# Coat & Grooming Questions



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

The longer hairs around the shoulders is called a "cape". Sometimes that gets sorted out as they mature and adult coat grows in. Sometimes that is tweaked with grooming. 


Ears look good. 

Feet - you need to do a notch around the back of foot. Will show what I mean later. Otherwise groomed foot looks good. 

Tail needs trimming.

Shedding - bathe and blow dry weekly will help.


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## 4goldengirls (Jun 10, 2014)

I think you did a great job. This coming from someone that has trouble doing the ears and a little better but not great on the feet.


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

Megora said:


> The longer hairs around the shoulders is called a "cape". Sometimes that gets sorted out as they mature and adult coat grows in. Sometimes that is tweaked with grooming.
> 
> 
> Ears look good.
> ...


Thank you, Kate! I think this is the first time I’ve felt like the feet look “right”. Still trying to get his nails shorter with little trims every week. 

Need to practice more with the thinning shears. I hate when all of sudden I get a blunt chop with them. 

He usually gets bathed and blow-dried every 2 weeks but the shedding came out of nowhere and was heavy for about 2 weeks and now we are back to normal again. 

And for the tail-every couple of weeks I trim the tip of the tail to keep it the right length, but I haven’t trimmed it in about 2 weeks, is that what you are referring to? Or do I also need to trim the longer feathers that make up the volume of the tail too?


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

Duplicate Post.


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

4goldengirls said:


> I think you did a great job. This coming from someone that has trouble doing the ears and a little better but not great on the feet.


Thank you!! I have been avoiding the ears because I’ve been nervous to mess them up. This time I think I did OK ?


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

OK - hope this helps (I hope the other people who show pitch in too!)

I posted pics of Jovi's feet since I groomed him for showing recently -

The red arrow is pointing at the "notch" area.

It's basically trimming tight at the back of the foot around the big pad. And behind/above the big pad we trim very close. It's all shaping out the foot. 

Then I posted crit type pics of what you did.

Feet pics - red lines show where you could have trimmed tighter + where that notch area would be.

Ear pic - It looks fine generally speaking, however I do think you trimmed a little too tight on the front of the ear (1). And the back of the ear (2) also looks a little too tight. I'd have to see the front view in order to tell, but that's what I think I'm seeing. Some fuzzies are left on for a "softer" look. Trim too tight and it creates a hard/harsh look.


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

Yes very helpful. Thank you! I almost think I could have left a lot of his ear alone. I trimmed up the fuzzy/fleece stuff in front and behind his ears, and the long fluff on top. Then just basically tightly trimmed around the border of the ear, which was pretty tight to begin with so maybe next time I’ll really minimally clean up the border. 

And yes I see what you mean by a notch in the back of the foot. I actually started to do that right behind his biggest pad but didn’t carry it out to the outside of the foot. Do you trim feet with normal sheers or do you use curved ones I’ve seen in some videos? I’m just using straight ones but maybe it’ll be easier to get tighter around the foot with the curved ones??


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Jovi's feet were all done using my $9 Con-Air's... 

https://www.amazon.com/ConairPRO-Do...keywords=con-air+shears&qid=1568561612&sr=8-3

With ears, I use my 8" dubl duck straight shears on the back edge, and thinning shears and stripping knife elsewhere. 

Of all those - I'd spend a pinch more on thinning shears ($120-150). Dubl Ducks are about $60-70, I believe.

ETA - getting feet tighter, use the pads as a guide.

Re Tail - I think the tail is a little long. When I trim tails, I was taught to bring it down and trim just below the point of the hock. With my dogs I keep 2 fingers between the shears and the tip of the tail. Twisting the tail up pretty tight before trimming usually works to not just take care of the tip, but create the ideal slight fan shape of the tail. There might be odd hairs after that to touch up on, but most of the tail should look good if you do the twist and trim.


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## mzilke (May 4, 2019)

can anyone recommend a good brush or comb thanks


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