Trimming

[Cavvygirl]

Do alot of you trim your cavaliers yourself?

I know that as a rule they don't need cutting but it is a preference of mine for them to look neat (not shorthaired) and I am struggling to find someone who won't use a shaver on them!

What would you trim the legs and feet with? Scissors or thinning scissors?

[merlinsmum]

I only trim the underneath of their pads - and I do that with a pair of round ended scissors.

I coundn't bear to cut those feathers in case they never grew back

[Cathryn]

I always take the bulk off with a pair of round nosed safety scissors and finish off with thinning scissors for a more natural look!

As for coat/feathering not growing back again, I had to chop most of Logans tail feathering off when he'd been badly tangled up in some deep undergrowth, I'm talking the better part of 3 inches here, and to add insult to injury it was the day after I'd posted the Crufts Entry off! I was crying whilst I did it I can tell you! But it did grow back again, right back to it's former flowing glory, just took about 6 months to get it all back and we missed Crufts that year Dratt!!

[cy1266]

I trim exactly how Kirsty does on my boys...only the hair in between the foot pads, and I have to hold back their slippers so I don't accidently trim them - I would be devastated if I cut them off!

[niki]

the groomer took Suki's slippers off - I only wanted the pads trimmed, the rest of her looked nice and neat - a little short at first but i was gutted about her slippers - they are growing back nice now
i'm a bit cowardly to do the pads myself, which is daft really as i'm prepared to do pretty much anything else
Any Tips???

[Cavvygirl]

Well he had a horrible twig tangeld in him yesterday and he was not happy when I had to cut the surrounding fur!

He is now booked in to be tidied up on tuesday morning at a groomers I have found. They are going to try and tidy his ears and feet and legs and shave around his private parts as the urine gets stuck to the hair there

Hopefully they will be able to trim him as I have put him in for a tidy up 3 times before and they were unable to do it as he wouldn't let them!

He allows me to groom him with both the brush and comb every evening and allows me to cut any matts out although he isn't overly happy about it but he has got alot better, when we got him he wouldn't allow us to groom him at all he kept biting the brush and my hand. Rio looks like () he will have a much much shorter coat so I won't have to get him trimmed as hopefully it will be alot easier to manage!

I will let you all know how it goes

[Caraline]

I trim the pads of the feet & do sometimes have to gently trim back the bedroom slippers. We live in an area with lots of bush around and it is very difficult to keep their feet nice & free of burs & brambles. Occasionally I will have to snip out a really badly tangled twig from their fur.

[AT]

I do all my dogs myself. the last one we took to a groomers came back chopped short ( it was all clipper marks & awful)
I also groom a few dogs for people I know

I've just been combing our cav with a stripping knife , she is a mess but I find shaving requires more maintenance than leaving them long So I am attempting to strip the fluff out of her back & the top of her head in the hope she will eventully look a bit sleeker & not need to be shaved again.

[Barbara Nixon]

Like Kirsty, I only do underpaws, as I like to see the full coat. I had used to trim Izzy's slippers. though as they grew long as though they had fertilizer applied.

Teddy lost most of his undercarriage coat, chest hair, side skirts , leg feathers and bum hair, due to his allergy, but since treatment with Atopica (in October/ November ?) all is back to normal , except for the side skirts which haven't grown as quickly.

I know at least two people who had the whole dog trimmed, to find that the coat grew back curly. (One Blenheim and one tricolour).

[arasara]

I also trim underneath the pads with scissors but I am also considering taking a shaver and shaving a little square around the bum. I've been having trouble with kosmo getting stuff stuck in his hair

I had a bad grooming experience once and haven't been able to take a dog back since

I also use a coat king mars every month or so which seems to help cut down the shedding. I don't go "crazy" with it, but a little bit seems to help