Grooming session
While at the NEOESR picnic one of the grooming demonstrators, Kelly, offered to show me how to groom and clip Baxter if I brought him to her house. All she asked is that he be clean and brushed out. If you were at the picnic, she was the one with Monty - the absolutely gorgeously groomed sheepdog that was in full coat. So, after thinking about it for a bit (she lives in Waterford Connecticut and we live in New Hampshire), I gave her a call and set up a time. This wonderful woman spent four hours showing me what were the best tools to use, how to groom him and how to clip him and patiently answering all of my questions. Tools that Kelly used are a #1 All Systems pin brush, Matbreaker Dematting tool, an Oscar Frank Universal Slicker brush with a curved back, 10" straight shears with a short shank, and an #1 All Systems Dematting Comb (this comb is about 5 1/2 inches long with teeth spaced about 1/4 inch apart), nail clippers and ear powder. I was able to find all of these tools except for the Dematting comb at http://www.petedge.com. I found the comb at http://www.mjm-1allsystems.com. The pin brush pins are 1" long - the brush that I got from the local pet store has pins that are about 5/8" long. I could hear the difference between the two brushes when she ran it through Baxter's fur. The brush I had been using sounded as though it was extremely rough and breaking the fur. The #1 All systems pin brush ran through the fur smoothly. To start the process we put Baxter on his side and proceeded to "line brush" him. Basically that means making a part in his fur and brushing the coat away from you - if he is on his side with his paws closest to you, brushing the fur up - against the grain. Kelly used the slicker brush on the mats that he had on his paws (amazing how those snarls develop so rapidly). Once she finished brushing one side, she had him stand up and used the Dematting comb to fluff up his fur and then trim off the "peaks" or ragged edges of the fur. The 10inch shears made the long cuts that looked a lot better than my old shears did. I think that the long cuts help the fur fall better and hide the cutting marks. When she finished trimming one side, she brushed out the other side. The reason for brushing one side, trimming and then brushing out the other side was so that the fur on the brushed side didn't clump up and the rough areas would be easily seen (since Baxter has never been professionally groomed there were a LOT of these). To trim the fur on his paws, she lifted the paw up and cut the fur on on his hocks even with the bottom of the pad. Then she trimmed all the fur growing between the pads even with the bottom of the pads. Kelly then used the Matbreaking Dematting tool to thin the fur on his neck and chest. This made it obvious that he really did have a neck. She then trimmed his beard to about 2 1/2" long. She trimmed all the ragged fur around his ears - the objective was to have the ears blend smoothly with the fur on his head. She also trimmed a bit of fur around his nose - to help his beautiful big nose be a bit more obvious and cleaned up my hack job on his bangs. I have to admit that I don't think that I am brave enough to use the 10" shears around his eyes as Kelly did. I think that I'll have to depend on my old round tipped shears for that. As for his backside, she trimmed the fur to about 1" from the top of his thighs to top of his back following the curve of his body. I suspect this will make it a lot easier to keep him clean. A couple of points - she did let me know that sheepdog fur is extremely forgiving. This is useful since my skill levels are no where near hers (she had a grooming shop and she also shows sheepdogs). I have several books on how to groom a sheepdog, however, having it done in front of me was extremely helpful. She also mentioned that she was willing to show other OES owners how to do this. Since I don't want to put her phone number and last name up publicly, if you are interested, pm me. |
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| Wow!
This information was fabulous!! Thanks so much for sharing and taking the time to post this, Jennifer!! Marianne |
| Thanks so much for posting this! I don't have my puppy yet, but i feel like I have learned so much from all the members on this forum! I live in NYC and would love to have the groomer's contact information! Will email you for it! Thanks again! |
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