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When we think of "style" in relation
to pet grooming, we usually think of particular breed grooms or certain clips
that we do, like the lamb clip, or teddy bear style. Most often we think
of the *element* of style in relation to fashion, interior decorating or hair
styling. We recognize style in the show ring and in grooming competitions.
Can this element of style be incorporated into our pet grooming? Of course
it can. All that is required is imagination and willingness to be adventuresome
and a little bold in your work.
What is
style?
What is style? Style is when the finished
product has a total look that is greater than the sum of it's parts. It's
when the dog has a distinct "look".
 I
think of style as having a little
edge or drama to it. Look at the magazines at the hairdressers.
There is style! It's the willingness to take a look all
the way. Common daily grooming can have style if there is overall
excellence and balance displayed. But we can go beyond that.
No need to be conservative all the time. That gets boring for us.
Groomers need to have some fun and exercise some artistic expression. (the
picture to the right is from a contest at the Atlanta Pet Fair 2000)
Creating
"Great Style" In Your Grooming
I can think of a few times when I have created great style in my
grooming. One was a toy poodle that I used to groom with a #7 and leave puffs on the
ankles. I made those puffs perfectly round and matched the tail to the same shape.
Then came my stroke of style: I tasseled the ears and made balls. It
was so bouncy and cute, a definite look. Then there was Daisy Mae, a bearded collie
mix whose owners wanted her striped down with a #7 and a clean face. Yuk. In
watching the dog I noticed that she would hold her ears out to the side. So I took
each ear, held it out to the side, and scissored a straight edge at an angle from the base
of the ear to the tip. Then when she held her ears out, they were perfect wedges.
It was cool! I even clipped down the crown of the head to further accentuate
those ears. Daisy Mae BECAME her ears!
Hey, it was a look! Style came to me today while grooming a lhasa apso. This
one gets a #5 clip down and I can do pretty much what I want with the face & ears.
Last month I was in a hurry and I just cut the ends of the ears off flat.
Today I looked at it and saw "blunt cut". So I carefully exaggerated the
squared off ears. And then..... I squared off the whiskers to match.
Voila! Style happened. Sasha was not just cute today as she walked out, she
was glamorous!
Are you
conservative in your daily grooms?
We groomers often become fairly conservative in our daily
grooming practice. On the one hand we are under the dictum of "correct"
breed trims, and on the other we are anxious to please the customer. It seems to
leave little room for creativity. Once I worked for a mobile grooming outfit that
wanted no individualization in my work. They wanted the grooming to be
indistinguishable from one groomer to another so that the customers wouldn't care who did
their pets. Well, I lasted 6 months at that place! Employer expectations are a
third consideration, and all of these considerations, seem to create an environment
wherein we stifle any urge to step outside the imagined "boundaries of acceptable
grooming" and fall into a rut of repeating the same basic five or six grooms over and
over through years of grooming.
"Imagined
Boundaries"
Wait a minute. Notice I said "imagined
boundaries", for they are just that. Look at the universe of correct breed
trims for example. It is within the realm of show grooming that we can discover much
of what constitutes style in dog grooming. A shih tzu topknot, the perfect flag of
an irish setter tail, a scottie head, are these not examples of style? Studying and
practicing correct breed trims can do much to give us fundamental elements of style.
Customer requests can also serve to push us to be creative. Mostly I perceive
customer instructions as boxing me in. Actually if I just relax and do it as
instructed with a commitment to making the dog look good, I can sometimes find myself
forced into a creative mode. Sometimes it takes some pressure to get me to break out
of my comfortable mold. That can happen on occasion when the condition of the dog
forces one to take off hair where you would not normally remove it. One such
instance that comes to mind was a matted shih tzu. The customer wanted me to leave
whatever I could, please. The bottoms of the ears were matted. So I clipped
only the bottom third of the ears. Voila! A look! A cute look! I
was so pleased with myself that I'm writing it to you now.
"The dog itself
can lead us to finding style."
The dog itself can lead us to finding style. Is
the dog short legged and chunky? Square him off and make him look like a
brick. Does she cock her head and prick up just one ear? Trim those
ears short to highlight that moment. Step outside the boundaries to
emphasize the unique character of an individual dog. Leave the curly top
knot on a cocker and scrunch it up after the bath with a little gel and let it
air dry. Then shorten it and leave it scrunched and curly. Take
something you like about a dog and groom so as to emphasize that feature.
"This is my
invitation..."
These are just a few examples.
This is my invitation: look at your own work and see if there are places
where you can bring a little flair, a little drama, some glam, into your work. Go
for style!
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