# Leroy's Continental Clip



## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

Here's Leroy in a CC. He does not have a lot of neck hair or long ears, but it still looks cute. None of my clients have ever requested this clip. The bad thing is... none of them have requested it so this is my first time doing this pattern. I gotta say, it was a lot more challenging then I thought it would be! Mainly trying to correctly place the rosettes and figuring out how high I should leave the leg poms. I actually left them higher than the hock because smaller poms looks funny on him. I've left poms on the Miami clip on him right at the hocks and they looked so tiny and out of proportion and made his feet look huge. The poms with this cut look good in the pics but in person they looked big to me at first! I also didn't scissor much of the poms because his hair tends to lay flat as it is still puppy hair. So when the poms aren't fluffed up, and smushed down with him moving, they look fine.

I had some trouble getting the rosettes shaped correctly. They still don't look right to me. They look more oblong/oval instead of circular. I thought about shaving more hair off of the rosette pattern, but then it wouldn't be on/near his hip, or it would be too far from the jacket. I printed out many photos to look at but I'm just not sure what I'm doing wrong. They somehow look okay in the pictures but they still bother me when I look at them. I'm thinking about scraping the rosettes and clipping them into a heart shape or something! Is it his hair or my placement of the rosettes??

He was so funny after I set the pattern. I let him off the table for a break before I started scissoring his hair, and he didn't know what to do first: should I scratch my butt? lick my legs? sit down? oh! why is it cold? woah it's breezy! --- He was running around the shop like a crazy man! I let him outside in a small fenced-in area and he did so many zoomies and acted so goofy. I shaved him with a #40 against the grain and he took it very well. I had to do his face and feet the same to match the rest of his bald body. I took him to a pet store after work and he got so much attention! Some older ladies arrived and excitedly exclaimed "Oh my gosh! A poodle that looks like a POODLE!" I bought him a stuffed toy for being such a good boy today.

Anyways, critiques on his clip will be welcome!


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## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

*The rosettes*

pics:


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## Countryboy (May 16, 2011)

tokipoke said:


> Anyways, critiques on his clip will be welcome!


Oh my!  U definitely don't want my opinion on the Conti!!  lol


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## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

Countryboy said:


> Oh my!  U definitely don't want my opinion on the Conti!!  lol


LOL I always give Leroy a new do' when my husband goes out of town. I texted him a pic of Leroy and he replied "He looks embarrassed."

After the CC, I'm going to shave his body, but leave the neck hair and poms - a "ponydoodle" look!


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Ahhh!!! I LOVE it! Leroy is SUCH a handsome dude!


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## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

ChocolateMillie said:


> Ahhh!!! I LOVE it! Leroy is SUCH a handsome dude!


Thank you! I'm so glad I get to try out new looks on him!


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## Tymaca (Oct 13, 2011)

You are so brave! He looks cool. I almost had a heart attack when Zoe's face was shaved. I am easing into all of this...


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## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

Tymaca said:


> You are so brave! He looks cool. I almost had a heart attack when Zoe's face was shaved. I am easing into all of this...


I love the shaved face on poodles, but now I'm getting used to the shaved butt! I'm really loving his little buttocks LOL. Who knew it'd be so tiny underneath all that hair! It's hard not to slap his butt when he walks by. He also couldn't get comfortable laying down on the tile so I let him sit in my lap on the office chair. He is totally a lap dog even though he's huge!


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## Tymaca (Oct 13, 2011)

tokipoke said:


> Who knew it'd be so tiny underneath all that hair!


I know, right?! Crazy how the hair makes them deceptively big! How much does Leroy weigh? I love his cute legs!


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## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

Tymaca said:


> I know, right?! Crazy how the hair makes them deceptively big! How much does Leroy weigh? I love his cute legs!


He's 27" and weighs 53 lbs. Trying to put some more meat on him though!


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## lavillerose (Feb 16, 2011)

Wow, I would not have done a #40 against the first time out, but as long as you didn't burn him and he's taking it well, then good on you! When I did my girl I did a #10 against first, then a #40 with the grain to finish it, but she's a black too. I thought she'd go a little bonkers about her nekkid hiney, but she didn't.

I think the rosettes are really pretty good! It's really hard the first time, especially on a spoo. I was able to use a drinking glass with a 3" opening on my mini, but when I did it for my first time on my moms (HUGE) spoo, I used a big soup bowl and they still looked stupid.

