# Grooming for show on 10 month old puppy



## savannah

I'm new to conformation show and I am trying to learn how to groom my golden. She is 10 months old. I was wondering how much grooming do you do on a puppy versus an adult?


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## DelmarvaGold

First I would contact the breeder you bought your puppy from to see if they will give you lessons. I know when I'm asked by my buyers (these are pet buyers) I always offer to give grooming lessons at no cost.

If you are not a member of a GR club then I would join one. I'm sure some one in the club would be glad to help you out.

But to answer you question...for a 10 month old puppy you won't need to do a lot of grooming. Feet, ears, tail should be all you need to worry about at this time. Your puppy may also have a lot of coat in the neck area...this should be stripped down a bit. Otherwise, your puppy may look like he has a head that sits dictly on his shouldes with no length of neck 

If you lived closer I would be more than happy to help you.


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## AmbikaGR

I would agree with Sue to contact your breeder with help. I will tell one of THOSE stories to help make the point. And Sue make sure Vern does not read this.
When I decided to show my Keeper I had done lots of reading on showing in conformation and the AKC "rules". Well at our very first show I had done all my grooming at home. Trimmed her paws, clipped her nails and cleaned her ears. When we got there I set up my "equipment" - a piece of plywood that would sit on top of my vari-kennel was my table. As I brushed her out I was amazed at all the cutting, wetting, drying, wetting again, powder etc. Well it was a two day show so when I went home I gave her a bath and tried drying her with my shop vac but it made her dirty again so I again bathed her and tried out vacuum. Well that seemed to work okay. So the next day I packed up up vacuum and off to the show we went. Thank GOoDness my wife came with me. She told me she would divorce me on the spot if I even thought about taking the vacuum out of the car. Well that following week I contacted her breeder and he mentored me on the finer points of grooming and set me straight.


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## Ljilly28

Tally has so much coat at 11 months that it takes me 30 minutes every night just to detangle it from the day's activities and get leaves, burrs etc out. I don't know where to begin trimming/thinning , but he is starting to look like a huge snowball. 

He's So sleepy here, and squinting at the flash. Will he turn out to be the color of his ears? Should his ruff be trimmed at all or the fur on his legs?


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## savannah

Thanks for all the suggestions. She has alot of fur in the rear end area and her neck area isn't bad yet. Her flares on her legs are staring to come in but they aren't real long yet. I kinda figured she didn't need too much grooming yet, I will probably strip some hair in her neck and rear end area. On the rear end what is it suppose to be like, not real fluffy right?


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## Pointgold

AmbikaGR said:


> I would agree with Sue to contact your breeder with help. I will tell one of THOSE stories to help make the point. And Sue make sure Vern does not read this.
> When I decided to show my Keeper I had done lots of reading on showing in conformation and the AKC "rules". Well at our very first show I had done all my grooming at home. Trimmed her paws, clipped her nails and cleaned her ears. When we got there I set up my "equipment" - a piece of plywood that would sit on top of my vari-kennel was my table. As I brushed her out I was amazed at all the cutting, wetting, drying, wetting again, powder etc. Well it was a two day show so when I went home I gave her a bath and tried drying her with my shop vac but it made her dirty again so I again bathed her and tried out vacuum. Well that seemed to work okay. So the next day I packed up up vacuum and off to the show we went. Thank GOoDness my wife came with me. She told me she would divorce me on the spot if I even thought about taking the vacuum out of the car. Well that following week I contacted her breeder and he mentored me on the finer points of grooming and set me straight.


