This week I finally had an opportunity to translate that inspiration into my own work. Here is "Ruby", before and after her grooming.
On a daily basis in the pet grooming salon, we rarely have the time to indulge in the level of work that goes into a winning competition grooming. And we are often working with less than wonderful specimens of a breed. There is, however, some detailing that can be done to insure a impressive result.
1. FEET - In addition to the usual clipping or scissoring of the bottoms of the retriever feet, the straggly hairs that grow between the toes should be trimmed to have a smooth, natural, foot. I like to use blending scissors (aka thinners) for this job, first brushing or combing the hair up and then scissoring down. For me, cleaning up the feet is a must, not an optional extra.
In this picture, you can see the messy hair that needs to be removed.
2. HOCKS - Trim the back of the rear leg from hock to foot. Here you see the area before and after trimming (and the foot that has been trimmed).
Here, again, I used a blending scissor rather than a straight shear to keep a natural look. If you are not confident in your scissoring, you can use a snap-on comb over a clipper blade. But please do not clipper with a close blade unless this area is hopelessly matted. To do so makes the dog look like it is standing on toothpicks! We don't want "toothpick legs" on a breed that is supposed to have substance.
3. PASTERNS - To set the front feet off, we trim the pasterns, the area behind the front foot.
4. HIPS & REAR - I like to spend a little extra time deshedding and debulking over the hips to reveal a sense of the musculature. The rear "skirt" is trimmed to look tidy and neat, the shortness depending on the owner's preference. Ruby's family prefers a short rear, and this is a little shorter than my own preference for the breed look, but does not look just chopped off. I prefer a rounder look, but I don't live with Ruby!
5. SHOULDERS & FRONT - Another area that deserves special attention is the shoulder and front of shoulder, and down the front of foreleg. I used a Furminator here. We don't always think of it, but the fronts of the forelegs, as well as the fronts of the rear legs often collect bulky dead fur and smoothing this out with a deshedding or stripping tool is a cool detail.
6. HEAD & EARS - I also used the Furminator on the top of Ruby's head to remove dead hair and create a smooth crown. Almost all long coated retrievers have light-colored fuzzy stuff behind the ears that can easily be plucked out by hand. I put on a latex glove and just pull it out. The light, fine hairs in the picture below would be removed.
The final "After" picture at the beginning of the article was actually taken before this step was completed. That makes it an "Almost After" picture. I was expecting the owner to arrive any second, so I made sure to get my post grooming photo and then spent the remaining time getting rid of fuzz. Another area where there is fuzzy stuff that can easily be plucked out is on the rear legs in front of the hock, where the longer hair of the leg ends.
7. CLEAN UP LINES, BALANCE FRONT FEATHERING - My own approach to the front legs is to balance the front feathers with whatever I have done to the rear. In this case, I did not need to do much after thoroughly combing out the front legs. I shortened some with blending scissors and trimmed straight down the backside with a long shear. Then I stepped back and looked for anything that was sticking out and interrupting smooth lines. One such place was this stuff sticking out from the inside of the rear leg. I got rid of it!
DISCUSSION: This grooming illustrates a very important point that there is much more that can be done to a Golden Retriever that just a brush and bath. However, the very foundation of this transformation WAS the bath and comb out. Ruby was a mess, having spent the summer romping in Colorado. I shampooed with ShowSeason Amino Flex and rinsed with Chris Christensen Ice on Ice. I spritzed the toweled coat with EZ Groom Ruff Out. I dried her about half the way with the High Velocity (K9II) in the tub, and then allowed her to dry in an ex-pen with the Sahara Turbo Dryer until nearly dry. I finished on the table with the HV dryer again and brushed through the coat with a curved slicker, followed by combing and using the Furminator.
There were plenty of mats, some brushed out and others had to be clipped out, especially in the flank area. If you look closely at the After picture, you can see where stuff was cut out there. Clipping from the inside out rather than attacking the mats from the outside helped minimize the hole I created.
Most of the detailing outlined here can be done by someone who has not developed expert scissoring skills. If you are a novice groomer wanting to make a difference, I encourage you to attempt some of this detailing and become familiar with blending scissors. You can easily get $20-30 more for a retriever that is nicely detailed over a bath only service. Plus tips!
Here is a Flat-Coated Retriever groomed the same day as Ruby. It was Sporting Dog day at Transformation Pet Center.
PS. The Synergy Blenders I used for these two grooms can be purchased at the BBird Shopping Cart. Click here to go shopping. They can be purchased separately, or as a part of the Right Start special deal.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION - Anita Belue's Notes on her groom:
This particular dog's coat naturally lays flat on his
back, which is wonderful. He doesn't grow coat very
fast, so I didn't de-shed the dog for 2 months prior
to the show so I'd have enough coat. To prepare him
for competition, I bathe, condition and brush out
(with a pin brush to avoid breakage) every 2 weeks. I
also dremel the nails.
I had 2 hours to complete this grooming. I strip coat
out using 4 tools: a Furminator, a wide Oster rake, a
coarse Classic stripping knife and a stripping stone.
All trimming was done with thinning shears, except
maybe some belly stragglers that had to go at the last
minute. Think "natural."
Here are a few things I did on my detailing:
Pasterns: I leave between 3/4-1" of hair on the
pasterns and neaten the back of the front leg right
into that. If you take off too much hair, your dog
will look weak in the pasterns (or flat-footed).
Hocks: Yours look great! Pretty much the same as
yours. I think of a half moon when trimming this area.
That is the shape you want, again leaving 3/4-1" of
hair on.
Rear furnishings: I thinned just enough off to look
neat. If the dogs is moving, coat here should also
have movement.
Shoulders and front: I stripped out coat along the
shoulder at a 45 degree angle to give proper layback.
Head and ears: I used a stripping stone on the head,
stop, and cheek areas to pull out dead coat. I also
thinning shear right around the ear leather and any
scraggly hairs off the top of the ear and blend into
head. You want a well defined ear. I would not
recommend scissors for this because it does not look
natural. I also lift the ear and thin off excess hair
at the ear opening so the ear lays flat against the
head.
Tail: When holding the tail straight down, it should
not exceed past the hock. I hold the tail down and cut
a half moon shape at the point where it meets the
hock. Then hold the tail out to see where it falls
naturally. Anything that will fall below the hock, cut
off, or just neaten up if nothing falls below.
A few things I will definitely do differently:
I will NEVER clipper the privates again! I didn't
clipper them at this show, but had been in the past. I
cannot stress this enough. It ruined my underline on
this dog. To fix my general outline, I had to take
more hair than I wanted to off the ruff (ruff should
be left natural), otherwise he would have looked too
front heavy. So in the future, this dog's underline
and chest will be looking longer and more natural.
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