First trip to the groomer & not sure what to think
Now this could just be me being a complete novice, but I think my dog looks a little...weird. What I'm seeing is that the area between, over and under the eyes is shaved, with most of the muzzle and top of the head left fluffy. Hmmm. Tell me what you think. I am completely new to this. I think in the "before" picture she looks like an adorable OES, and in the "after" picture she looks like a giant Bichon. Before groomer:  After groomer:  |
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| I like the before picture better too. David and Kim and I think someone else here have been having the same issues with top of the muzzle getting shaved by groomers. My vet used scissors to cut the hair on top of Tiggy's muzzle when I took her in for a checkup. He said it would help her to see because her hair was at the length where it was sticking up. He didnt cut the whole top of her muzzle though just in front of her eyes. I wished I'd never let him touch it. It took ages to grow it out. |
| Oh no! Another nose-shaver! We had real problems with a master-groomer insisting on shaving Mady's nose. End result, we do not take Mady to groomers anymore, I do all the grooming. We're keeping Mady in full-coat, so I'm not sure what advice to give you for keeping her in a 2" puppy cut. I do agree that she looks better in the before picture. |
| NOT an expert ...but it does look like the nose and in between the eyes were clipped and around the eye too!... I like the BEFORE picture...~~you may have to wait on pulling into piggy/ponytails, but she sure is a cutie!!!!! When I was looking for a groomer I tried to impress on them that I did not want my OES coming out looking like a Bishon (my exact words). I also brought a couple of pictures of how I wanted her to look like. And...I was also very fortunate to have a groomer who use to show Sheepdogs, so he knew what I DIDN'T want...  So, if you are not happy with the end result, I would research the groomers in your area, take pictures, visit their 'salon'~~many have pictures of their 'clients'. She looks adorable, and soo cute!!!!!! But if this is not what you wanted, you need to talk to the groomer OR find another groomer |
sheepieshake wrote: NOT an expert ...but it does look like the nose and in between the eyes were clipped and around the eye too!... I like the BEFORE picture...~~you may have to wait on pulling into piggy/ponytails, but she sure is a cutie!!!!! This is without a doubt the world's greatest dog. LOL! I am not kidding. She is gorgeous and fun and smart and chilled out. I could go on all day. I'm going to keep her shaved down in the summer since it is so, so hot here. But I thought I'd keep her coat for the winter for warmth, etc. But at the same time, I don't want her matting up. I'm new to the grooming and so far no mats, but I don't think we've hit the big coat transition yet. Anyway, that was my reason for the puppy cut idea--long enough to give her a little outdoor warmth, short enough to reduce grooming time (and to get me used to seeing her in shorter coat--I'm worried I'm going to fall too much in love with full coat and not want to shave in spring!). All the real OES people I know do their own grooming--and now I know why! But this makes it hard to find a pro groomer who has any experience with the breed. I brought a picture along to the groomer today and everything, but I did not specify not to make her look like a Bichon, even though that's exactly what I was thinking. I was trying to be optimistic and start off on the right foot. I swear I was more nervous leaving my baby at the groomer today than I was leaving my first child on his first day of preschool.  I'm thinking the face will look better in a couple weeks, but I do think I need to find a new groomer and/or start learning to do the big stuff myself. I've clipped plenty of horses in my day, but never a dog. I thought the puppy cut would have avoided this weird face shaving, because ideally it would have been 2" all over and uniform (i.e., no weird puffs here and there). But since the groomer wouldn't do the puppy cut, I had to trust that she would do me right with the "sanitary" clip. It could be worse, I suppose. But I didn't get what I wanted and it's an awful lot of money to pay for something you don't like. |
| Yes, time you learn how to do it yourself because 99.999% of the groomers haven't a clue. The breed is rare enough plus many folks want that shavedown. You are at the right spot. Ask all you need here. Also you might find you have an experienced OES groomer in your "area"......say within 60 miles or so and plan to become friendly  Mistakes are common, but you know, that hair grows right back and you get another try within several months. |
