Wanted: Advice for first papillon...

[sdoggroomergirl]

A friend of a friend (of a friend, of a friend, of a friend, lol just kidding) offered up her papillon. I did my research on the Papillon Club of America website and found them to be pretty easy pups as far as what I need to do with grooming. The articles I read said basically to just round of the feet (like rabbit feet or elf feet) and brush it.

My questions:

Is that really all I do?
What's a good type of shampoo to use on this type of coat?
Should I condition?
Anything else I should know?
How the heck do you pronounce that name correctly? Pahp-ill-on? Pahp-ill-ee-on? ACK!
And soe of the articles said that it did not have a double coat, and some said it did. I'm confused. What type of coat would you classify this as?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated as always. ~Sdogg

[kdickerson]

Pap-ee-on. Means butterfly in french I believe.

I shave one but most get bath & brushouts, with tidy feet. Some get trimmed up a little all over- pants, feathers, etc.

[Bradymom]

I only have one as a client....

and she's VERY shy....not that all are...but she is. For her I keep her pretty natural looking and only trim with thinners....lightly tipping and tidying here and there.

Shampoo...Clean by Show Seasons....and I will condition with a pretty diluted Coat Handler Conditioner...or sometimes I'll use Rinse Results.
I try and not go too heavy with conditioners for her...a couple of reasons....don't want to leave the coat too heavy AND she hates the dryer so don't want to make drying time any longer than I must.

I pronounce it Pap-pee-yawn. Sort of. Don't know if that's exactly correct....but my MIL is French....as in REALLY French and that's pretty much how she says it.

She's pretty easy....just not well socialized....getting better every time I see her though.

Good luck!

[sdoggroomergirl]

OK!

Thank both of you for your explainations I'm excited now! I hope I can make her owner happy! ~Sdogg

[arlaede]

Card it out to get fuzzies off, loose undercoat out. Bathe/dry it. (preferably by hand.) Trim feet/pads/tush. If she wants feathers trimmed I'd do so with thinning shears so it looks natural. Carding these dogs works great to make them look clean and tidy.

[wagsnwiskas]

papillion grooming

is very simple really. that's basiclly it, the feet, pads. The hair on top of the feet is whipsy, I brush up and use thinners for a natural foot. The best shampoo I felt, was the Les Pooch conditioning shampoo. The white on the dog sparkled like the sun reflecting on a freshly fallen snow.LOL. Whatever shampoo you use, use a conditioner too. Diluted down so it's more like a cream rinse. I like to use a pin brush and comb on this breed. Good luck. They are very sweet dogs.

[Brahmadog]

Some of them have a double coat. My little Pogo (RIP) had a double coat from hell, he shed out worse then my aussies. However, he never got matted. I groom 3 of them and they are pretty similar to what his coat was, although not as thick as his was. Make sure the ear fringes are combed out really well, and do not trim them unless the owner wants that. I think they look ridiculous when the fringes are trimmed. Good luck, I love these little guys!
Oh, and I always use thinners on the feet, don't make them really tight like a golden foot, you want them to have a little hair coverage to keep the "hare foot"

[caninecrazy]

I actually have 4 that I groom, all of them are double coated and shed. I use a fine coat king on them and a B3 shampoo. All of my owners tell me it is the first time they come home and not shed for a while. Arlaede is right, I think carding is the key.

[Arrooh]

They

are really supposed to have a single coat, as one I had did. But breeder/show people wanted more so they would breed till they got the big fluffy coat. When I see one with the smooth nice laying single coat I get excited. Very sweet breed and also often very very smart.