Grooming a French poodle for show or just grooming it so that other people know your dog is a French poodle is rather expensive. A typical dog grooming involves a bath, a blow dry of the fur, a trim if it is a long hair dog breed, and trimmed nails. Shaving a dog's fur to the skin is atypical for most breeds, but not for the French poodle. Because of the way a French poodle is supposed to look, a grooming is more expensive. If you want to save some money and get that perfect French poodle look on your poodle, you can do it yourself. Here is what you need to do.
Collecting the Right Grooming Tools Together
You will need clippers, a fur trimmer, a nail trimmer, and any accessories you want to add to your poodle's look after you have clipped it. The clippers will help you get the basic shapes of the "poms" on your poodle, while the trimmer will shave the fur closer and create the perfect edges for the full coat left behind. Since French poodles have exposed toenails, the toenails need to be trimmed perfectly. Some poodle owners will also use nail polish to highlight the toes, but that is entirely optional.
Clipping Your Poodle
Starting with the head, shave the head, face and ears completely bare. Leave only the traditional poof of fur on the top of your dog's head. Next, shave your poodle's body from just behind the shoulder blades all the way to the tail. Leave the end of the tail unshaven in order to get that pom pom puff at the end. Clip the fur skin-close from the tops of the legs to just above your dog's ankles. Then shave any fur off of the toes. Now you should have "poms" on top of your dog's head, the tip of its tail, around all four of its ankles and it should appear to be wearing a "vest" of fur around its chest and shoulders.
Trimming the Remaining Fur
Watch for areas that look uneven. Use the small trimmer to create straight lines across the back and shoulders of your poodle. Trim the remaining poofs such that they are round and fluffy. Give your dog a bath to wash off loose bits of fur and then fluff with a towel and blow dryer. As the final touch, trim the nails and add a little pink bow to the head poof and/or the tail poof. To find out more, contact a business like Abraxas Pet Resort.
