# First time grooming Sophie myself... whew!



## sophie anne (Feb 17, 2015)

Last time Sophie went to her normal groomer (who she's been seeing for 15 years) she came back sore, irritable and with several burns and cuts all over her body, particularly on the various warts and bumps she's gotten since becoming a certifiable "old lady."

Today I discovered some old Oster animal clippers in my parents' basement, likely from the time when Sophie was a puppy and my mom had high hopes of grooming her at home. The instruction manual is dated 1994, so these things are practically antique.

So since I had the clippers and Sophie was about due for a trim, I figured "What the heck" and decided to give it a try. I used some combs to work through the tangles in her fur, but didn't give her a bath because my mother expressly forbade me from having a wet poodle anywhere near her house :argh:

The clippers were admittedly a little weird, and frequently would just turn off on me. Probably something to do with the fact that they are over 20 years old and haven't had any maintenance... But there was a 1/4" comb and they were definitely safe to use as far as I could tell (not hot or dull or anything) so I just went for it.

I'm proud of the results! And now I really want to invest in some better clippers, because Sophie just spent the entire day peacefully sleeping on the porch while I clipped away. Given how unhappy she was after that last groomer trip, doing it myself will pay off financially AND emotionally for Sophie, I think. After doing this, I'm also pretty angry that they sliced and diced her so badly that time because she is soooo easy to deal with! Poor girl.

First 2 pictures are before, second 2 are after. She was perky enough to want to play ball afterwards, so that means it went well! Things like this can be exhausting at 16, or whatever that is in "dog years" :angel:

And boy, that poodle hair gets everywhere, huh?:ahhhhh:


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## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

Good job. I hope you don't mind me saying this, but in the before pictures she looked kinda doodley. She looks like a poodle after you groomed her.

Will you ever be able to give her a bath?


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## sophie anne (Feb 17, 2015)

MiniPoo said:


> Good job. I hope you don't mind me saying this, but in the before pictures she looked kinda doodley. She looks like a poodle after you groomed her.
> 
> Will you ever be able to give her a bath?


I agree, she looked like a shaggy doodle before, and she was really horribly matted in some places. My family does not comb her at all. I don't live at home, and my family does not get her groomed as often as I would (notice the overly long toenails in the "after" pictures... that was as short as I could get them because the quick has grown so long). I would take her with me to my apartment, but I really believe that the stress of a big move from her lifelong home at this old age would be too much. Also, my parents would never allow that so... 

Her haircut definitely wouldn't win any awards this time, but at least she can see!

Sophie's getting a bath tomorrow, there's a self-service dog wash nearby in our town with dryers. It will hopefully be easier than a bathtub. I'm excited to see what her coat looks like once she's clean-- every time she gets a haircut it brings out how blue she is, not black, but it's dull and dirty right now.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

You did really good! I still can't believe Miss Sophie is 16!!! She looks fantastic for a senior spoo!!! She's definitely an oldie but goodie!!!


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## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

She is a lovely shade of gray. I would have thought she would be lighter colored at her age. If my blue boy looks like her when he is older, I would be thrilled.

Good idea about the dog wash.


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## sophie anne (Feb 17, 2015)

MollyMuiMa said:


> You did really good! I still can't believe Miss Sophie is 16!!! She looks fantastic for a senior spoo!!! She's definitely an oldie but goodie!!!


Thanks! I had poodle hair in all the places (itchy itchy) and my mom isn't a fan of the poodley FFT look I did, but she is a poodle so I think she should look it! haha

She does not look it or act her age 99% of the time. It becomes obvious when she walks on slippery floors (arthritis in back legs makes her weak so she slips a lot), when she needs to make a sharp turn while running and falls, or when she needs to stand on only one hind leg for grooming. She does not know that she is old, so when one of these things happens she looks very confused. It is very sweet and sad-- I am not sure whether it is a blessing or a curse to be aware of our age and expiration date as humans.

