# Continental.



## Mysticrealm (Jan 31, 2016)

Are you talking about this









or this 









Cause they have 2 very different levels of care. The first one could be the same amount of work to upkeep as a longer 'teddybear' type trim, and the 2nd one requires hours a week.


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## Mehpenn (Jan 18, 2010)

Maybe somewhere in between?


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## Mysticrealm (Jan 31, 2016)

Remember that the ability to do something longer than the first one and not have the hair parting in the middle and flopping down will strongly depend on your dog's coat type. They will need very good top knot hair to hold the shape or they will just look like this 








(the top knot not the rest of the dog.

Do you want to be banding and having a floppy long look or unbanded with a rounded topknot?


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Not quite a conti but close.............if you are used to brushing your dog everyday anyway it is not hard to keep up, since you would be shaving face feet and tail in most other clips anyway, you just have extra hair to brush/comb and you can do that sitting on the floor while watching tv!! To me it is not the combing it's the keeping the face and feet shaved that takes the most time and is the most difficult to keep up!!


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## Mehpenn (Jan 18, 2010)

MollyMuiMa said:


> Not quite a conti but close.............if you are used to brushing your dog everyday anyway it is not hard to keep up, since you would be shaving face feet and tail in most other clips anyway, you just have extra hair to brush/comb and you can do that sitting on the floor while watching tv!! To me it is not the combing it's the keeping the face and feet shaved that takes the most time and is the most difficult to keep up!!


How long is her tail? I have questioned how a continental style clip would look in a dog with a short tail.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Molly has a bunny butt..........her tail is only about 2 1/2 inches long.... she is a mutt and was born that way.........the only pup in a litter of 4 with a nub for a tail.... I do let the hair grow long so it gets a nice puffy rosette look LOL!


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## sidewinder (Feb 3, 2016)

I have to agree with Mysticrealm. If the dog's coat is not full and crisp, it will flop. Also, any dog with a long coat will have a length that is easy to care for, and beyond that, it tends to mat. If you are willing to do an hours' worth of brushing every day, clear to the skin, you can have long coat. Otherwise, it will mat unless you keep it shorter. 

Your dog is (I think you said) 8 months old. That means you are heading into coat change time. If I were you, I"d wait until after this is done (maybe another 6 months at least) before you try to put him into any kind of cut that leaves part of the coat more than 2 or 3 inches long. Otherwise, it's lots of hard work to keep it from matting!

My own pup is almost 6 months. He is in a short lamb for at least another year, then maybe I'll play around with his "look". Mysticrealm is raising a pup about the same age as mine, but she's showing him. She can tell you how much work it is to maintain that long coat!

BTW, She's a pro groomer and I'm a retired groomer.


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## King Louie (May 27, 2016)

Not a lot of work at all Adonis was 4 months I think when I put him in the modified cont. no problems he's even going through the coat change and it's not harder to groom I'm growing him out now to a Scandinavian trim but combing/brush only takes 10 minutes at most and I get down to the roots to insure no matting is happening he relaxes while I flip him around to comb and brush every inch of him.


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## JudyD (Feb 3, 2013)

I had Blue in an HCC last spring. I loved the way he looked, but we only lasted about a month. He has a thick, fairly soft coat, so he had to be brushed and combed every day to prevent mats. Took forever. Both of us got tired of all that grooming, so we went back to a short clip. I was going to vote no for you, until I remembered you have a toy, which would require much less time than a standard, so go for it!


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## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

http://www.poodleforum.com/5-poodle-talk/183841-modified-hcc.html
http://www.poodleforum.com/3-poodle-pictures/192706-beatrices-modified-hcc.html

I had both the pups Pia and Beatrice in Modified Continentals no rosettes, when they had the long hair it took 20 min a piece each day to keep them looking good misting and line combing, I shaved them down when my commute was going to be a totalled 65 miles each way or 3+ hours. In roughly 2 weeks my company is moving closer almost halving it so.... I am putting them in a modified conti no long than an 1" this time. Oh and Beatrice has a short docked tail so I just grow the hair longer it's about 2" past the end of her tail.


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## glorybeecosta (Nov 11, 2014)

I am starting Sage in this cut and her top knot splits in the middle. What do you all use to put the top knot up with rubber bands. Her hair is soft and I brush her every other day. She is a toy though


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## scooterscout99 (Dec 3, 2015)

sidewinder said:


> I have to agree with Mysticrealm. If the dog's coat is not full and crisp, it will flop. Also, any dog with a long coat will have a length that is easy to care for, and beyond that, it tends to mat. If you are willing to do an hours' worth of brushing every day, clear to the skin, you can have long coat. Otherwise, it will mat unless you keep it shorter.
> 
> Your dog is (I think you said) 8 months old. That means you are heading into coat change time. If I were you, I"d wait until after this is done (maybe another 6 months at least) before you try to put him into any kind of cut that leaves part of the coat more than 2 or 3 inches long. Otherwise, it's lots of hard work to keep it from matting!
> 
> ...


Thanks for this insight. My co-owner just suggested a conti for my 9-month old boy who is showing. I hesitated before responding and now I know why. Spent quite some time yesterday combing knots out of his still-short chest, 4 days after a full groom. Guess that I will hold off on a new style until after coat change, as I would rather spend my 'extra' time training/playing with my pup rather than grooming.


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## Mehpenn (Jan 18, 2010)

sidewinder said:


> If the dog's coat is not full and crisp, it will flop. Also, any dog with a long coat will have a length that is easy to care for, and beyond that, it tends to mat.
> 
> Your dog is (I think you said) 8 months old.


I have one 14 year old and on 16 month old. 
My old girl has cushions so her coat isn't the best. She used to have a beautiful coat but the past year or so it's thinned. 
My younger girl has a a beautiful top knot that stands nicely but I'm not sure how the rest of her coat will do. 
Guess there's only one way to find out...


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Mehpenn said:


> Does anyone here have a poodle that doesn't show, that's kept in a continental?
> Hoe much more work, on a daily basis, is a continental vs a longer puppy clip?


Thanks for asking, I was curious about this too. I never gave it any thought until I read the answers here that there is also work is in keeping the shaved parts clipped close and neat in addition to the combing out of the longer hair. I do appreciate seeing a show dog with impeccable grooming.


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## Mehpenn (Jan 18, 2010)

I think when this class session is over (so no one laughs at me if I screw it up), I'll try Tilly in a HCC and go from there. She's so tiny, she might look odd. I've also thought of shaving her down completely and seeing what comes back? The coat over her withers and on her legs is still wavy, more like puppy coat. 
Sadie was in a HCC years ago before her health started declining and I liked it but it was very simple, very basic and short. Now she stays in an easy to maintaine , no fuss, puppy clip.


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

Two Standards in a continental pattern are a lot of work, especially when one is very thick coated.


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