Grooming the schnauzer head and legs p3

[Tulip]

I still swoon when I see him, he's so lovely.

[Snazy]

He basically needs the fluff removing behind the black line and the spikey bits in the circle want to grow out.


Just use your comb to form a parting in the hair first, so you can see where the beard should start, fold flat the hair you are going to remove and just check it looks better, you may want to remove more from that parting or leave a little bit of hair, have a look at the photos in the OP about positioning that line from outer corner of eye to about a finger width behind the corner of the mouth, this should be a straight line with long hair on one side (beard) and clipped on the other.

[Eddie]

Thanks Jo. I've been using the clippers from the top down so a bit of that fluff is probably undercut. I'll have another go but use the clippers from the line back.

[Snazy]

How to groom the legs.

Firstly you need to bath the legs, a good quality shampoo used twice and follow this up with a little conditioner (I water it down and then pour over the legs but if the leg hair is very dry and knots up easily, you may want to use the conditioner neat and let it sit in the hair for a few minutes before rinsing out). I don't use a lot of conditioner, I don't want it to weigh down the hair, just enough to close off the layers to smooth out each hair. Wring out the legs and then use a towel to blot the legs (rubbing will cause knots). Those dogs with silky hair on the legs or those who have had a lot of conditioner on may benefit from some hair mousse being applied to help give more body as you dry the legs, it will make the trimming easier.

Next blow dry the legs, use the brush and the direction of the airflow in an upwards direction, getting the roots dry and creating body in the leg hair. This way the hair will stand away from the leg and make it much easier to trim.


This is what you are aiming for when the legs are dry.


Once the legs are dry we are going to need a greyhound comb (the ones without a handle) and preferably one with deep teeth which will reach into the coat better (mine is a resco). Starting at the bottom of the leg use the comb to fluff up the hair, pulling it up and outwards in an upwards curve motion about 1inch of hair at a time before moving up to the next inch block of hair. This action will pull the coat out like in the photo above.

Rear legs

Trim under the foot angling the scissors at a 45 degrees as you trim around the edge of the foot (this stops the toenails poking out of the foot afterwards). You can also trim about 0.5cm up the outside of the back pad. Clean out as much of the hair around the back pad as possible, to encorage a tight foot, this can be done with small scissors or clippers



Let dog stand naturally and trim around the foot again from the top. Comb the hair out from the rear pastern and trim down in a straight line from the hock joint (usually about .5 - 1 inch away from the joint, or whatever length of hair you wish to leave on the leg). Now stand to the side of your dog and comb out the hair onthe front section of the leg, trim up about 2 fingers straight up from the toes and then curve the line up towards the loin, creating the curve over the stifle.



Next we move behind the dog and trim the inside of the leg, again flick out the coat and cut in a straight line up to the area where the first thigh muscle meets the 2nd thigh muscle.



Finish off the seeing if the outside part of the leg needs any hair off, quite often it doesn't.

Now we have done the 4 sides of the leg, go back and round off the corners, especially checking on the inside front corner as this is often left long (even by some groomers) and there is no need to have that extra hair flapping about and getting knotty!


Front leg

Again, flick out the hair and trim under the foot as you did with the back legs, but don't trim so far up the back pad. It is easier for the next bit if the dog is stood on the edge of the table, with the hair flicked out, scissor straight up the leg, if you can scissor as much of the dog with the scissors going upwards, it creates more and lasting body in the hair (and it lasts even after the legs have got wet and dried naturally). Trim up the front of the leg aiming for the point where the leg joins the chest. Now, pick up the leg so it is straight and pulled infront of the dog, comb the hair straight and scissor up the back of the leg, without the leg moving to another position, comb the hair outwards from the inside of the leg and again scissor up, make sure the point of the scissors is pointing underneath the dog, so as not to poke them in the chest! Release leg and refluff up and go back to checking the 'corners' to round off the leg into a post shape.


Not the best example as my fingers crushed some of the hair while repositioning the fidgety dog!


side view front leg

[Dianep]

Brilliant - thanks Jo! Louis is due a groom this week so I'll be following your instructions, thanks for the tip about the conditioner, Louis has very flyaway hair which always goes very static after combing a few times during grooming and drives me nuts.

[Snazy]

The conditioner will help with the static, you can also use a grooming spray before combing out the legs if this happens when just brushing too. Ideally trim right after bathing, when I was mobile some people would insist on bathing the dog the day before and the static was a nightmare!

[Sianny]

Fab! Thank you Jo

[BeeBee]

Ok I've tidied up Renae, using a 7 all over, and have believe it or not used these wonderful pictures and guide to kind of do a schnauzer-look (OH and I had the usual "words" before and after as the super-scruffy Renae is still his favourite look, mines a bit more moderate, but as it's boiling here, so thought I might get away with it this time, without a debate, wrong) (hammer)

Anyhow, quick and daft question, do you use the clippers on the inside of the ears as well as the outside? I've always plucked the ears and used scissors to trim a bit, but these ears here look more like they've been clipped.

Ta in advance.

[Tulip]

Yes my lovely, you clip the inside too but be careful near the canal.

There's a fantastic grooming article of the Mini Schnauz. by Amy English (Nujax) in June's edition of ProGroomer, did you see it Jo?

[Snazy]

Clip the inside and outside of the ear, just clip from the fold in the ear when it is folded back, clipping to the outer edge of the ear - taking care when near that double fold!

[Tulip]

There's a fantastic grooming article of the Mini Schnauz. by Amy English (Nujax) in June's edition of ProGroomer, did you see it Jo?

Did you, Jo? What did you think if you did?

[Tulip]

Just bumping this, would love to know what you thought, Jo, if you saw it! I thought it was really good and detailed, not to mention a beautiful dog that she used as an example! I also learnt a lot from it, like using a 40f on the cheeks, didn't know you could do that!

[dannie_kl]

I wouldnt use a 40 on cheeks personally, I clipped kolo on a 40 on his face once before and he broke out in terrible clipper rash, Teddy gets clipper rash off a 15 sometimes so use a 7f backwards. The thing is these are only guides, the same does suit every dog and here is a professional (and my god amy english is an amazing groomer!) who truely understands dogs, I swear Amy could make poop look like sugar, she knows just how to get each dog just so....if i ever become half the groomer she is ill die a happy person! I dont get pro groomer but saw pictures of Amy winning BIS at premier groom with one of her oh so beautiful american cockers.

[Tulip]

I love her ACS, really beautiful, gosh if I could bevel feet like she does I'd make up t-shirts about it, lol! I do a 10f in reverse for cheeks and they come out nice, I wouldn't go shorter with my two for fear of showing skin, but ears I would like to try a 40f, used a 30f and it looked nice. I read somewhere you can edge ears with a 40f too?
The article was really really good, a full page on heads, and though I've been learning and doing this clip for over two years now I still feel like I could do it just a bit better.

[Snazy]

Didn't get the mag - can we keep this thread for help on grooming, not discussing the merits of mag articles?