I'm guessing that her pro groomer forgot just how ancient she is (over 100 "dog years" according to some online charts for what it's worth) and over did it with pulling her legs while clipping. That does not excuse the burns and the cuts though! :angry:



MiniPoo said:


> She is a lovely shade of gray. I would have thought she would be lighter colored at her age. If my blue boy looks like her when he is older, I would be thrilled.
> 
> Good idea about the dog wash.


I called her a grayed black for years, but I've decided to call her a blue. She is from a BYB and we don't have a pedigree so she is whatever I want her to be. 8)

According to Anne at Amity, the silvering colors come in all shades and some blues will stay very nearly black and some will get that really blue velvety color. The mother of the litter I'm getting my café au lait girl from is a blue, but in photographs you would never know it.
Here she is:









Regardless of what color Dakota turns out to be, he will be unique in all the world because no two blues clear exactly the same. I think that's pretty neat.

ETA: Poodle fur is very popular with our local birds. You would think there was enough of it, but a few fights broke out for the choicest tufts. I suppose it would make a very nice nest.


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## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

Most blue poodles get their champanionship while they are still black. Thus they have show pictures looking black. 

It takes 2-3 years for a blue to turn gray. If your dam is 2-3 years old, ask for a current picture. I have gotten better pictures of blue poodles from breeders when I requested it.

I like your statement that all blues are unique.


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## sophie anne (Feb 17, 2015)

MiniPoo said:


> Most blue poodles get their champanionship while they are still black. Thus they have show pictures looking black.
> 
> It takes 2-3 years for a blue to turn gray. If your dam is 2-3 years old, ask for a current picture. I have gotten better pictures of blue poodles from breeders when I requested it.
> 
> I like your statement that all blues are unique.


I have a better picture of the dam somewhere, I'll try to find it. She is a very dark blue, and was actually born blue which I hear is somewhat rare.

Here's Sophie after her bath. They had really good dryers at the dog wash so I got her really fluffy!


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

She looks wonderful! But you know if she is already a lumpy, bumpy girl, then she really needs baths, and lots of them to keep her skin in check. 
Personally though I think that when they reach a certain age, how they look is secondary - all you need is to groom enough to keep them healthy, by whatever means necessary. I gave up clipping Tangee's face for the last year because it stressed her, and just hacked off some hair with scissors once in a while.


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## sophie anne (Feb 17, 2015)

Tiny Poodles said:


> She looks wonderful! But you know if she is already a lumpy, bumpy girl, then she really needs baths, and lots of them to keep her skin in check.
> Personally though I think that when they reach a certain age, how they look is secondary - all you need is to groom enough to keep them healthy, by whatever means necessary. I gave up clipping Tangee's face for the last year because it stressed her, and just hacked off some hair with scissors once in a while.


Agreed about the baths! It is logistically very hard to get her bathed-- I do it whenever I can (in the past at a pro groomer, now I'll be doing it myself) but my parents/family think I am being overdramatic when I get upset about the state of her hair when I come home. I leave money at the house when I leave and used to make appointments with the groomer, but somehow when I get back the money is always gone and the hair still there, totally uncombed let alone washed, dried and clipped!! :angry:

I'll see how often I can make it home to wash her. This is the week I'm home between graduating from college and moving out to start my new job as a research associate at a lab.

It takes me only about two hours to wash/dry her, and took six to fully clip her down. Hopefully it will be less if I keep up with it. She was a total mess this time. Sophie can easily tell me how she's feeling about the groom, so we took breaks when she was tired and then started up again when she was ready. In a pinch, I could certainly move faster. I don't think she's at the point of needing to forget about a nice haircut altogether yet, but I do think she is too fragile for a pro groomer on a tight schedule now.

How often is a good amount to bathe an old lady dog? She gets huge sebaceous cysts (taking her to the vet on Monday to get one the size of a golf ball on her neck checked out... eeeewww and ouch!) that I think are probably related to the dead skin trapped under all that fur. I don't want to overdo it and cause other problems related to dry skin.


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## Muggles (Mar 14, 2015)

She looks great! That's an impressive first go at grooming - I'm still too chicken to try!


