My first English cocker

[flamincomet]

I groomed my first English cocker this week. The previous groomer for some reason had him a some kind of modified American cocker trim. The owner said she wanted him to look like his breed, so I really had to work to get his legs back down. The feathering on the back of his front leg and skirt needs to grow out more from the previous cut.
It ended up taking me 5 hours . :/ Hopefully next time, with less coat, it won't take nearly as long. Critiques are very much appreciated.

[flyingfur]

Well, I'm no cocker expert, but he looks wonderful! I love the look of English cockers so much more than Am ones. There is one that lives in my neighborhood, but I have never groomed one. nice job.

[doggydivas]

Nice job! great blending!

[VIPgroomer]

Wow, I have to saw that dogs looks great. I have a few Eng. Cockers that come in to my shop, but they do not have a coat like that!

[petgroomaustralia]

Nice job but why 5 hours??? Did you handstrip??? In Australia we do english cockers everyday. Luckily most owners have them short all over. They can be painful dogs to groom, especially the golden ones.

[Le Woof]

I think he looks great! I love the liver roans, they're gorgeous. The only thing I might have done differently would be tightening up a bit more on the front of his rear legs to balance with the rest of him but if you're trying to grow him out then that doesn't really matter either.

He looks wonderful! Nice job.

[flamincomet]

It's took longer for many reasons. Probably the main reason is that I haven't groomed this breed before, or even an American cocker with a skirt, so there was a learning curve. At first I was trying to use thinning shears ONLY on the legs and feet, as I've seen done in the videos I watched, but after I while I realized it was going to take far too long, and I just shaved them down with a #4, and thinned from there. Also he had a very thick coat, with a fair amount of matting. I bathed and started to blow him out with a force dryer first, but in the end he just needed to be brushed out. Lastly, I don't have very many clientele at all, so I don't groom on a very regular basis (This month was a "good" one, with 3 clients (5 dogs)) so I'm not in a "groove." It feels awkward to groom when I do. I've noticed even shih tzus, which used to take me 1 1/2-2 hours are now taking me an average of 3 hours. I don't know what else to do to help it, but hope for more clients so I can be grooming more and finding my niche.

Autumn

[DaisyMae]

He looks absolutly gorgeous. You did a wonderful job.

[Smart-n-Pretty]

I just thought of an idea. This would be a good subject for a grooming blog. "Correct" trim for an English Cocker vs "correct" trim for American Cocker.

[todd]

well done that looks fantastic...

[Lucylove]

See below

[Lucylove]

Wow! You made his ears longer! I kept going through the pictures over and over... the feet blending into the legs is the toughest for me when doing EC's but you did an awesome job. I can tell the time you put into coat straightening. I bet the owner was ecstatic. What did they say??

I enjoyed viewing it... share more!

Jessie

[windywaycavaliers]

That's a beautiful groom, flamin'! What a purty dog...English Cockers are one of my fav. breeds- nice work!

[KarlaSnyder]

Great groom! Give yourself a pat on the back.

[pinkgroomer]

You did such a beautiful job! I love englishes! I used to get one every now and then that was done like an american, so sad, they don't look so great that way