BICHON GROOMING - FEET FIRST

It is natural to approach a scissored grooming, such as the Bichon Frise, by scissoring down the legs and then shaping the feet. In this article, I am going to ask you to suspend that natural tendency and do your feet FIRST, before anything else. The feet are the foundation of the trim. The whole creation stands on the feet. Well, at least the legs do, and if you want to achieve a final result that has full integration of the elements, starting with the feet is a key.

STEP ONE: CLIP PADS
This step can be done separately, before the bath if you wish. (But clipping clean coat will give your clipper blades longer life). Here is what it looks like before. This dog was groomed 4 weeks ago.


The goal of clipping is to clean out between the pads so that the dog is not stepping on hair. I start with the rear feet and make a perfect paw print. I clip just a little behind the large rearmost pad. I do NOT clip up the outside edges of the side pads.

I use a Wahl "Peanut" (now known as "Tid Bit") clipper. It is a very small trimmer that fits in the palm of the hand and has a narrow blade perfectly suited for getting in this small area. Other trimmers work well, also, or you can use a #30 blade on a regular clipper. If you have not already done so, this is a good time to clip the toenails. Since the bichon nails are not supposed to show, it is important to keep them short, or you will end up with a huge puffy foot, or nails that show. Bad/wrong!

STEP TWO: COMB DOWN AND GRASP WITH FINGERS
Are you ready for my big SECRET TIP for scissoring bichon feet? Here it is! Comb all the bottom of the leg and foot down and lift the foot up, circling the bottom with your fingers. It will look like this.

Your fingers are holding the hair around the bottom of the foot. Now scissor flush with your fingers.

STEP THREE: SCISSOR TO FINGERS

Be careful. Do not scissor your flesh! Do not scissor under your fingers, let your fingers be your guide. I am using small curved scissors and on the back feet I scissor just a little on the back of the foot up toward the hock, or towards the curve of my fingers/thumb. Just a little, or you will cut out a chunk. Use your hand as a guide.

STEP FOUR: RETURN FOOT TO TABLE & TRIM

Voila! Check it out, that's a nearly done foot! See how nicely beveled it is, with a slight lift in the back. Now all that needs to be done is to tidy it up on the top edge of the bevel. Do NOT scissor over the top of the foot. To do so will give you a pinched look to the foot rather than this nice teddy bear foot.

FINISHED FOOT

Here is a slightly different view:

Man! That's a nice looking foot, if I may say so myself! I could NOT do this with crummy scissors. These are Arius-Eickert 5.5" curveds. They have very slender blade which is perfect for detailing.

STEP FIVE: REPEAT ON OTHER SIDE
Comb and gather

Scissor to fingers

Trim edge

You can see what needs trimming.

STEP SIX: TIDY UP BACKS OF REAR FEET

Left foot is the before, right foot is the after.

STEP SEVEN: REPEAT WITH FRONT FEET

There is one important difference between how we do the front feet and the back ones. The front feet should be a little flatter at the rear, less lift. Scissor flush with the pad, not up toward your hand as you would do with the rear. You may have better results by scissoring the back of the front feet with the feet on the table.

You would not want any more than this off the floor at the back of the front foot, maybe even less. It will look more flat after the leg is scissored.


Here's the other side, before the final trim. You are just going to scissor that edge perpendicular to the table top. Those are the scissors I use. I wanted to show you the scissors in relation to the foot but could not hold them, the dog, AND the camera. Where's my photographer when I need her?


THE FINAL FOUR
Jump to the finished groom, so that you can hopefully "see" how the whole groom is integral to the feet.

Bailey is smiling at you! Look past that engaging face to notice how the work on the feet has set the whole groom.

Has this article given you a different perspective on the importance of the grooming the feet? Good! Do you understand the concept of "feet first"? Good! Has it given you tips for achieving a perfect teddy bear foot? GOOD!

Shameless plug: The Arius-Eickert shears used in this demo are no longer available. We have found an acceptable alternative brand, which we call "The Detailer". These 5.5" CURVED bevel edge scissors can be found in the BBird shopping cart, here. Shop with a Groomer - It's Good Karma! (and it helps to support the GroomBlog).