# dog show grooming timeline



## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Hello! Well the right answer is....it depends.
There are a few areas that I want to work on WAY before a show. At least a month before. That would be weekly bathing/drying to condition and train the coat to lay how I want it. A lot of thinning out around the neck, withers, throat, elbows, topline, tail, much more severe than pre-show stuff, so it has time to be trained and grow in correctly. NAILS NAILS NAILS -- trim twice a week. 
If you keep up with that stuff, your pre-show grooming is easy. One or two days before the show (depending on travel) I will bathe and trim ears, paws, nails again, tip feathers with grooming shears and touch up any around the neck/shoulders, elbows, throat, face, butt, pants, tail, topline. Whiskers either day before or day of show, they don't take long. Then at the show it really depends on how much time you have. If you have time and easy facilities, then by all means bathe again or rinse and dry. Add product to coat, poof up legs, comb out and you're done. No trimming needed unless you see a wild hair you missed. If you are short on time, then mist with water/product, light blow dry, poof brush, comb and you're done. If you're REALLY late like me, you mist with water/product, poof brush, head to the ring and comb right before you go in


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

Yup, depends. It usually helps to have them groomed a month or two before the show, just in case there's areas that need to be thinned out quite a bit. We usually tell people that too so we can see what condition the dog is in overall and make suggestions and so on. Like in the case of the dog who was supposed to go in the show ring but had horrible collar neck - there was enough time to lecture the owners, cancel the entries and wait a year for the hair to grow back in the right way.

Lana


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