Need input on scissor cutting...

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Winnie is seriously starting to look like a Wooly Mammoth. Or a buffalo. Or a combination of the two! :-) I love the long "rag taggy" look, but it is time to get rid of some of the length.

To date, I have gotten by with bathing and blowing her out monthly, and doing some trimming with a thinning shears on her face and feet. I realize it is going to be time intensive, but I want to do a scissor cut on her this weekend. I have done a ton of reading on this site and the net, and think that I have a pretty good grasp on how to go about doing it. But, I need some extra guidance.

Right now her coat ranges from 4-5 inches long, and I want to take about half of it off. Her coat is a combination of loose soft curls on her head/chest/shoulders, "crimping" on her front legs, frizzy "bad perm hair" looking on her rump, and fairly straight and flowing retriever-looking back legs. I want it all to  look as natural as possible, and plan to do a "rough in" cut like Barb talks about. Brush her out, cut, then shampoo and blow-dry partially and air dry the rest to retain the curls. After that I'll go over any blunt edges with a thinning shears to soften.

Do I cut all of those different areas and textures the same way- i.e. pull the hair straight out from the body and cut across (perpendicular) on the top of the body and down on the sides and legs? Does someone have a picture guideline that shows which way to hold the hair up on all parts of the body so that I don't get a lot of choppy blunt cuts? Thanks much!

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Wow, I am coming over for the lesson!  You did a fabulous job!

[Pat, Mary & Cooper]

Wow! Fantastic job! Looking great!

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

Fantastic! Any things that surprised you?

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Well, I was surprised at how long it took! As much as I like the longer look of a scissor cut, I think I will get some clippers with comb attachments to help speed the process up. 

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Thanks, all! It's not perfect, but it's not too bad for being my first time. It's amazing how shortening her ears and shaping her face/neck really makes her look younger! If only it was that easy for us, huh?

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

Love the praying photo. ;)
You did a great job!

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Thank you!

We taught her a long time ago to "pray" before meals. And, we had purposely decided to groom her before supper so that my husband could hand feed her and distract her. So, when my husband put her on the table and she saw the bag of food, she really DID do her prayer! :-) Smarty pants....

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

That's awesome!

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

Lori - I just saw this on my fb feed this morning.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=32rVDwTUbzs

I figure if I teach Gracie to pray she will be like the naughty one. ;)

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

I love it! :-)  Now I just need to figure out how to teach her to put her own bowl in the dishwasher....hmm... that seems like a good Winter project....

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

Lol. Now that sounds like a good trick!