# Poodle tails and faces



## outwest (May 1, 2011)

I hope her rash is getting better. 

I am not a groomer, but my groomer did my spoos face nicely and I can see her eyes. She scissored it after shaving up between them. She also shaved the cheeks back to the ear. I think a mini and a spoo have the same haircuts and proportions. I don't think she did her top knot exactly correct, so ignore that part of the pictures. I like a definition between her top knot and her ears and more at the back of the top knot. Plus I think she scissored it too short.  Hopefully we can get that right next time, but these will give you a good idea for shaving her face. 

On her tail she shaves from the anus up the tail a couple inches on the bottom, but its end up only an inch and a half or so on the top leaving an elongated puff on the end. My spoo has a long dock, but yours may be different. I looked hard, but I don't have a good pic of her rear. 

edit: I was curious and found this site:
http://www.netplaces.com/dog-grooming/hairstyles/poodles.htm

I just recently discovered if you click on a thumbnail three times it enlarges three times! You can really see where she shaved then, but you can also see how she scissored it around her eyes. Obviously, this is not a show cut or anything, but I really love seeing her eyes!:


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## Oodlejpoodle's mom (Sep 11, 2009)

I was taught to hold the tail down and where the tail hits the bottom of the anus is how far it should be shaved. And as far as looking like a “sausage”, it is a matter of preference; you can make it round or whatever you like.

I hold it by the tip and cut small amounts at a time (curved shears) until I get the desired shape.

On the eyes, you shave from the ear to the corner of the eyes and in between the eyes; you can make a small V or go straight across.
I would buy this book; it has all kinds of photos and diagrams:

Amazon.com: Poodle Clipping and Grooming: The International Reference (Howell Reference Books) (0785555028081): Shirlee Kalstone: Books


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## Purley (May 21, 2010)

Thanks. I don't think I shaved up from the corner of the eye to the ear. I will have to have a go at that today. I did scissor above her eyes but my groomer friend said that was wrong. I really don't care if she is done like a show poodle. I like to see her eyes too and I don't want her topknot flopping over her eyes.


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## Oodlejpoodle's mom (Sep 11, 2009)

for the topknot, there are videos on U tube or here is a teaser from Jay and Sue:
Super Styling Sessions || Instructional DVD's || The Poodle


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## 3dogs (Nov 3, 2010)

There is no right or wrong way- only the way that best fits your Poodle. Tails 1. what length of dock do you have. You must answer this before you can decide how high up the tail to shave & how deep into the body you want to go. 2. Do you want a V into the back of your dog? Most groomers that I know of don't do a V but stop at where the back & tail meet. I do a V but not a show V, & again it depends on how fat the dog is & how fat the tail is. 3. where is the tail set in relation to the back? I have 1 Poo with correct tail but a short dock, I have 1 poo with a drop off & a short dock. I chose to NOT do any Poms at all with them due to the short docks. I could easily fake a Pom but I don't want too. 

Once you have sorted out those questions then one can give you a better explanation as to where a good starting point would be for the shave bits. I see way too many Poodles with horrible shaved up tail & little bits of a Pom on the end. It is like the groomer doing the same tail on every dog with no consideration to the above questions. I hate it.

As for the face some of this applies as well. Where do your dogs ears sit on the head. The ears I believe should be set straight in line with the outside corner of the eye. My Spoo has incorrect ears & are set high so If I was to clip a line from corner of eye to the top of his ear it would be crooked. So, I fake it. I clip from the corner of the eye in a straight line to his ear. When I shave the outside of his ear I only go up to this line & don't shave the whole of the ear. Then I have a nice straight line from corner of eye to ear & blend ear into TK. Being a Pet you can have his faced shaved anyway you like. If it is a bit high & you like it then that is all that matters. Just like the neck some people love long V neck, others a U neck & some do a small V just under the adams apple. So, again personel preference with no 1 correct answer.


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## WestCoastSpoo (May 11, 2011)

outwest said:


> I hope her rash is getting better.
> 
> I am not a groomer, but my groomer did my spoos face nicely and I can see her eyes. She scissored it after shaving up between them. She also shaved the cheeks back to the ear. I think a mini and a spoo have the same haircuts and proportions. I don't think she did her top knot exactly correct, so ignore that part of the pictures. I like a definition between her top knot and her ears and more at the back of the top knot. Plus I think she scissored it too short.  Hopefully we can get that right next time, but these will give you a good idea for shaving her face.
> 
> ...