 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hank, you made my day! One of my handling class clients, a dear man with a Black Russian Terrier (who was RWD at their National and finished with 4 BIG MAJORS) came to a MI show where I was to handle him. In he came with the BIGGEST Shop-Vac I have ever seen. He said it was to dry Moe with ! :no: I about died on the spot. Until just now I thought he had to be the only person in the universe who would have thought to use a Shop-Vac as a dryer! 
Thanks for the laugh


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## bluekings

hi there when you groom your goldens is it before taking a bath or after?thank you so much


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## Pointgold

bluekings said:


> hi there when you groom your goldens is it before taking a bath or after?thank you so much


If I am starting a dog that has not had maintenance grooming, I will "rough" trim a bit before bathing (so I am not having to dry a lot of hair that will be taken of anyway) like trimming out the pads and a bit under the ears, etc. Once bathed and blown out, I will do "finish" trimming. This would mean thinning/stripping the neck, tightening the feet, trimming hocks, and trimming the tail. I use thinning shears, 2 sizes of straight shears, Mars Coat King (I have 2 different sizes" a stripping stone and a fine stripping knife. I do whiskers with a "horse whisker shaver" - a little plastic razor tool that flicks off whiskers neatly and easily. Each dog is different, so how each of these tools are used can vary.


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## LOVEisGOLDEN

bluekings said:


> hi there when you groom your goldens is it before taking a bath or after?thank you so much


I do feet, nails & insides of ears before a bath. then after they are blown dry (& strait!) I trim tails & tidy ears.


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## LOVEisGOLDEN

Pointgold said:


> I do whiskers with a "horse whisker shaver" - a little plastic razor tool that flicks off whiskers neatly and easily. .


like this?


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## SunGold

You may want to check this site out - http://morningsagegoldens.freeservers.com/Grooming.html


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## Pointgold

LOVEisGOLDEN said:


> like this?


Yep. That's the one.


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## Ash

Do some reading, be sure to have good tools (they really make a lot of diffrence and are a worthy investment) and take a photo of Golden you think it very nicely groomed print it out and put it by the table and use that as your guide. As Sue said they should not be over groomed that can give a puppy a rather "harsh" appearence. This is a dog that in my opinion is almost groomed to perfection.


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## bluekings

hi how do you trim the neck ?i do grooming but i never before touch the neck how short do you trim the neck?thanks


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## bluekings

thank you sun gold,point gold and ash it helps a lot


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## hotel4dogs

you're supposed to groom them before you show them?????? <grin>


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## Ash

Mars Coat Kings and also a good quality stripping knife is what is usually used the thin the neck. I know some people do it with thinning sheers but its not something I would attempt. You want to make sure you don't over strip it and don't want to have the finished result look patchy or uneven. Generally on puppies if they have a lot of coat it can be stripped but be sure not to do too much.


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## twogoldenboys

I too have a grooming question for my 7 month old. He has very wavy hair on his back. Any tricks on straightening it out? Blow drying helps a little, but it's still wavy. I've heard putting a blanket/towel on his damp back to straighten the hair, but good luck keeping that on. Is it something he'll grow out of?


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## twogoldenboys

*Another question about trimming toenails*

I have another question about trimming the toenails. I know their feet should look cat-like, but in order to do that their nails need to be cut way back. I trim Fargo's nails every 3 days, but they don't see to be moving back. I really hate to cut into the quick everytime. Any suggestions there?


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## twogoldenboys

twogoldenboys said:


> I too have a grooming question for my 7 month old. He has very wavy hair on his back. Any tricks on straightening it out? Blow drying helps a little, but it's still wavy. I've heard putting a blanket/towel on his damp back to straighten the hair, but good luck keeping that on. Is it something he'll grow out of?


Okay, I went on the Morningsage website and found my answer.


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## goldengirls550

Ash said:


> Do some reading, be sure to have good tools (they really make a lot of diffrence and are a worthy investment) and take a photo of Golden you think it very nicely groomed print it out and put it by the table and use that as your guide. As Sue said they should not be over groomed that can give a puppy a rather "harsh" appearence. This is a dog that in my opinion is almost groomed to perfection.


I am in LOVE with this dog! I would love to have one of his puppies.... I think you guys are gonna get sick of me saying "I want one of _______'s (insert dog/bitch's name) puppies.


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