Why Isn't That Perfect Face Happening? Ep217

Why Isn't That Perfect Face Happening Ep217

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[00:00:00] Episode 217. Why isn't that perfect face happening? If you've ever asked your groomer, why can't you make him look like the dog in the picture? Or if you're a groomer, like, why aren't my grooms looking like those gorgeous faces that I see other groomers do?

[00:00:14] Well? This week we're talking about why behavior is the key part to getting those gorgeous faces. Once we understand how calm, comfortable, and cooperative changes everything about. Prep work. Then we can get those gorgeous heads. You are listening to the Creating Great Grooming Dog Show. I'm Chrissy Neumyer Smith.

[00:00:33] I'm a master groomer behavior specialist, a master canine stylist, a certified professional dog trainer, certified behavior consultant for canines certified professional groomer, a bunch of other things. I'm also the dean of academics and an educator at the whole pet Grooming Academy, and this my friends and colleagues, is the show where we talk about teaching pets to be good for grooming and other types of care.

[00:00:55] Bathing, drying, brushing, combing, clipper work, scissor work, all [00:01:00] of these things are affected by behavior, especially around the head, because around the head is one of the most sensitive areas for our pets. I think everyone thinks about nail trimming as being the big one, but I would argue it's working on their faces and working on their heads.

[00:01:17] Ooh, isn't that the sweet spot for grooming? Isn't that the thing that owners really want? I mean, if we can get a beautiful looking head, it's almost like they don't notice anything else I've had owners, 'cause I'm house call watching over my shoulder going, oh, he, he is almost done. I'm like, I've done his head and rounded his feet.

[00:01:34] Like, there's so much more to do. Would you have been happy with just that? And frankly, I think in many cases those are the top things that they're looking for. They're like, oh. So pretty if you could do a pretty head, but let's talk about the behavior side of doing that pretty head. I think that that really gets overlooked.

[00:01:53] So I know you guys think about me as behavior and I get that, but I was a grooming instructor at our hands-on [00:02:00] school prep work is how you get a beautiful head. If you don't do the right prep work, you cannot get that beautiful head.

[00:02:07] You want that Asian fusion style? You absolutely have to have meticulous prep work. . If you want that doodle head to look fabulous. Meticulous prep work. Prep work is the key to good trims, but let's talk about when behavior is blocking some of that prep work.

[00:02:26] You can't get a good trim without proper prep work. And if you're an owner listening to this, I want you to think about you can't paint over rust. Well, I mean, you can. Um, the rust is still there though, and it's gonna look like garbage. And I don't know, as soon as that paint flakes off, you can't just keep doing trims over behavior problems because they don't come out.

[00:02:50] Right. So let's talk about how behavior affects every step of really even just trimming around the face, just getting that gorgeous little head [00:03:00] because I think that that is really a key to selling grooming. If you can make pretty heads, owners are really pretty happy. Now when I talk about behavior, we are not forcing dogs through things even though they're scared.

[00:03:13] If you've been listening to the show, you'll know that I'm not about pushing dogs through grooming sessions.

[00:03:19] That's not what we do because it makes the problem worse, and yet so often that is what is being done. So we want dogs to be calm. We want to teach them to be comfortable, and we want to help them be cooperative. And the reason why is because if we have a dog who is calm, comfortable, and cooperative. We can do a better job at making beautiful heads.

[00:03:45] If you're an owner listening to this, you may think, well, that's just the groomer's skill, but trying to work on a moving target is very, very different. Then trying to work with a dog who is holding still for us and being calm and comfortable and [00:04:00] cooperative. I know those three C's again. No, but I want you to think about, it's not just the groomer's skill level on a dog who's behaving well.

[00:04:09] That same groomer could do amazing things. And if you're a groomer who's saying, yeah, my head's never come out exactly the way I want, I want you to really consider the behavior aspects of this process. So let's start off with. What about care at home, the dog who doesn't let the owners keep their face clean?

