GROOMING PET SHIH TZU & LHASA APSO

This may be how Shih Tzu are supposed to look, but it is not how most pets look. It is not often that a pet groomer outside of New York City or Los Angeles is asked to create a lovely stacked top knot like this. In the 35 years that I've been grooming, there have been fewer than ten opportunities to work with a full top knot like this. It does seem as though Shih Tzu and Lhasa Apso are breeds where the common pet trims are most unlike how the dogs are presented in the dog show ring.

Most recently, I've had the request to do the total opposite Shih Tzu head from the show style. We can call this the "smooth crown" style. I thought that it was going to look dreadful, but actually it looks just fine.

This is Blossom. She is elderly and has eye problems, so we need to carefully trim the hair very close around the eyes, and back over the eyes to keep it from falling into her eyes as it grows out. The crown was smoothed using a blending scissor. (The little Arius-Eickert Snergy blender).

Story time! This smooth crown look was actually inspired by another groomer. I give credit to Christine Hankins, a groomer in Green Valley, AZ., about 45 minutes from Tucson. Christine is a superb groomer (she is an up and coming grooming competitor). She referred a Shih Tzu to me whose owners had moved to Tucson and needed to find a local option to that monthly commute back to Green Valley. The owner made me promise to do the head "Just like Christine". Although those words might make a groomer groan inwardly, I chose to accept the challenge. The owner was actually helpful when she added "I think she does it with thinning shears or something." When the dog walked in I saw immediately how it was done. Fortunately only 3-4 weeks had passed since the last grooming with Christine. My reaction was, "Now why haven't I thought to do that?" It's never to late to learn, and I now have this option in my arsenal. Thanks, Christine! And I'm going to give myself credit for being open to the possibility that a styling option used by a previous groomer might be something I could learn from. Thanks, Me!

Here are some examples of my usual Shih Tzu &/or Lhasa Apso pet heads and faces.

Willy is a regular Lhasa Apso who has a terrible underbite. His owner likes his face kept short, so we have created this look. The use of blending shears helps keep the scissored muzzle from looking "choppy". On the angled view, you can see that I don't scissor straight up on top of the eyes, but create a slight ledge to give dimension. I use a small 5.5" curved scissor (Arius-Eickert Proline) to shape this area. On the top of the head (the crown), I usually use a #3 3/4 blade or a #4 and then blend with the blenders.


I call this look the Page Boy or the Bobbed Ears look. It's very retro 1950's look, my generation. It's accomplished (better on the second dog than the first), by using long shears under the whiskers and scissoring straight across to make the ears the same length as the face. The dog on the left does not tolerate much detailing of her head. She can turn into a shark in a second. So a few whacks is all I get. The second dog was more patient and I was able to do a better job.

That's all for today. I'll keep this thread going, and look for other opportunities to share the Shih Tzu and Lhasa work. Almost all groomers do some of these and there are very few guidelines. So I'll step in and try to help.

The Arius-Eickert Synergy Blenders and 5.5" curved scissors, as well as the Talyn 9.5" 3-Fingered shears that were used in these groomings can be purchased at the bbird shopping cart.
Thanks for your support.