By Brittney Valle
February 28, 2020
We see lots of terrier clients in the beauty salon whose owners just are not thinking about the maintenance or cost of handstripping. Clippered terrier trims are extremely typical in the contemporary grooming salon. In this month’s edition of “Styled Up!” I’ll show you exactly how to produce a seamless clippered trim on our model, Tucker, while preserving as much of the coat texture, color as well as integrity as possible on a pet dog.
I believe it is essential to point out that because Tucker is not handstripped as well as is on a pet routine of six weeks between grooming appointments, he brings much more undercoat than your common terrier would. As part of his prepping process, I like to make sure he is completely dried with a high velocity dryer, in addition to fluff dried with a hot stand dryer as this will assist eliminate a few of the excess undercoat.
Fig 1&2) To surface eliminating undercoat, I like to rake out my terriers with undercoat rakes before clippering. I begin with a wider–toothed rake, as well as when that stops working to pull any type of much more undercoat out, I relocation to the finer–toothed undercoat rake. Finally, I carefully rake the top of his head as well as his muzzle to preserve as much cable as well as integrity as I can.
Fig 3) I begin his haircut by utilizing a yellow snap–on comb (0 or 5/8”) over the #40 setting on my 5–in–1 clipper. I clip with the grain of the coat growth from the back of his neck down to his tail.
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Fig 4) continuing to clipper with the flow of coat growth, I clip directly down to the elbow as well as skim my attachment comb off at that point. This enables me to leave his legs a bit fuller in purchase to preserve balance as well as preserve a trim as close to breed common for a pet as possible.
Fig 5) My special technique when it concerns blending the ribcage on a terrier pattern (and a range of other patterns with skirt or furnishings!) is to take my hand as well as carefully roll the skin upward toward the opposite side of the dog. This roll will pop the coat out on the side you are clipping—I then clip directly toward the ground. any type of coat sticking outside of the parallel lines of the dog’s side comes off. You may notice that on Tucker I dropped to a #1 snap–on comb for his ribcage. This will provide him a sleeker trim as well as produces an immediate stomach tuck illusion.
Fig 6) When clippering the rump I comply with the musculature of the canine as well as clip the entire top muscle mass of the back leg as well as skim off the back end at the point of rump.
Fig 7) I clipped Tucker’s entire tail with the #1 snap–on comb.
Fig 8) To set in the breast of the dog, I discover the point of breast as well as reverse the snap–on comb from point of breast up into the throat. Not only does this produce a shorter surface on the front of the dog, however it enables you to have a clean, seamless shift from head to neck without compromising any type of of the required coat to produce a rounded head shape.
Fig 9) when I surface my clipper work, I begin scissor work by rounding the feet. I like to begin at the front of the foot as well as trim a directly line while the foot is on the ground, just in front of the toenails. I then trim the sides of the foot in a directly line also as well as round off the sides.
Fig 10) To produce the illusion of appropriate upper arm proportions, I cut Tucker’s front assembly in with a 45 degree angle from point of breast toward withers, as well as one more 45 degree angle from point of breast toward elbow. I clean up whatever that sticks outside of these lines with an aggressive thinner. I like to utilize this thinner for clipper terriers as it provides a softer as well as much more natural surface than the much more blunt cut of a shear.
Figs 11) I surface my body–blending by utilizing the exact same thinner as well as blending the clippered parts of the body in with what is left on the legs as well as skirt. There is bit blending left because we utilized the skimming technique, however going back over these areas with thinners just guarantees a good finish.
Fig 12) To blend the breast in, I comb whatever out as well as toward the front as well as utilize my thinners to trim the bib off in a directly vertical line.
Fig 13) I surface my body work by cleaning up the underline.
Fig 14) before I begin my head, I shave the suggestions of the ears with a blade that the dog’s skin will tolerate (Tucker got a #10 on the outside as well as a #30 on the inside). My guideline of thumb for the amount to shave is typically about the length of my thumbnail. I comply with that up with scissoring the suggestion of the ear to produce a good crisp peak. keep in mind it is imperative that you utilize caution when scissoring ear tips—I like to lay my thumb along the edge of the ear to safeguard the skin in situation the cannull