[00:04:29] Brushing faces and dematting faces is very, very sensitive. So if you're an owner and your dog is getting matted on their face, we might need to trim those out,

[00:04:40] which now means you're not gonna get that cute look from Instagram that you liked, because what happens is, is that that mat is now damaged fur. It's damaged, it's dirty, and it's wrapped around whiskers. Whiskers are sensory. That is a very sensitive part of your dog's face. And to try to dematt that [00:05:00] may not be something we can do and the coat might be damaged and just mat right up again.

[00:05:04] Home care is really important and actually really easy if you have a dog who is comfortable with it. If you work on really prioritizing that this dog is safe and comfortable to work with, so that when they have eye boogies and you can like use a wet paper towel and just kind of like work those out gently.

[00:05:25] You can touch your dog's face, you can brush through, you can check if they have . Food stuck in their beard. If they're a terrier and they come in the house, you know, like keeping your dog's face clean in between groomings and well maintained between Groomings is an essential part of what kind of trimming you can get when it comes time to bring them to the groomer.

[00:05:45] Now, after care at home, when they get to the groomer. A perfect face for the groomers out there who, who need to hear it or just want someone else to say what they've been feeling all along. 'cause sometimes it's just nice to hear someone else [00:06:00] say it back to you. A perfect face starts with a perfect bath to get a face really, really clean.

[00:06:08] And that means to get in there with the right products and really work through any of those little tangles, clean that face and. I gotta say, it seems that a lot of these dogs, their faces are so sensitive that that can be really difficult for us to do. So sometimes we're like, good enough.

[00:06:28] It was a good enough bath. And you know what, you guys have heard me say this before. If an animal is struggling and they're frustrated or they're scared, good enough is good. . You might even not bathe the face if, if you think that animal is terrified. But right now we're talking about chasing the dream of the perfect head, the perfectly round head, or the Asian fusion head, or that perfectly wavy doodle head that the owner really, really wants.

[00:06:52] We're chasing the dream of perfection. We need the perfect bath, and that involves making that really comfortable for this dog. So let's [00:07:00] talk about not getting water up their nose. Not getting water in their ears and not getting anything in their eyes. Now, if you're working with a dog who's doing a lot of moving around, you might need to modify your bathing technique , to help make sure that that doesn't get in their eyes.

[00:07:19] For example, I have a couple of little it bitty, bitty dogs that we use a face cloth, get around their faces because you know the space between there. Nose and their eye is probably about half an inch. They're itty bitty dogs. I'm gonna work around that, but it might not be, as easy as owners think it is.

[00:07:37] So really we have to have a good bath. And if a dog is moving around a lot, we risk getting stuff in their eyes. And I don't know who needs to hear this, but it's really important that we not get anything in their eyes. Anything. Not shampoo, not conditioner, not tearless shampoo, not facial cleansers.

[00:07:58] Nothing in their [00:08:00] eyes. We're not putting mineral oil in their eyes to protect their eyes from things that we put in their eyes. None of that. None of that. And if you are getting soap or. Shampoo or facial cleansers in a dog's eyes, it can still be very irritating. It can cause problems, which is why owners, if we say , we did our best, getting your dog's face clean, it's because we're trying to avoid getting anything in their eyes, their nose, or their ears, because we don't want your dog to go home and have eye irritation.

[00:08:31] So we are trying to do this the safest way possible. And by the way, if you do, if you're at home and you get something in your dog's eye, if it's one of our, products meant for dogs. Probably the first aid is going to be to, , flush that out with sterile saline solution. And you're thinking, but it's a tearless facial wash.

[00:08:51] I don't care. We don't put anything in dog's eyes. First aid for tearless facial wash is to flush the eye out with sterile saline [00:09:00] solution. We don't put anything in dog's eyes, and it's part of why some of these dogs are extra wiggly. It's hard to say. It's kind of a chicken or the egg thing. Is that why they're wiggly or is it.

[00:09:11] Because they're wiggly. It's tricky. We're not really sure, but do think about the fact that the bath is when we get it all clean, really important to get that face washed. And then we wanna apply conditioner, conditioners, another eye irritant. We don't want it in their eyes, we don't want it in their nose, we don't want it in their ears.

