Page 52 - Demo

from base to tip of the ear, so once you have made a rough cut, stand back and see how it looks.
single thinning shears to shape the tail. If the tail is too puffy, she will use a matt rake to remove enough undercoat to flatten the tail hair to her desired look. Lisa uses a matt rake because it removes only under- coat, but leaves the guard hair.
Pants, Hocks and Feathers
by Author, Editor
Using 42-tooth thinning shears and working upward, Lisa trims the dog’s pants so that they end just above the hock. Trimming the pants above the hock gives a judge a better view of the dog’s rear assembly and movement.
Using a small slicker brush, she makes sure her pants trimming is even and natural looking. She then uses the small slicker to brush out the hock hair so it can be evened and shaped with the 46-tooth thinning shears.
This is how the finished hock should look.
ears one to two weeks before a show so that any mistakes have a chance to grow out and be corrected. Start by brushing the hair in the direction it grows so you can see where trim- ming and shaping are needed.
Title
First paragraph goes here
When you are satisfied with the general look of the rough trim, use a finer 46-tooth single thinning shears and carefully trim and blend the hair until it is short and neat.
The Tail
Using straight barber shears, define the edge of the ear. Work down to avoid scissor lines. Lisa buys good shears, both straight and thinning shears, second hand from a scissor sharpening business and has them sharpened as needed—the shears are a bargain and sharpening is inex- pensive.
Using 42-tooth single thinning shears, carefully work the dead hair out from under and behind the ear. Do a rough trim of the longer hair growing on the ear. Always work in the direction that the hair grows. You want the trimmed hair to blend
Lisa runs her left hand down a dog’s spine to the tail bone a few times to feel what she has to work with and to determine how much hair must be removed. Then she bunches the hair around the tail in her left hand, evening and smooth- ing it as she goes. Using 42-tooth thinning shears and working up, she shortens the length of the hair. She will drop the hair several times, smooth it down, and stand back to see how it looks. She then takes the hair up again to shorten it more as needed.
Once the tail hair is trimmed to the length she wants, Lisa uses 46-tooth
50 The Australian Shepherd Journal May/June 2005