Grooming tips

[BarbV]

The problem with grooming without moisture is that you risk breaking the Guard hair. A lot of groomers don't realize that because they are mostly trained to groom the smaller, popular breeds. However you said yor groomer is breed specific so implies that she knows about Shelties. I suppose if your Sheltie is soft coated it would not hurt it, but Shelties with the more standard harder top coat could be an issue

Shaving! Poop chutes only! Bacca had a groomer shave his entire back end and it has NEVER grown back normal since

Trimming: Ther is a way to trim Shelties without making them looking trimmed. Less is more, but neatening up their natural lines sure helps.

 

[Calliesmom]

Thank you - she still is. We moved 5 times in 18 months, going back & forth between Alberta & Ontario, so Kali now lives with my friend Pearl and her 3 great kids. In hindsight I wish we had figured out a way to just keep her, but she is with an active & loving family. She gets to go camping and hiking in the mountains and she gets out a lot more in the winter than she did with me. I get photos now and again as well as an open invite to come visit any time we are in Alberta. The next move for us will be to a nursing home, so Hanna isn't going anywhere.

that's nice that you were able to find a great home for her

 

[Jess041]

I never used water with my last sheltie and she had an amazing coat. I used a comb and a slicker brush and sometimes I used a shredding tool on her hind quarters going carefully in the direction of the hair - this took out a lot of the undercoat but left the top hairs intact. Took her to the groomers 2 or 3 times a year, but I kept her up in between professional visits. I don't like scissor marks on my shelties. I don't know what it is about groomers but they feel they have trim everywhere - one even shaved her entire rear end instead of just under her tail, it looked awful with all the top coat gone and took ages to grow back!

She had the most beautiful ruff and on top the long white hairs blended nicely into the black ( Kali was a try) one groomer trimmed all around her ruff so it looked unnaturally rounded, with an abrupt transition. GRRR

I got so I would not leave her unless I could speak to the groomer personally and tell them exactly what I wanted along with the warning that if they did any more than that I would not pay. That seemed to work. It drove them nuts that I liked her ears untrimmed, but she wasn't a show dog and she looked stunning to me :~) With Hanna I hope to develop a relationship with just one groomer.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ak5rdrmuvwv4wo1/Beach Jun 09 008.JPG

She reminds me of my Sheltie Angel, Jasmine. Gorgeous girl!

 

[EJHUNTL]

Shaving! Poop chutes only! Bacca had a groomer shave his entire back end and it has NEVER grown back normal since

Trimming: Ther is a way to trim Shelties without making them looking trimmed. Less is more, but neatening up their natural lines sure helps.

I guess I was lucky as Kali's grew back eventually. With Hanna the groomer I'll be using has a sheltie of her own, so I feel more confident that she'll do a good job. I really do want to learn how to do it myself. I ordered the Dee Silverstein CD that was mentioned in another thread - it arrived today. I'm going to invest in a better quality brush and possibly a dremel for her nails. I've been 'brushing' her teeth - well mostly I put the toothbrush in her mouth and she chews on it more than I actually get to brush, but it's a start.