The body I hand strip or for pets, I rake it out with a stripping knife to get new coat started before I blade it. or hand strip it a little, 5 or 10 minutes worth.On pets I then use a #5f from just behind the occiput, pattern like a Cairn but shorter and a sharper line behind the head and clean under the neck. Taper clipped dogs into the skirt with thinners.5F the shoulders to the elbow and down the point of the shoulder too, leaving just the coat inside the cow lick between the legs for the front of the skirt.From the side, don't leave as much skirt as a Scotty skirt, you can see the leg shape, slightly more narrow at the elbow and tapers to the pastern. round the feet. No hanging skirt on the rear. Shape the hind leg and pants so that the dog's shape shows and fairly short below the hocks into a rounded foot. On pets, #4 the tail or just scissor it but leave a thick base and then taper it to a sharp point.For show it is hand stripped then touched up with thinners.
The hard part is the head. The head is _round_ and is supposed to look like a chrysanthemum viewed from the front. Only shave the very tip of the ear, about the width of your little finger. (That's the usual mistake and really changes the look, if you clip the top third or half, like the books often say.) The head starts like if you pulled a collar up to just behind the ears and just behind the jaw line, The #5 starts sharp behind it, save it all to work with in front of that, Head length should be almost to the top of the ears so just the tips show. If you hand strip some out it will stand better on the head. Comb it all forward and round the head very full with thinning shears or stripping knife. It is longer on the cheeks and around to about an inch below the chin. The back of this line also rounds into the outer edges of the ears so they become part of the picture of the circle. Pull it all forward with your hands often as you work so you can picture "where" you are going,as the outside edge of the ears taper into the cheeks so they become part of the round head.You can not see this with the ears layed back. I pull off with my fingers some hair in front of the eyes but leave a little too.You should be able to see the eyes but not a bichon look either. Do not shave the top of the nose.
After the bath use setting gel or mousse on the head and hand dry it, bone dry,head and cheeks up and out and forward. Use some Wella Kolestrol or chalk mate, rub a glob into your hand and massage it in. and let it dry. This alone will do wonders to stand up the head or if you want to be more ambitious then use some chalk or harsh coat grooming powder, or even corn starch, put plenty on the head and cheeks then blow it out with the dryer. Again you can stop here and touch up with thinners any stray hairs. For a show look finish, next starting below the eyes on the cheeks hold the coat a little at a time and backcomb (Rat) the bottom half to the skin with a human teasing comb or a flea comb, until the entire head is a nice mess. Then use the wide end of a greyhound the pick end of the teasing comb and pick out just the top layer until it looks fairly smooth. Put your hands behind the head around the neck and pull the whole works forward during the process several times while you are working the coat. Go back and round off any strays with the thinning shears again at this point. Spray it with hair spray and hope their owner comes soon.
Laurel Tofflemire
Terraholm Border Terriers
The Beach Bums of the Oregon Coast