Meet the new Ragley! (A home grooming tutorial)

[Stephanie and Ragley]

On Mother's Day, I did what I previously thought to be the unthinkable- I took clippers to my sweet muppetdoodle. My family had been peer pressuring me to take her to a groomer and get her a summer cut. I got accusations of her looking like a sheepdog, that I wouldn't be a "real doodle owner" if I didn't get her a summer cut, blah blah blah. I stood my ground for a while, but after discovering recently that Ragley is actually equal parts of goldendoodle and fish, I decided I'd rather not spend my entire summer drying, brushing, and combing her for hours a day to maintain my zero-mats record. 

I have done all of Ragley's grooming so far and I didn't plan on changing that for her summer cut. I had previously scissor cut her with thinning shears, but I knew that might be a little too much for me to handle when I was needing to take so much fluff off. Fortunately, my dad has a wonderful set of clippers and comb attachments that I was able to borrow for my little experiment so I didn't have to spend money on clippers before knowing if I can actually do well with them. 

I have had a few people ask about how I did it and so many people have been posting about summer cuts recently, so I thought I'd provide a semi-detailed explanation of how I accomplished my pretty good result (I think) so that others can learn from it and also so that I can get feedback if anyone has suggestions!

I have been told that every cut begins with a good bath, dry, brush and comb out so that is where I started! I always brush her BEFORE bathing too as I have found that that makes the after-bath brushing and combing much easier.

         

     Drama queen looking pitiful for the camera                     "Ok, this isn't so bad"

Here is the before. As you can see, I put a towel over a coffee table to lift her a bit. This helped save my back a bit, but I will definitely be investing in a taller table for the future. 

I used electric clippers with a 1" comb attachment to do her cut. I wasn't thrilled to go that short, but it was the longest comb that I had available. In order to try to keep her hair longer, I ran the clippers in the direction of hair growth ( this was head to tail direction for the majority of the job). This comb and method left her body at about 1.5" which actually looks much longer and fuller than expected. I started at her neck and worked my way around her trunk from there, doing first one side then the other. I had a stainless steel comb that I used to continue to fluff her hair before running the clippers through, but honestly, I found it much easier to just use my hand to fluff so that's what I did. I like the longer leg look so when clipping her chest and trunk, I avoided running the clippers over her shoulders so I could blend them into the legs later. As you can see, she got comfortable. On that note- Ragley was an absolute angel and displayed extreme patience for the whole ordeal, but I found that it does help to have a second set of hands that can be popping treats in the dog's mouth as the grooming is happening.

At this point, my photographer fell asleep in the sunshine on the blanket in the yard so I have a giant gap in documentation, but once I had a first clip on her entire trunk, I stepped back and fluffed her all over where I had clipped to check for any stray hairs that the clipper had missed. This is an important step because trust me- the clipper correction looks WAY more natural than the scissor corrections later. 

I did her ears next- I took the comb and brushed away any of the hair that was originating on her head so I was left holding her ear with a clear path for the clipper of just hair on her ear. I chose to use the clipper for this because I prefer a little shorter ear on her. Her ears are long anyway, and I prefer the more rounded head look. In hindsight, I would have switched combs to a shorter one to more easily clip the finer hair on her ears. After clipping along the main part, I placed my fingers on the edge of her ear leather as a safety measure and ran the clippers along the perimeter of the ear to trim off the hair that was draping down. I then corrected stray hair as needed and repeated on the other ear. 

To keep the legs longer, I still used my fluff and clip method that I used on her body, but instead of running the clippers along her body, I kept them lifted off her leg a little. There really was no legitimate method to this, but rather just me "shaping" the leg how I like the look to be. I like the front legs to have a tube-like look so I did my best to keep the hair looking of an equal length along the whole leg (this required trimming her elbows shorter). I have not mastered the back leg shaping, but I did my best to create a fluffy-but-athletic shape to them. I followed the legs' natural shape a little more, but trimmed a little more off her "butt-side" of each leg and trimmed her groin hair shorter primarily for sanitary reasons, but it also creates a gap in between the back legs, enhancing each leg. I also trimmed shorter in her armpits and the back leg equivalent to add definition and enhance the look of the fluffier legs. 

The last thing I trimmed was her "afro"- the hair on top of her head. I was originally going to scissor cut it, but I decided to use the clippers for blending reasons. I wanted the head a little longer than the body so I used the same technique on the legs for her mop-top: fluffing the hair, then "shaping" with the clippers elevated off her body a bit. toward the back of her head where I met up with the calipered body, I gently blended the length of the head shorter so it matched the clipped back.

I had already trimmed her bangs, beard, mustache, and "cheeks" last week, so I didn't have to do that when I clipped her. The cheeks would be much easier to do with a clipper and I tried to clean them up a bit when I did her body- same with the beard. For bangs, comb the head hair forward, guard the eyes and grip the hair between two fingers along the brow line and do a rounded trim to match the shape of the head. For mustache, mark the end of the lip with your fingers to protect the skin and do a straight cut along the lip. For the fuller, rounded look, comb hair out in a perpendicular direction to the muzzle, grip to hold in that position and make a cut to get a layered effect. Trim other side to match. 

BY NO MEANS AM I A PROFESSIONAL GROOMER OR CLAIM TO HAVE ANY PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE.

This is merely an explanation of how I did a home grooming on MY dog in hopes to help encourage other owners and give them confidence to do their own grooming. I am very happy with my first attempt result and it was really a great bonding time between Ragley and me. Also, did I mention she feels like crushed velvet?? SO soft!

Questions and criticism welcome!

End result:

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Wow Stephanie - terrific job!

[Stephanie and Ragley]

Thank you, Linda! Your boys were part of my "look" inspiration!

[Brittney & Cally]

She looks amazing! You did an incredible job!

[Stephanie and Ragley]

Thanks! You can do it too!!!

[Camilla and Darwin]

You did an awesome job - I LOVE the final look! What a great descriptive post!

[Stephanie and Ragley]

Thank you! I had been looking for a descriptive post to use before, but couldn't find one so I thought maybe this will help at least one other person!

[Deb's Yarrow and Schatzi]

BRAVO!!!  I enjoyed the play by play and the photos... You're right about the drama queen expression.   Years ago, I did groom professionally, but a doodle is NOT a poodle, and I love it when they come out of a grooming looking tidied up by not like they're ready for the cover of Elle magazine.  You did an AWESOME job!  Thanks so much for sharing the experience. Ragley is a very lucky girl!  I can tell that she knows she looks marvelous!

[Stephanie and Ragley]

Thank you, Deb!

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Great job! You captured such a cute expression on Ragley's face, too. Like you, I'm a fan of longer legs. I usually (if not always) trim the legs with every groom, but since I cut the back shorter I can clipper cut the legs longer with a longer comb attachment. I start the back right at the base of the skull (I feel for it), continuing down around the back and sides. and clipper cut the head the same length as the legs. It leaves a natural line between skull and back, that can be easily softened with thinning shears. To easily blend the body into the legs I lift the clipper just at the shoulders and hips while doing the back. It makes for an easy and natural transition. Both my doods are pretty curly (Lucy is wooly) so mistakes are pretty apparent, and those transition lines are important for the most natural result.

You'll learn what techniques work best for Ragley's hair type the more clipper cuts you have under your belt, but I think you did a great job!

[Stephanie and Ragley]

Thank you, Debb! That sounds like the technique I attempted

[Julie and Max]

Wow you did a wonderful job, now you make me want to try even more to do my own grooming, Ragley looks amazing!

[Stephanie and Ragley]

You can do it!