[00:09:31] And a dog that's shaken around or trying to bite at this sprayer is not a good candidate for this type of meticulous work around their faces in the bathtub. So just kind of keep this in mind. If we're chasing the dream of the perfect head, then we need to make sure that we're keeping these pets safe during bath time.

[00:09:51] And when we're drying. The perfect head has a direction that we're drying in. It's not like put him in a crate and [00:10:00] have the dryer blow on him, or, you know, just kind of like cuddling him near the dryer, and patiently , getting him dry.

[00:10:07] , it's more like a, a hairstyling blowout that we're really trying to achieve. So if you want a nice round head, we should be drying that fur in the direction we want it to fluff out at. , if we are looking for schnauzer eyebrows or a terrier type face, we wanna dry the hair in the direction we want it to go.

[00:10:28] We want those eyebrows to be pointing forward toward the nose, then that's the direction we need to dry it. If we want the beard pointing. Under their chin, then that's the way we need to dry it. We can't just fluff everything up all over the place. Now here's an interesting point. If you're an owner, if you really love that doodle look where the coat is kind of wavy,

[00:10:49] we, we. Trim dry dogs. So the dogs have already had a bath and then they get dried. And I think the more owners know that, they're like, oh, I didn't understand why you [00:11:00] were fluffing them out like that. I thought you were making them look like a poodle. So groomers, if you're talking to owners, tell them.

[00:11:06] Tell them like, it's gonna look crazy if I just trim it while it's wet. That's not how we groom dogs. What we can do is maybe after we finish making it all, even maybe we re-wet just to get some of that doodle waviness back in.

[00:11:21] But we're not intentionally trying to make your dog look like a poodle. But think about the drying process. If you want a round face, if you want , that Asian fusion look, yeah, those dogs in those videos have been meticulously prepped.

[00:11:35] That coat is. Clean that coat is dry. That coat has been dried to fluff out in the exact direction they want it to be so that you can make like a round muzzle or whatever it is you're trying to do. It has been meticulously worked on. Now also read between the lines, if a dog has issues with their face being touched, this is a lot of [00:12:00] face touching.

[00:12:01] So if we wanna get to this dream beautiful head, we have work to do. We have work to do and it's not gonna happen in one day. So now we're doing the drying. If we do have tangles and stuff, we're brushing them out. But ideally that care started at home and we're not getting a dog who's super matted.

[00:12:21] I don't think we need thousands of videos on how to make a round face or how to do an Asian fusion face or how to do a terrier face. I think we need animals who are well adjusted to the process so that we can work our craft and owners who understand what our craft is and are working on it at home too.

[00:12:38] And value that. How nice. Let's, oh, let's live the dream and we'll talk about more in the next part.

[00:12:46] So let's say the dog is all dry. Now, we're probably gonna use some sprays. Sprays are pretty common. So we might mist in a conditioning spray. We might use scissoring spray, we might use clippers next to a [00:13:00] dog's head. We're definitely gonna be using brushes, we're gonna be using combs. And all of these tools are more layers of someone's picking at my head.

[00:13:08] Someone's picking at my head, picking at my face. It's not a quick process. And I think, um. We as humans sit back and go, oh, right. It's not really a quick process for us either to get our head done, but now imagine that somebody is doing all of that process, every part of your body. So these dogs, it's a lot.

[00:13:29] It's a lot that we're asking of them if we want that gorgeous, perfect head. All of this prep work now has been done, but maybe that dog's patience level has just been used up. And now we have the clippers and we have scissors, and we have scissoring spray. And you know, maybe we pull out the dryer again and you know, are trying to like just dry out a little cowlick.

[00:13:50] Maybe one eyebrow is sticking up. Funny. This is when we go back and say, all right, I know you're, you're getting tired of, this my sweet puppy, but this is the [00:14:00] important part. We need to do the scissor work and the clipper work. And if we can have a dog who holds still, what we're actually doing is we're sculpting in hair.

