Page 51 - Demo

Show Grooming for Rookies:
AWPhoto Tutorial by Kathy Glaes, Conformation Editor
e have three Aussies. Suzie, beautifully structured but excessively flashy, is my agility and herding pal. Vladi, our severely dysplastic rescue boy, is my Rally-O (and someday really-O) buddy. Ellie (Bijou’s Simple Elegance), a beautiful, correct black tri bitch, is
my first conformation dog. I am used to wash-n-wear Aussies; however, show dogs need a bit more work. Rookies find out fast that getting their first show dog groomed for the ring is hard, detail-oriented work where a mis-snip with the scissors or a cloud of chalk as you gait can lose you a ribbon. We newbies need a mentor not only for showing, but also for grooming!
Lucky for me, Ellie’s breeder, Lisa Hart of Bijou Aussies, is a wonderful groomer who lives only two hours away from me. I grabbed my camera and headed to New Jersey on a fine, crisp March morning for a grooming tutorial—with photos—so we rook- ies can compete with the big dogs!
Lisa starts training her dogs to love the table from puppyhood. She puts a pup on the table and treats and praises, makes a few passes with a brush, and treats and praises some more. She then takes the pup off the table. (To avoid injuries, she does not allow them to jump off.) Each time the pup is on the table, there are treats and praise. Sessions are kept very short, with only a little brushing or one nail clipped before treating and praising and releasing. She trains the pup to stand and to lie down on the table—Lisa grooms nails while the dog is lying down.
Within a few months a pup can’t wait to get on the table to be groomed. Even when her dogs are older, she keeps grooming sessions short and positive, preferring to spread a com- plete grooming over the course of a week rather than allow a dog to become bored and restless and no
longer eager to be groomed. She will begin preparing her dogs for a show about two weeks ahead of time.
Each groomer has personal prefer- ences for tools, equipment, and prod- ucts, and each groomer has a person- al style. Lisa’s preferences and style are based on eleven years showing Aussies, and they work for her. Lisa used Ellie’s brother Dante (Bijou’s And Then Some) to demonstrate because he loves being groomed.
brushes get down to the skin on lon- ger-haired breeds like Aussies. Lisa advises us never to brush a dry dog. Keep a water-misting bottle at hand and mist the dog’s coat frequently to keep static and hair breakage to a minimum.
To clean out as much dead, loose undercoat as possible during brush- ing, work your way up from the bot- tom of feathers, pants, chest, mane, and sides, lifting the hair up in bunches and brushing from the skin out.
Ears
Scraggly ears, with dead hair under them and wild hair growing and blowing every which way on them, must be trimmed and shaped for the show ring. Lisa likes to groom the
The Brush Out
Lisa trims and shapes ears, nails, feet, hocks and tail before she bathes and fluffs. She starts with a thorough brushing, though, using a long- pinned pin brush. Long-pinned pin
May/June 2005 The Australian Shepherd Journal 49