do you live in fla .. i have a great groomer who does puppy cuts on my boys  |
suzptcruise wrote: do you live in fla .. i have a great groomer who does puppy cuts on my boys I wish I lived in Florida. Haha! Your dogs look awesome! It's important to me that you can still tell it's an OES. I live in Virginia. |
SheepieBoss wrote: Yes, time you learn how to do it yourself because 99.999% of the groomers haven't a clue. The breed is rare enough plus many folks want that shavedown. You are at the right spot. Ask all you need here. Also you might find you have an experienced OES groomer in your "area"......say within 60 miles or so and plan to become friendly Mistakes are common, but you know, that hair grows right back and you get another try within several months. Yep! Oliver spent 2 years sporting a terrier cut before I got the courage to do it myself. I have yet to find a groomer in Kansas City that knows how to cut an OES. Most flat out tell me they will not take the time to cut out mats...they must have had bad experiences because my Oliver and Lucy do NOT get matted!!! |
Ah man, she got the nose shave.  She is a really cute dog by the way. |
| For a first time grooming, its supposed to be a "get to know you" type of thing. A wash, blow dry, brush out. Very non-stressful so that the puppy can see that a trip to the groomers can be fun. In fact, when I took my girls for the first time, I specifically asked that they get blown out by hand, and not in a crate, and was told that that is how they do all puppies, to reduce the stress that often accompanies dogs and dryers. So I'm not surprised that your groomer opted out of a 2 inch puppy cut. Also, that 2 inch cut is done with scissors; a squirmy puppy is going to be tough to scissor cut. But I don't understand the face shave on a first time puppy grooming visit! It makes no sense at all. One, it looks weird. Two, putting a trimmer in a puppy's face, with a new unfamiliar noise and feel, is BOUND to be stressful. My groomer does a trim of the hair between my girl's eyes, and she does it by hand. A nose shave would make me think twice about ever going back! |
I see that you are in the south east. If you are near Atlanta, let me know and I can refer you to my groomer. Here's Luna after grooming; you can see they just trim around the eyes: And here are my girls in shorter summer cuts; I like to keep shaggy heads. And you can see, she' sjust sort of trimmed around the eyes so they can see. If you shave the nose, they can get sunburned very easily!  |
Darth Snuggle wrote: For a first time grooming, its supposed to be a "get to know you" type of thing. A wash, blow dry, brush out. Very non-stressful so that the puppy can see that a trip to the groomers can be fun. And I really was glad that the groomer brought this up because I didn't realize. And I must say, she did an excellent job on the ears, which were kinda greasy, and this pup is clean and fresh and fluffed. I was early to pick her up and saw she was on a table, very relaxed, being dried. So I think she had a good experience. It's just the styling that leaves a bit to be desired, I guess. BTW, I believe someone else posted that the 2" puppy cut is done with a clippers. LOL. I get more confused about this stuff every day. |
Serpico wrote: Darth Snuggle wrote: For a first time grooming, its supposed to be a "get to know you" type of thing. A wash, blow dry, brush out. Very non-stressful so that the puppy can see that a trip to the groomers can be fun. And I really was glad that the groomer brought this up because I didn't realize. And I must say, she did an excellent job on the ears, which were kinda greasy, and this pup is clean and fresh and fluffed. I was early to pick her up and saw she was on a table, very relaxed, being dried. So I think she had a good experience. It's just the styling that leaves a bit to be desired, I guess. BTW, I believe someone else posted that the 2" puppy cut is done with a clippers. LOL. I get more confused about this stuff every day. My girls turned 3 years old last month, and I'm still confused. I don't think it goes away as time passes.  |
| I hate when that happens. I've taken Simon to MANY different groomers. The one that I really like has fleas and I won't go there again. When I now take the boys to the groomer that I have "settled" on I write out VERY specific instructions on how I want them to look. In capital letters and underlined I tell them NOT to shave the nose. Now I do have to tell you that last time I took them to the groomers, they came out looking like dorks because of my instructions.  |
