GROOMING AS AN ART FORM - Maggie the Standard Poodle

Now and then we are lucky enough to get a great looking dog and owners that want the "real deal" grooming, and are willing to maintain a coat. These dogs allow us to express the artistic side of grooming, when the groomer can get absorbed in form and style. In the world of pet grooming, the scissored Standard Poodle is the ultimate art object. Not to take anything away from my beloved bichon grooms, but nothing is quite as dramatic as the Standard Poodle.

Maggie is my ultimate art object.

Not bad, eh? Thanks! Although my work is never quite perfect, this dog is a stunning billboard for professional grooming. She has great carriage, and I always secretly hope for a traffic jam outside my salon when she leaves, so people can see my work. At last I got a couple of pictures worth sharing. Many thanks to my friend, Jenifer Watt, who edited out my shop clutter.


It has taken me years and years to develop scissoring and visual skills to be able to pull off this kind of work. Other groomers might not have as slow a learning curve. The thing that made the biggest difference for me was graduating to better shears. You can not do this kind of sculpting with clunker shears. Here's what I used on this grooming:
Clipper Work:
Body - #4F blade on Andis 2 Speed clipper: Face - #30 blade; Feet - Wahl Peanut (now known as the Tidbit)
Scissor Work:
Cuffs of feet - Arius-Eickert 6.5" curved Proline shears
Block out shape and length - Talyn 10" 3-fingered shears
Finish scissoring - Arius-Eickert Slimline 8" shear
Topknot, bottoms of ears - Arius-Eickert 8" curved Fang II shears

It takes a toolbox! Having the right tool for each aspect of the job is important to me. Using curved shears was another development that empowered the evolvement of my work. My mentor could groom masterfully with one pair of old Double Duck 88's that he sharpened himself using a vice and a file. Of course he retired with terrible carpal tunnel syndrome, but that's another story. He didn't need curved shears, I do.



The total time for this groom is about 2 hours to 2.5 hours. To take more time than that is not cost effective. YIKES! I do my best work on those days when my friend, Donna, comes to bathe and prep for me. That way I can use my energy for the scissoring. The actual scissoring part usually takes me about an hour and 15 minutes. Maggie is always groomed on a busy Saturday, and I always get pressed by the clock and have to reach a point of deciding "good enough". On this day, I extended myself a little and probably scissored for about 1.5 hours. She gets done every 5 weeks and I charge $75.00. There is never a single mat in her coat!

Every groomer needs a signature groom that represents their best work. Maggie is mine!