Not only is Willie a "tripod" dog, he has no patience for grooming. He has no balance, but he still squirms and dances around in a suicidal manner. He especially hates blow drying around his face. Every minute on the table is stressful for Willie, mostly because of his mind set. This picture really illustrates his distress.
Poor little guy! We are not even doing anything to him here, just taking the picture, yet you can see the tongue hanging to the knees and the look in his eyes. This is distress personified!
I've been grooming little Willie for several years. He gets done every 4-6 weeks, so I can leave some length of coat. This grooming was a #3 3/4 blade all over, sometimes I do a #4 in the summer. It is not my best grooming, but it is the best I can do for Willie. The effort it would take to brush dry or blow dry his face better than this is just not worth the stress on both of us. He struggles so much that it is dangerous for him, which of course is mundo stressful for me. His face is compromised grooming for sure. Can we say curly and uneven?
Yes! But we can also say "not bad." In Willie's case "not bad" is "good enough." Willie's owner knows that I am going to make him clean, soft, and cute, with minimal stress.
Let's talk options. Many other groomers would just buzz this dog with a #7 blade. To be honest I would rather scissor trim his legs than use a #7 blade. If I were going close, it would have to be a #10 blade and a "smoothie." Willie would look horrible and my sense is that a clipdown would be hugely difficult because of his jerking and squirming. It would be very easy to have a bloody accident with this dog. This is my choice, and his owner loves me for being willing to compromise and leave him fluffy. If he gets too tangled, I wet clip down with a #4 blade. But that's another blog.
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