| We've been going thru this too. My groomer is trying very hard to get what I want and she is so good to Butchy that I figure we'll keep plugging away. The last time she left his nose alone and I know the hair is kind of standing up right now but like I told my husband it will grow the way it should. I felt so bad the last time he went in, we all thought this would be a snap just a trim up on the the feet etc and she called. He apparently is going thru another transition and there were lots of knots. He doesn't let us brush him very well so we thought we were getting down to the skin but apparently not. She worked on him over 2 days so he wasn't stressed. For all the work she did she charged $31.00 and I felt like a failure as a sheepie mommy. We are very rural and there are other groomers around but from what I've seen she is the best for him. He loves her, she gives him breaks, takes him out on potty runs and to me that is important too. |
| How old is Butchy? My guys were completely matted for the period between about 10 or 12 months, and, well, last week. At least thats how it feels. Coat transition is just AWFUL. You can get them dematted, and magically it goes RIGHT back to the matts. Line grooming can help you get down to the skin, but like you said, if they don't sit for it, its tough. I used to leave brushes and combs all over the house. If the girls had an exhausting 2 hours of play at the park, the minute they collapsed I was on them with the nearest brush or comb. In time, they grew to be better and better. At three years old. Luna is finally lying down on the grooming table for me, and her sister is trying (though not very hard in my opinion). For all the training we've done, I wish I knew in the beginning just how important grooming was going to be. I mean, I knew, but I guess I didn't know how much I'd regret not training them to lie on the table properly; things like that. But we're getting there. They get in the bath when told, and on the table when told, so they aren't complete lost causes. I think sticking with it is key; eventually, in a few years, Butchy will give up the fight.  |
| For the first 6-7 months, I groomed Mady with her standing on the grooming table. She resisted any attempt to make her lie or even sit on the table. Then I realized (with help from Carl Lindon), that I should stop leaving it up to her. If I wanted her to lie on the table, she'd have to lie on the table. The first few times it was a bit of a struggle, I would pick her up around her legs, and lie her down, she'd want to get up, I held her in place and tried to comfort her. I'm not an ogre though! The first few weeks of working on lying her down, I would feed her little pieces of cheese when she was lying calmly. In the past two months, she has become really calm and patient on the table. She'll lie still for more than an hour patiently. And she still gets some cheese |
| Butchy is 14 months old now and things are getting somewhat better. I did try when we got him at 3 months but even if he was sound asleep I didn't get away with anything as far as grooming went. We started him at the groomers right away so at least he'd get used to her and she was good with him. Very patient. I don't have a grooming table and don't intend to get one unless he is more co-operative but put him on a twin bed and make him lie down. Goes ok for a bit but he's very mouthy so he's always trying to bite on the comb, brush, me. Treats don't make any difference. Don't think I want to muzzle him but I guess some people do. The other 2 sheepies we had were not like this at all. They'd stand or whatever you wanted them to do. We mostly kept them in a short cut but want him in a puppy cut so guess we just have to keep working on him. I'm very happy that his groomer is reasonably priced so we can take him more often until he is better. Appreciate any tricks of the trade you can give me tho. |
| While not an OES, Brick has gone thru his fair share of bad groomers. So many of the we-groom-every-kind-of-dog groomers have no clue when it comes to the rare breeds. Brick would come back looking like either a schnauzer or a poodle. I found an Airedale breeder in the St. Louis area when I lived out there and couldn't believe how good he looked afterwards. And when I moved back to Syracuse, I was finally able to hook up with an Airedale breeder here. She grooms him now and does a great job. I would recommend you find an OES breeder in your area and either let them do the grooming or have them teach you how to do it. |
| I think other than the nose and how blunt the hair around the mouth is cut, it's not a bad first attempt for a groomer that doesn't do OES. The body looks pretty good and once you run your hands through her a few times, she'll look all texturized and much less poofy. |