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## sophie anne (Feb 17, 2015)

Muggles said:


> She looks great! That's an impressive first go at grooming - I'm still too chicken to try!


It's really not that hard! I was using terrible clippers too and didn't even nick her. Take your time and don't worry too much about the final product... The dogs don't care as long as it's comfortable!


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

sophie anne said:


> Agreed about the baths! It is logistically very hard to get her bathed-- I do it whenever I can (in the past at a pro groomer, now I'll be doing it myself) but my parents/family think I am being overdramatic when I get upset about the state of her hair when I come home. I leave money at the house when I leave and used to make appointments with the groomer, but somehow when I get back the money is always gone and the hair still there, totally uncombed let alone washed, dried and clipped!! :angry:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Actually when I had old girls prone to cysts, the more often I gave them a bath, the better. The vet Dermatologist actually recommended 3-4 times a week as long as it was with a mild shampoo. But I do realize how much more difficult that would be for a Spoo than a toy.
Is there a Petco or Petco unleashed near you - I think many of them have self groom stations for rent for a pretty reasonable fee.
Oh, and FYI, one of my girls who got huge cysts also had a problem with excessive dander that the vet dermatologist prescribed a human medication call soriatane (compounded to the correct dosage for her) , and as a side effect, the huge cysts just vanished! I think it is for psoriasis, but is vitamin A derived, very similar to accutane, so that may be why it worked so well on the cysts. Now, there is a liver risk for humans with those drugs, but the dermatologist said that he never once saw a dog have liver complications from it. Just putting that out there for you to know about as an alternative if the vet recommends surgery for her cysts....


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## sophie anne (Feb 17, 2015)

Tiny Poodles said:


> Actually when I had old girls prone to cysts, the more often I gave them a bath, the better. The vet Dermatologist actually recommended 3-4 times a week as long as it was with a mild shampoo. But I do realize how much more difficult that would be for a Spoo than a toy.
> Is there a Petco or Petco unleashed near you - I think many of them have self groom stations for rent for a pretty reasonable fee.
> Oh, and FYI, one of my girls who got huge cysts also had a problem with excessive dander that the vet dermatologist prescribed a human medication call soriatane (compounded to the correct dosage for her) , and as a side effect, the huge cysts just vanished! I think it is for psoriasis, but is vitamin A derived, very similar to accutane, so that may be why it worked so well on the cysts. Now, there is a liver risk for humans with those drugs, but the dermatologist said that he never once saw a dog have liver complications from it. Just putting that out there for you to know about as an alternative if the vet recommends surgery for her cysts....


No Petco nearby, just that dogwash which works fine. I live in a very rural area.

---- Alert for people who find huge cysts nasty... don't continue reading----








Here's Sophie's big neck cyst. You can see her collar in the lower left corner of the picture, the cyst is kind of below and slightly behind her ear. It's the big pinkish thing.

She's had others before, but as you can tell from my fingers this one is really massive. I worry that it could be putting pressure on other important neck tissues besides the obvious discomfort it causes her. It goes pretty far into her neck from what I can tell by gently feeling it. The one blessing is that it is not in a place that she can chew!!








In the past when they have been in places where she can reach, she has bitten them and they've turned into big sores that take forever to heal. Hopefully this one won't just pop... ewwww.


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Well at least if it popped, it would be gone!


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## BeBe67 (May 13, 2015)

Good job on the clip. She is a pretty girl.

BeBe


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## deemarie03 (Jul 7, 2014)

I'm glad you gave it a try with the clippers  She looks very nice and you'll learn more as you go along. I am smitten with her color - I hope Jaxon will look like that when he clears.


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## Luce (Mar 4, 2013)

You did a great job! I am sure she appreciated being clipped by you who loves her then a groomer who needs to get the job done ASAP!!


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## Axeldog (Aug 29, 2014)

What a sweet senior lady Sophie is. I am glad that you are doing what you can to help her and make her life more comfortable. She deserves it.


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