| Trimming Your Pet Collie |
Trimming your Collie may make grooming easier for you.
These are the places I may trim a dog who is not being shown - if these areas tend to tangle and
mat. Your first attempts may look a little unprofessional, but you will get better each time.
This is how all of us learn to trim our dogs, by trial and error. And most of us, make plenty of errors
before we feel like we get even close to right.
It is helpful to have someone help you hold your dog, if he or she likes to wiggle
when you are grooming and this will be a new experience, so go slowly.
Between the legs
How I do it, is to brush the dog out completely, and lay him on his side.
I sit on the floor, but it can be done on a table, too.
Raise the upper leg, and trim only the hair that is on the INSIDE of the thighs.
Do not trim the hair that is at the stifle (bend of the knee) or the feathers that
are at the back of the thighs. You want to keep this hair at its natural length so
it looks nice when the dog is standing up. You don't want your trim work to be seen.
You may also want to trim a little of the hair part way up the belly, if this hair gets dirty on a male.
Leave the hair on the outsides of the belly long, just trimming near the mid-line. Some dogs are a
little nervous about this area, so pet and reassure him as you work.
Under the tail of a Collie if this area gets dirty.
While you sit on a stool pull the dog's belly over your leg, and hold him so he cannot sit down or
wiggle away, or work while he is on his laying on his side. Hold the tail of the dog up and carefully
and gently trim the hair where anything sticks to it. MAKE SURE that you use a round-tipped
scissor or point the tips of your scissor away from the anus. Usually, you don't need to take off
much, and you don't want to take off so much that the dog's tail won't cover the scissored area, or it
will definitely look strange back there.
Underarms of a long-haired dog may tangle, and this is much easier to trim away than to comb
out. I do this on my show dogs, especially if there is a lot of it. Otherwise comb it regularly.
Behind the ear.....this won't need trimming as long as you keep the hair combed out. I do my best
to run a comb through this hair once a day and not more than every two days. My dogs love to
chew on each other, so they create more mats than if there was just one of them.
Some Collies have very long and very soft hair behind the ears and some owners like to trim this
hair away. The best tool for this is a thinning shear. It doesn't have to be an expensive pair if your
are doing trimming on your pet. The only reason you would buy a high priced pair of shears is if
you are grooming a lot, as in show grooming.
The thinning shear works by cutting only some hair each time you close them. The way many
groomers do it, is to close the scissors in a 'close-open-close-open' motion, starting near the skin,
and moving outward, toward the ends of the hair as you 'chop' the hair. This technique will give
you a much softer look than if you cut at the hair while keeping the scissors in one place. It take a
little practice to do, but you will get good at it as time passes.
Hold your dogs head or muzzle (very gently) and having the fuzzy hair combed out and up, place
the scissor an inch or so from the skin, and start the chopping motion and move your shear away
from the skin. It doesn't seem like you are removing much hair, but the more passes with the
scissor, the more you will get to come out, and it is a much nicer look than you would get with a
regular scissor. Comb through after a few passes with the scissor and check your work and
continue on until you have removed enough hair to make this area look smoother. Remember to
take care and comb all the way to the skin, and following the ear cup around and downward toward
the chin, as these little mats like to hide from us.
Between the footpads, remove if this hair is very thick and long. I remove this hair from all my
dogs when I do nail trims. I use an electric pet trimmer or a horse ear trimmer (battery operated) to
do this because these tools make fast work of it. You can use a trimmer or a pair of scissors. I trim
the hair between the big footpad and the toes, but not the hair between the toes themselves. I trim
all the long hair around the big footpad and each toe pad level with the pads themselves. Your first
few tries may look a little jagged, but this will get better with practice, too. This is more important in
the winter when ice and snow may stick into this hair and make it hard for your dog to walk.
Keeping the feet trimmed helps your dogs foot stay nice and round and tight.
These are the places I may trim a dog who is not being shown - if these areas tend to tangle and
mat. Your first attempts may look a little unprofessional, but you will get better each time.
This is how all of us learn to trim our dogs, by trial and error. And most of us, make plenty of errors
before we feel like we get even close to right.
It is helpful to have someone help you hold your dog, if he or she likes to wiggle
when you are grooming and this will be a new experience, so go slowly.
Between the legs
How I do it, is to brush the dog out completely, and lay him on his side.
I sit on the floor, but it can be done on a table, too.
Raise the upper leg, and trim only the hair that is on the INSIDE of the thighs.
Do not trim the hair that is at the stifle (bend of the knee) or the feathers that
are at the back of the thighs. You want to keep this hair at its natural length so
it looks nice when the dog is standing up. You don't want your trim work to be seen.
You may also want to trim a little of the hair part way up the belly, if this hair gets dirty on a male.
Leave the hair on the outsides of the belly long, just trimming near the mid-line. Some dogs are a
little nervous about this area, so pet and reassure him as you work.
Under the tail of a Collie if this area gets dirty.
While you sit on a stool pull the dog's belly over your leg, and hold him so he cannot sit down or
wiggle away, or work while he is on his laying on his side. Hold the tail of the dog up and carefully
and gently trim the hair where anything sticks to it. MAKE SURE that you use a round-tipped
scissor or point the tips of your scissor away from the anus. Usually, you don't need to take off
much, and you don't want to take off so much that the dog's tail won't cover the scissored area, or it
will definitely look strange back there.
Underarms of a long-haired dog may tangle, and this is much easier to trim away than to comb
out. I do this on my show dogs, especially if there is a lot of it. Otherwise comb it regularly.
Behind the ear.....this won't need trimming as long as you keep the hair combed out. I do my best
to run a comb through this hair once a day and not more than every two days. My dogs love to
chew on each other, so they create more mats than if there was just one of them.
Some Collies have very long and very soft hair behind the ears and some owners like to trim this
hair away. The best tool for this is a thinning shear. It doesn't have to be an expensive pair if your
are doing trimming on your pet. The only reason you would buy a high priced pair of shears is if
you are grooming a lot, as in show grooming.
The thinning shear works by cutting only some hair each time you close them. The way many
groomers do it, is to close the scissors in a 'close-open-close-open' motion, starting near the skin,
and moving outward, toward the ends of the hair as you 'chop' the hair. This technique will give
you a much softer look than if you cut at the hair while keeping the scissors in one place. It take a
little practice to do, but you will get good at it as time passes.
Hold your dogs head or muzzle (very gently) and having the fuzzy hair combed out and up, place
the scissor an inch or so from the skin, and start the chopping motion and move your shear away
from the skin. It doesn't seem like you are removing much hair, but the more passes with the
scissor, the more you will get to come out, and it is a much nicer look than you would get with a
regular scissor. Comb through after a few passes with the scissor and check your work and
continue on until you have removed enough hair to make this area look smoother. Remember to
take care and comb all the way to the skin, and following the ear cup around and downward toward
the chin, as these little mats like to hide from us.
Between the footpads, remove if this hair is very thick and long. I remove this hair from all my
dogs when I do nail trims. I use an electric pet trimmer or a horse ear trimmer (battery operated) to
do this because these tools make fast work of it. You can use a trimmer or a pair of scissors. I trim
the hair between the big footpad and the toes, but not the hair between the toes themselves. I trim
all the long hair around the big footpad and each toe pad level with the pads themselves. Your first
few tries may look a little jagged, but this will get better with practice, too. This is more important in
the winter when ice and snow may stick into this hair and make it hard for your dog to walk.
Keeping the feet trimmed helps your dogs foot stay nice and round and tight.