| I think the puppy cut looks great!The first tiem is hard for a groomer and hard on the pup as well. I think the groomer did a great job. I don't know if I would be looking for another groomer so quick. Most will just shave down to the skin...I wouldn't try another so quickly. getting your pup to know this one, gaining her trust and I would work with it... She looks just great in my opinion! |
ButtersStotch wrote: I think other than the nose and how blunt the hair around the mouth is cut, it's not a bad first attempt for a groomer that doesn't do OES. The body looks pretty good and once you run your hands through her a few times, she'll look all texturized and much less poofy. The body does look good. As far as I know it wasn't cut much at all, just washed, brushed, dried. And as I mentioned, the ears are so clean it's like a miracle. I paid $75 for a bath, nails, ears, and "sanitary clip," which I didn't realize would involve anything but the absolute minimum of trimming around the eyes. Because the puppy cut was off the table (so to speak--LOL!), I expected only enough clipping to remove the excess hair covering eyes and feet, plus get the fluff away from the poop and pee zone. I did not expect the top of the head to be clipped into a puff! I don't think the visit was a total disaster by any means, but this does appear to be a groomer who gravitates toward the frou-frou look, and to me there is nothing frou-frou about an OES. It's just been hard for me to look at my pup's sweet face...and see a totally different face! I'll get used to it and it will grow out. And I do love her no matter what she looks like. I'm going to try to find someone to help me learn to do the grooming myself. I have the same problem as some others here. When I bring out the brush, she goes nuts and gets very excited. She loves it! I can even get her to lie on her side. But while I brush, no matter how softly (I tested it by "brushing" her with the back of the brush, which of course is completely smooth), she throws her head around and bites at my hands. Makes it pretty difficult to do a thorough job. |
| I actually think the groomer did a nice job. Too many groomer are too quick to shave down to the skin. Your groomer did a nice job. And about the face. I think its fine. At that age the face tends to get very knotted up and messy. At least your groomer took some time to get the knots out and keep some hair. I would give this groomer another chance. Just heard too mayny stories about a shave down or worse. Yours did a nice job - by the way. I think all dogs look better in the before pix usually. For those of us not grooming ourselves or not doing show full coat groomings. But looking nice and fluffy on the outside doesn't mean there weren't mats at the skin. Too many groomers just shave shave shave...Your's did a nice job in my opinion.... |
Ashley wrote: I actually think the groomer did a nice job. Too many groomer are too quick to shave down to the skin. Your groomer did a nice job. And about the face. I think its fine. At that age the face tends to get very knotted up and messy. At least your groomer took some time to get the knots out and keep some hair. I would give this groomer another chance. Just heard too mayny stories about a shave down or worse. Yours did a nice job - by the way. I think all dogs look better in the before pix usually. For those of us not grooming ourselves or not doing show full coat groomings. But looking nice and fluffy on the outside doesn't mean there weren't mats at the skin. Too many groomers just shave shave shave...Your's did a nice job in my opinion.... The face really did need to be cleaned up, so that's just life. I just think the groomer took a bit too much off the top of the head, and this created a puff in an arc over the eyes. My husband calls it "mall hair." LOL! It's already growing in and looking fine, though. The groomer said there weren't really any mats, just one or two small ones on inside of the thighs, where it's very hard for me to brush. At only six months old, I don't think my pup has started that dreaded coat transformation yet. It sounds like that's when we will start seeing lots of mats. So I'm keeping my eyes open. We will be doing the shave down in the spring anyway, because it is very hot here. The difference in behavior is amazing between summer and now. It snowed here yesterday, and we could not get this dog to come inside. For her, the colder it is, the better. All summer she pretty much laid on the ceramic tile or over the AC vent. She barely moved! Now she runs around like a maniac outside and wants to play, play, play! She is obviously happier, or at least more energetic, when she is not feeling overheated. |
| She is obviously happier, or at least more energetic, when she is not feeling overheated.[/quote] Her and I both...I hate sweating and much prefer the cooler temps... |
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