Outwest Bonnie has such a sweet expression and I love that you can see it so well with this clip. I need to do that for Huxley. His FFT was shaved by the breeder before I got him but his top knot (really just fluffy head hair with no definition) lol is growing so fast and it's starting to fall over into his eyes. I'm afraid to bring him into a groomer until he has all his shots, but something is going to have to be done with all his FLUFF before then! His body has SO MUCH hair!! I brush him at least once a day and bathe every week, but it's getting harder and harder to keep it clean and tangle free...and I'm sure he's HOT with all that hair! 

Oh yeah and it's going to be fun to cut his head because he has about a half inch of silver under all that black  I'm so excited to see his coat change.


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

Westcoastspoo, I left Bonnie with almost all her puppy fluff until the last time I had her groomed. It had become huge and unruly, requiring constant brushing. I was trying to see if I could deal with lots of hair because puppy fluff is so fun to bury your nose in. Alas, I caved and had her cut into a modified lamb. I still have the fluffy legs and she left it longer than normal on her body. Her top knot had gotten to the point of either rubberbands or chopping it off. I chose chopping. If you aren't planning on showing your puppy, seeing their eyes is so nice! If you let it grow eventually you can tie it up and see their eyes, but then you have to deal with rubber bands.


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## Feathersprings (Jul 15, 2010)

Tizzy has a pretty long dock I shave a bit less that a blade width . Twist the end and trim.. brush down and trim again and scissor sort of round lOL! In this picture I really didnt do much trimming


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

Tizzy sure is a beautiful color! She has a nice full tail, too.


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## Feathersprings (Jul 15, 2010)

Outwest, thanks... yes she doest have a lot of hair on her tail. My Standard didnt as a young puppy but now at about 1 1/2 his tail is much fuller. I think one of the most things about poodles is that you can trim them how you like. Personally I love huge top knots, long ears, big tail poms etc. !!! My husband just had me shave our standards head and ears very short.. not what I would do or like but they both seem to like it LOL! He loves to see Hoolies eyes and I dont mind the hair hanging in Tizzys face


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## Feathersprings (Jul 15, 2010)

WestCoastSpoo said:


> Outwest Bonnie has such a sweet expression and I love that you can see it so well with this clip. I need to do that for Huxley. His FFT was shaved by the breeder before I got him but his top knot (really just fluffy head hair with no definition) lol is growing so fast and it's starting to fall over into his eyes. I'm afraid to bring him into a groomer until he has all his shots, but something is going to have to be done with all his FLUFF before then! His body has SO MUCH hair!! I brush him at least once a day and bathe every week, but it's getting harder and harder to keep it clean and tangle free...and I'm sure he's HOT with all that hair!
> 
> Oh yeah and it's going to be fun to cut his head because he has about a half inch of silver under all that black  I'm so excited to see his coat change.


I love watching the color change also!!! Interesting that I didnt even consider getting a sliver... I had a black Spoo and wanted a white or cream Mini. I couldnt be happier with my Silver girl!


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## JenniferH in Goleta (Jul 18, 2020)

Purley said:


> I think I shaved more off the base of Lucy's tail than I was supposed to. If you start at where her tail sort of separates from the top of her body -- how much am I supposed to shave? And inch?
> 
> Does anyone have a photo or even a picture of a proper Mini Poodle tail? I think the "fluffy" bit is supposed to be sort of long and "sausage" like - rather than a pompom on the end! Can someone tell me how I scissor her tail to get it to look like this?
> 
> ...


I shave 2/3 of the tail and leave a pom pom on the last 1/3.


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## JenniferH in Goleta (Jul 18, 2020)

I like the pom pom look best. Some groomers do the sausage look.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

JenniferH in Goleta said:


> I like the pom pom look best. Some groomers do the sausage look.


Hey Jennifer  This thread's nearly a decade old, and these members are no longer active. Best to start a new thread to get a conversation going, rather than bumping up golden oldies. Or take a peek at some recent grooming threads that are still active: Poodle Grooming

That's the best way to engage current Poodle Forum members.


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## JenniferH in Goleta (Jul 18, 2020)

sorry again. I clicked on the New bubble, so I"m not sure how that happened. I'll try to be more careful.


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## JenniferH in Goleta (Jul 18, 2020)

I figured it out. The Recommended Reading presents old threads. Now I will be careful with thread dates, especially there.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

JenniferH in Goleta said:


> sorry again. I clicked on the New bubble, so I"m not sure how that happened. I'll try to be more careful.





JenniferH in Goleta said:


> I figured it out. The Recommended Reading presents old threads. Now I will be careful with thread dates, especially there.


No need to apologize.  We've all been tricked at some point by those suggested threads! I feel like they actually used to be more recent.


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