HOW TO: The Poodle Tail

My dear friend, Daryl, writes: This "poodle tail" post is an excellent one! Now, tell people HOW to create that look, because you KNOW not everyone understands how to make a pretty tail! OK, I'll play, here goes!

Many groomers do poodle tails by what I call the "short cut" way. This is to twist the tail and snip off at the length you want. This is NOT how I do it, unless I'm in a huge hurry. (Gee, when are pro groomers NOT in a huge hurry?)

STEP ONE: Hold the tail up and comb it down towards the body.


STEP TWO: Shape the bottom of the tail, curving upwards. Curved shears can make it very easy.


STEP THREE: Determine the length of the pom and shape the top of the tail. When the tail is erect, the top of the tail should be on a plane with the occiput, or the top of the head. The volume of the pom should be in proportion to the volume of the topknot. This particular dog has a very long tail. They should have cropped one more vertabrae. Better than too short. The top of this pom is barely past the tip of the tail.


STEP FOUR: Shape the pom. Round or oval, either is fine. This particular dog would have a humongous tail if I were to make it round, so I chose an oval shape. Shake the tail some, to shake out any ends that might have bent in during scissoring, or you can comb it and reshape.


THE FINISHED TAIL:


There seems to be a flat spot on the left. I will work on that. Next time. It looked all right as the dog walked out the door, FINALLY holding the tail up. My pet peeve with these poodles is that most will not hold their tails naturally up while on the table. Some can even bend their tails, making it very challenging to get a good shape.

Taking pictures of your grooming can be very confrontational. I can be happy with a grooming at the salon and get the pictures on the desktop and HATE it. The purpose of this blog is to share real life grooming, flat spots and all....
BBird