STEP BY STEP BICHON GROOMING - Part Two

REVIEW: OK, let's go over what we've done so far. We started with the feet, now we have completed the rear section on the left side of the dog (I'm right-handed,left-handed groomers might wish to start with the dog's right). We began by shaping the area called the "croup", the top of the back at the tail, and worked down the back of the rear leg, shaping the butt and setting in the angulation. From the back of the hock, we scissored straight down, leaving it fairly full. We set the topline, scissored some down the sides of the back, shaped a "waistline" or indentation in the loin area, we set the tuck-up and scissored the underline and then addressed the outside and front of the rear leg. We cleaned up the rear view, especially the line inside the rear legs.

The exact order of these steps is not important. You can scissor the topline first if you wish. You can scissor inside the rear legs at any point. The one part of the sequence that I firmly recommend is that you do not scissor the front of the rear legs until you have set the tuck-up. It is a common mistake to scissor the front of the rear leg before other work, because it is right THERE and it seems the easiest step. The tuck-up is tricky, so there is a natural tendency to avoid it until later. The with this can be that you can scissor off hair on the front of the rear leg that you need to extend across to the underline.

STEP 12: THE SIDE COAT
Looks like I do not have a picture for this step. Sorry. It is rather hard to see in a photo, but I'll try to get one at a later date and edit it in here. You have scissored in a waistline, defined the topline and underline, now you blend in the body to the front leg. Or if you prefer, you can do the front and shoulder and then work backward toward the rear quarters. It's optional. I usually use 8" curved shears for shaping the Bichon side coat. Although you do not want it to be too puffy here, neither do you want it totally flat or "slab sided". That would be for the Bedlington terrier. Curved shears work for me here.

STEP 13: FRONT AND SHOULDER
This is another area of the dog where I work more than one part together. The shoulder area can be challenging, and many groomers scissoring Bichons will tend to leave too much here. When the dog is too full in the shoulder there is no sense of power to the front quarters. Remember that underneath the fluff is a structure that we are trying to reflect in the finished product.

This is our area. My approach is to define the front first, and then work across the shoulder to meet the front. The current style is for a rather straight front, and the good news is that this can be accomplished by running a #3 3/4 (or sometimes even a #4) blade from under the chin right down the front. Let's look at what this does.

Now blend the shoulder from neck area to top of front leg.


Connect the underside of the front to your already scissored underline by lifting the front leg and gently curving under. The Bichon front used to be left more shaped and round, but the trend is toward a more terrierish look, probably because it looks good when moving in the show ring.

This picture is of before I trimmed. Boy, he's curly on the inside of the front legs. "Bailey" gives me fits about drying there.

STEP 14: FRONT LEGS
Ideally the Bichon Frise front legs are set directly under the withers. On pets, we can adjust this a little by leaving more on the front or rear of the front legs. Bailey is well-built. I can simply scissor down the back of the front leg.

In looking closely at this photo, I wish I had scissored up above the elbow a little more into the body, to set out the leg from the side. We are talking details, here, but in a perfect groom the top of the front leg should be defined from the body. The picture also suggests that I had not yet connected the front to the underline as per above. Sorry to confuse you.

Lift the opposite leg to get to the inside of the leg you are scissoring.

Here's a question: Do I hold the leg out while scissoring the inside? Only if I see that I have missed something, especially where the inside of the leg meets the back of the leg. I would do this only after I had set the lines.

STEP 15: DO THE OTHER SIDE!

STEP 16: THE HEAD
Refer to the previous articles for more detail on doing the head. Remember that my way is to start under the chin and work up, not to start on the top and work down. This head is not perfectly round, but it is what it is on this day. A little flat on the dog's left, our right. I have a tendency to do that. We live with our imperfections.

Another way I steady the head while scissoring:


LAST STEP: THE NECK CREST

Blend the back of the head into the full neck crest to the withers. An important part of the Bichon "look" is the arched neck. This can be shortened when you do pet grooms and smaller heads, but when you take it all off, much is lost. For more details on the crest, see the previous article on this. This view also shows the "ledge" over the eyes, another important feature of the bichon look, which is also covered in a separate blog feature article.

HERE'S BAILEY


I would call this "very good but not perfect". The rear angulation needs a little more and the head is not perfectly round. And there is a little piece of hair over the left eye that I wish I could fix. Other than that, it's quite acceptable. Oh heck, even with those imperfections, this is a very good groom. I'm giving myself a pat on the back!


FINAL NOTE: This article is not intended to be a complete tutorial. It is a description of the steps in this particular groom of March 30, 2005. I hope, however, that by breaking it down this way I have given someone somewhere a deeper insight into how to achieve a nice scissored bichon trim. Thankyouberrymush.


Equipment used in this groom
Andis Two Speed Clippers - #10 blade (tummy) #3 3/4 blade for front.
*Arius-Eickert 8" Slimline straight shears - set topline, underline, waistline, finishing.
*Arius-Eickert 8" Curved shears - shape buns, set angulation,tuck-up, head, curve front to underline, neck crest.
*Arius-Eickert 5.5" curved scissors - feet, set in tail, eyes and ledge.

*These can be purchased at http://www.bbirdbiz.com Thank you for your support!