result, and I actually groomed her again just the other day.

I have some more before and after blog posts half done, but I also hope to write about something else in between.

Thanks for sticking with me through my lean writing times Faithful Readers, and welcome to all new readers! I love comments, even if you don't like me.