Help with Show Grooming

[newfhair]

Hi everyone! I am starting to get our boy Seth involved with Conformation showing and I am having some really bad luck with getting the grooming thing down. I know how to do the feet but I need some help on how to trim his ears properly. His ear is outlined where there is no fur going past the end of it, but do I need to trim the fur that is growing on his ear to different lenghts? kind of the layered look? Can anyone recommend a good grooming book for me to get??
Thanks in advance!
Carla

 

[Mike]

Yes, Carla, you want to layer the hair on the ears. Trim the hair closest to the tips short and leave it longer as you go toward the head. I use thinning shears & hold them at an angle away from the ear flap as I trim. Take a look at Penny Shubert's article on trimming on the NCA website - http://www.geocities.com/newfdogclub/knewf_know_how/kkh_docs/hkkh_13_triming.htm

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[Vicki]

The only real trick to grooming ears, or any other part is to get the best equipment you can afford. Thinning shears with 44 teeth rather than 20ish make smoother cuts. Curved shears also make the edge trimming neater. The next thing is practice. Fortunately as has been said many times, Newf hair is definitely a renewable resource. Be sure you start practice grooming long before a show so that those little oopsies can grow out.
I like to groom in several stages, a rough cut usisng the curved shears where I hack away tons of extraneous hair. Followed by several fine tunings where the thinning shears are used to smooth and shape. (I know, I know, Newfies shouldn't be "sculpted", but I live in the real world where what should be isn't always what is!) Don't get too carried away, but it is always amazing to find how much hair actually comes off in the tidying process.

Good luck, and Don't worry, it will grow back!
Vicki

 

[newfhair]

I suppose that no one lives in Wisconsin or Near Milwaukee??? sorry, had to ask!

THANKS!
Carla
( and Seth!)