Grooming Small Dogs (page 2 of 2)

A Bichon Frise and a Shih Tzu, the ten to twenty-five pound range most grooming books are written around

What counts as a Small dog

Ten to twenty-five pounds. Shih Tzus, Bichons Frises, Cocker Spaniels, Miniature Schnauzers, West Highland Terriers, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Miniature Poodles and Havanese.

This is the center of the grooming trade. More breed patterns were written for dogs this size than for any other, most salon price lists are built outward from here, and if you picture a dog on a grooming table it is probably in this range.

A full groom on a small dog is comfortably under two hours for a coat in reasonable condition. What that covers surprises people, so it is worth setting out.

Weight

10 to 25 lb

Time on the table

The core of most grooming books. A full groom is comfortably under two hours.

What a full groom actually includes

A full groom is not a haircut with a wash attached. The order matters, and most of the steps are invisible in the finished dog.

It starts with a brush out and a comb through, because bathing a coat with tangles in it sets them. Anything that needs to come out comes out now, dry. Then a rough pre clip on a longer coat, taking off bulk so that the bath and dry are not spent on hair that is about to be removed.

Then the bath, usually twice: once to lift dirt and oil, once for the shampoo to actually work on clean hair, plus conditioner. Then the dry, which on a small coated dog is done with a high velocity dryer and a brush working together, because a coat dried flat sets flat and cannot be scissored straight.

Then the detail work: nails, ears cleaned and hair plucked or trimmed as the breed needs, pads cleared, sanitary trim. Anal glands if the salon offers it and the dog needs it.

Only then does the actual haircut happen, clipper work first to set the length, then scissor work to finish the outline, the legs, the head and the tail. On a Bichon or a Poodle the scissor finish is most of the skill and most of the time.

A groomer who does all of that in ninety minutes is moving quickly.

What moves the price, and it is rarely the weight

Two dogs of the same weight can differ by a factor of two in what they cost to groom, and none of that gap is about size.

Coat condition is the largest single factor. A coat that has to be dematted, or clipped off short and started again, takes far longer than a coat that has been maintained, and it is harder work on the animal. This is why salons quote a range rather than a figure, and why the quote can move when the dog is actually in front of them.

Coat type is next. A Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Bichon Frise are the same weight and are not the same job: one is a tidy and a bath, the other is a full scissored haircut. Behavior is third, because a dog that cannot be handled safely takes two people or a longer, slower session. Interval is fourth, since a dog on a regular six week schedule is quicker every time than the same dog at six months.

The lever an owner actually controls is the interval and the brushing between. Everything else is fixed by the dog you have.

Where small dogs mat first

Mats form where hair moves against something else, and on a small dog that list is short and predictable.

The collar line comes first on almost every dog that wears a collar full time, and it is completely hidden underneath it. Then the armpits, where the front legs swing against the chest, and behind the ears where the ear moves constantly against the head. Then the back of the thighs, then the tail base, then the belly and groin where the coat is finest and least often brushed.

Harness dogs get the same problem in different places, wherever a strap crosses. If your dog wears a harness all day, check under every strap weekly.

All of these are places an owner can check in under a minute with a comb, and all of them are places a surface brushing never reaches. Checking those six spots weekly is worth more than an hour of general brushing, because they are where the appointment either goes to plan or does not.