[00:14:10] , we're looking at that dog straight in the face, but not really looking at their eyes or their nose. We're looking for symmetry. We're looking for shapes. We're looking for roundness. We're putting the comb through a bunch of times, misting on, some more scissoring spray. Getting in there with, with regular shears, getting in there with our chunkers or our thinners or our blenders, or any other variety of.

[00:14:32] Tools. So this might be, we have a whole stack of tools on the table beside us that we just keep switching through to do. A perfect head is so much fun and we play in hair and we really wanna do it, but we need the dog to be comfortable with that. So we have all of this care that goes into making that perfect head.

[00:14:57] And yet. So many [00:15:00] groomers are like, I don't understand how to make that, how to achieve that. And that's why we have to step back, step back for a minute and go, you can't even work your scissoring skills until you help this pet be comfortable with it. You're not gonna do your best clipper work. , your dog might not be prepped well enough for that kind of scissor work and that kind of clipper work. You know, the dog who's gonna hold really still and relax into it and not care that you keep picking up new tools. And , I think owners don't really understand what it takes for us to get that little bit of hair at the front of that dog's lip.

[00:15:36] Right along the lip in front of their nose. Often we're putting our finger in your dog's mouth , to pull that out and keep them from licking our scissors while we kind of are pulling that hair out and trying to trim it up and, all right, I gotta say out there for anybody who wants us to save the lashes.

[00:15:55] Oh, his lashes are so long and beautiful and I get that. That's [00:16:00] really, really hard to do. I know when you're at home and your dog is laying there beside you looking all cute, you think it would be the easiest thing in the world to just trim around those? That is not the case. We're gonna try. If you ask us to leave the lashes, we're going to try.

[00:16:14] That's next level, difficulty level for your dog because your dog is often a moving target. So groomers, if we want to help an owner understand that this is kind of the things we have to tell them, like you need to work with teaching your dog to be really still for all sorts of head handling, all sorts of head handling so that we can save those lashes.

[00:16:36] 'cause that is not an easy ask. Tell owners they don't know if we don't tell them. They won't understand if we don't spell it out, that we want to make the cutest heads possible. 'cause I mean, you know, we're dog groomers. It's art for us. We love making these dogs look really cute. When a dog has that perfect expression, they're gorgeous.

[00:16:59] We love that. [00:17:00] That's what we like to do. But it takes a lot of prep work and all those other things have to happen. The bath has to be meticulous. The drying has to be meticulous. The brushing, the sprays, the clippers, the scissors, all of that stuff, the care at home to make sure that they aren't coming in matted and damaged.

[00:17:17] All of that stuff plays this role in can we get this head to be gorgeous? And then after that, from my groomer friends out there who are like, but you didn't really teach us how to do it after that. It's just learning your craft. What shape are you trying to make? What shape do you need to dry it in, and what tools do you use to get that angle?

[00:17:40] You know how to do it. You're trying to figure out how to do it on a dog who isn't prepped well, whose coat isn't lying in that direction. And sometimes we're trying to do it on a dog who doesn't have that kind of coat. Frankly, those coats that are perfect for that are dense coats. , they have [00:18:00] some texture to them.

[00:18:01] We see some really wispy coats. Not every hairstyle is gonna fit every human, and not every hairstyle is gonna fit every dog, you know? So we need to step back and go, all right, if this dog. Were perfectly still and perfectly comfortable with everything,

[00:18:17] where would I start on my head trim? How would I make those shapes, those angles? What tools would I use and am I prepared to do that now? I know this isn't part of behavior, but if you are chasing the dream of the beautiful heads, those model dogs are excellent. Play around with that. 'cause now you have, you have this like plastic body with fake fur on it, and you can work on that meticulous stuff without an emotional little being under your hands and learn how to do the techniques and make sure that you know how to do them.

[00:18:54] And maybe you get more practice for that dog who gives you a little bit of time, but [00:19:00] maybe isn't totally ready to be a hundred percent well behaved for the length of time it might take. As a beginner. Think about that. Practice on other things. Practice. Practice scissoring. Practice your clipper work

[00:19:13] play around with the fake dogs. But to get a perfect head on a dog really requires all of this prep work, and all of that prep work requires a pet who is comfortable.