2 shihpoo puppies and a grooming question

[cleosmommy]

Hi!
I posted a few months ago about my little shihpoo Cleo who is now 6 months old. A few weeks after getting Cleo, I decided she needed a friend and Chester came along! Chester is 10 days younger than Cleo and they are the best of friends.

I have a question about grooming. So far I have been having the groomer do a "clean-up" where he doesn't cut their body hair just the hair around their faces, paws, potty, etc. But I live in south Florida and don't want them to be too warm this summer. How do you all have your shihpoos groomed? Does anyone have pics of what the different cuts look like?

I enjoy reading the posts so much, you all are great!

[/img]

[Shineillusion]

Unless you have your dogs outside a great deal during the hottest part of the day, or if your home is not air conditioned, there really shouldn't be much problem with the heat.

A lot of people mistakenly believe that clipping a dog short will keep them cooler in the summer. This is not true. Their hair actually insulates them from the heat and protects them from sun burn. If heat is truely an issue, I usually suggest shaving the underbelly only. This allows the dog to expose their bare belly to cool surfaces, like linoleum or tile floors, or even a damp towel placed on the floor for their comfort.

I think the most popular groom I do on Shih Tzus, Lhasas, and similar breeds is this; ask your groomer to do an "0" guard on the body, and scissor the legs in to blend. Shave the underbelly.

The big question is the face. There are several styles. You can pull up a top knot and band it with a bow, leaving the beard long. You can round the whole head, leaving a visor over the eyes, and shorten the beard so that it balances with the rest of the body. I think my favorite is to shorten the cheeks and give them a 'sweetheart moustache and beard'. In this style, the moustache curves out from either side of the muzzle and is scissored into a heart shape, with the beard being short and angled down to form the point of the heart. The ears are trimmed to frame the face, and the top knot is scissored so that there's enough there to afix a bow, but it's not overly long.

[myshihpoo]

Cleosmommy, I have a 2 year old shihpoo that gets groomed "shorter" twice a year (and then just trimmed every 4-6 wks between). If you'd like to see pictures I can email them to you... just let me know. At first I wasn't sure I wanted to do it, but it was the best decision we've ever made and he's absoluately adorable "shorter"....

[cleosmommy]

myshihpoo - I just PM'd you with my email address so you can email me the pics - thanks!