Shih-Tsu Critique

[pamelapreib]

Finally getting brave. This is Woo. It is very hard to get a picture of him without his tongue hanging out. I have a lot of trouble making his ears look even. One grows in thicker than the other, and he kind of carries them funny. They always look uneven to me. He lifts one higher than the other or something. Any suggestions are welcome. I use the method in Notes From the Grooming Table with a 1/2" comb all over, and scissor the legs. He always has nasty food stains in his beard, and I try and thin them out, but they still show up, and it the thinning makes his beard look kind of straggly. I love Tammy's beards. I work alone in a mobile unit right now, and have never worked in a shop. I may be applying to work in a shop soon, and am real nervous about what they'll say about my grooming. Have at it...

[diamienono]

He looks really good. I would round his ears a bit instead of the straight cut. But maybe some more experienced groomers will have better suggestions for you.

[RightlookPets]

Good Job

The dog looks really cute. I did notice that the dog's left ear is shorter than the right, however that happened. I would compensate by shortening the right ear for now, and perhaps rounding them some.

[rapuzzled]

I think he looks great! I can see what you mean about the ears, but I can't really tell in the pic if it's the length, or if it's just the way that he holds it. I have a few of those too that hold it and make it impossible to even it out!

[diamienono]

I would think even taking thinning shears to the end just to take away from the blunt straight cut.

[baddog]

Hw looks cute. I would "tighten" the feet a little more and blend the head into the ears , it's too abrupt. Overall a good grooming job!

[milhasavilla]

Cute Groom!!

He looks really good - you're too hard on yourself girl! Glad you're getting brave and posting your groom pics...You did a nice job on him and you should be proud of it! And sometimes those shih's ears are just plain hard to get perfect, so don't sweat over it. Thanks for sharing your pics!

[SpikeyTheYorkie]

Like Baddog, I would blend the head into the ears, so they're not "pony-tail" like, I think the feet look fine myself, but that's where more experienced groomers come in.

Pam, I'm impressed, I think he looks good, not even for the short amount of time you've been grooming, he just looks nice.

Tammy in Utah

[spanielcrazy]

Good Job!

Lookin' good! I can't tell if the ears are uneven or if it's just the way he"s holding his head. Many dogs often have one ear leather slightly longer than the other so you can't always go by how much you took off the other one. You just have to stand back and eyeball it.

A little trick: Use your clippers with the same blade you used on the head to skim the tops of the ears to where they drop down. (When you get comfortable with this you can even use a 5,7 or 10 to do it) This will take some of the bulk out of the ears, blend the head and ears quickly, and is safer than doing a lot of scissor work around ears.

[Bearmtn]

It is hard for me to tell if his ears are coming out of the top of his head and very high set, or the top of the head is not blended into the ears well enough. The feet look OK to me. I tend to may the feet short of kennel clips too, as people seem to rather they be shorter if they are going to have a short clip. They will grow back out soon enough.

[pamelapreib]

Thanks all. I did a standard yeterday, but forgot to take the after picture. Dang! I still struggle with top knots. I just couldn't get it right. I finally had to just let it go.

[Helly]

Over all I think he looks good. And like others have said, it's hard to tell if he's just holding his ears differently or not.

Here's a couple of tips for getting ears the same lenght.

Short ears: pull the ear forward and trim the hair even with the end of the nose. Repeat with the other ear. Unless the ears are really set at different levels, they'll both be the same length.

Longer ears: pull both ears up, over the top of the head. Hold all the hair in one hand, straight up. Trim. They will both be the same length if you didn't pull one ear up tighter than the other.

[pamelapreib]

Great tip Helly, thank you. And I'll try blending those ears better next time.

[luvpups]

I thought you did a goo job too. I would just blend the ears into the headd more, at the top. nice groom!

[rapuzzled]

Thanks all. I did a standard yeterday, but forgot to take the after picture. Dang! I still struggle with top knots. I just couldn't get it right. I finally had to just let it go.

I have to tell you that I think no matter how long I will be grooming I will always nit pick at top knots of poodles!