THE CONCEPT OF BLOCKING

One of the things that has made the biggest difference in my being able to scissor groom poodles and bichons in a reasonable amount of time (less than 2 hrs) has been the concept of "blocking". There are other names for this, sometimes I call it "outlining." What it means is to go over the whole dog roughly and set the length and shape, and then go back & do the fine scissoring. Here's the pictures of a recently groomed miniature poodle:

Here is Sarah after the bath and fluff dry. I've also clipped the face and feet. Yes, there are clipped feet under all that leg fur! Sometimes I really let these scissored dogs get way too long. I've pulled her ears up so that I can see the throat line.


This dog was done with a #4 on the body. The undercarriage is left for scissoring, but I come down the sides with the clippers and down the front. The overall shape was done with 10" shears.


Here is a closer look at the rear angulation. I confess that rear angulation has given me FITS. It is something I continue to work on. The finish work was done with 7.5" Alu-Coba shears.


The finished poodle! This is a very well put together little girl. She could very well be in the show ring. I feel very lucky to have a dog of this quality to work on. It really helps your work if the dog has the right framework. I consider this a "work in progress", but for everyday grooming, I think it's worthy of sharing. Meet the lovely Sarah.