I think they might look a little better with just a smidge less space shaved between on the spine (slightly less than one blades width), and slightly more rounded, but they don't have to be perfectly round. You'll see show dogs with oval or even eggshaped ones, it just depends on what looks best on each dog.

I think his jacket would look a little cleaner if you tighten up his neck under the ears a little bit, just to smooth and shape it beside the shaved throat. A short "pet" jacket looks neater with the neck more defined.


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## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

Maybe I should have started with a #15 a/g but I got ahead of myself and went all out! I really love that bald look on the poodles. However, it shows everything on his skin - to bug bites, scratches/scars, bumps, etc. He is a little irritated around his tuck-up but nothing too serious. Right after he got off the table he did lick and nibble on the shaved spots, but he even does that after he gets his feet shaved. He's still his goofy self and no change in behavior with his bald hiney!

Thank you about the rosettes! To me, I still think they look a little "stupid." I guess I was expecting a nice dome like I see on show poodles. I read in the Kalstone book and I thought it said a blade's width on the spine... Before I attempted it I hesitated to do the full blade width but just went with it. Maybe that's why I feel the rosettes look "off."

I agree about the defined neck. I started to clean up the neck hair around the shaved neck but decided to do his face and feet instead. I'll clean it up tomorrow. It will definitely need to be neatened up because I bought a cute collar and neck decoration for Christmas photos.


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## MamaTiff (Sep 23, 2011)

Awe I think you did a fantastic job!!! He looks awesome! His legs are soooo long!


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## Leooonie (May 30, 2009)

GORGEOUS butt


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## 3dogs (Nov 3, 2010)

I think you did a good job your 1st time out. I can't stand rosettes, they just never look right & take off the wrong amount in the wrong spot & bam it thorughs everything off.

Now as a groomer I would have the Jacket further back so there is less space between Jacket & rosettes. Next the front legs need to come up higher to the elbow to blend into the Jacket. The Poms on all 4 need to just grow out more, right now just not enough hair to do much with but I think the placement is good. I think the space between the Rosettes is too much, make that tighter. That is all I can remember right now. With a little more length you can then start to bevel & round things out.

Now if you want a Critique from Pro Groomers in the Comp. ring then I can get you on a facebook page just PM me & I will get you on.


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## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

3dogs, thank you for the advice. I bet the rosettes would look juuuuust right if I moved the jacket back a little with less space between on the spine. I feel like this would make it better because when I try to tweak the rosettes, too much of a gap will happen from the jacket, hip placement, and the space on the spine.

The best way to learn grooming is just to do it! I'm so glad I've got a poodle to practice on. Lots of great hands-on experience. I did this clip for fun because I was planning on shaving him down, so I won't be growing him out into this cut. I was iffy on the elbow placement for the jacket and left it to where it wouldn't be too short; I was afraid I'd shave it too high and it would look funny. I read other threads where this was the common mistake. The length is *right* at his elbow, but maybe I could scissor that area tighter. I think it looks longer because his chest hair isn't that long so they are not level. I also noticed yesterday that the right elbow (our left) hairs were uneven and actually longer than his left arm. You see the longer length on the elbow from the shots I have of him, but I fixed the length a little bit. He is a work in progress and I'm glad I still have a lot to learn!


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

This photo should help you. This is Tiger's jacket. While he is in English Saddle, the jacket is the same. He is shaved above the elbow.


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## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

Ah hah! So it's right above the elbow I see. I have his right below it. I also need to scissor the hair around his elbows too. Thanks for the photo ChocolateMiliie! It is very helpful. I'll tweak his jacket some more tomorrow.


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## PoodlePowerBC (Feb 25, 2011)

tokipoke said:


> LOL I always give Leroy a new do' when my husband goes out of town.


Funny!! I have done the same, but I was only brave enough to get the Miami on him  
He looks great! Good Job


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## minipoodlelover (Jul 25, 2011)

I think he looks very handsome. Many years ago, when I first saw the CC, I thought it was a bit much and contributed to the frou frou reputation. But after seeing so many poodles looking fantastic in this clip, I've come to really love it.

It's always a risk to try something new, but it's also part of the fun in life! GO Leroy!


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

He has a cute little butt. I think he looks awesome. I am looking forward to giving mine leg poofs. At first I liked her shorter, but now only two weeks later, I want more hair! Will we ever stop playing with their hair? Nah.


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## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

*CC Update*

Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments and advice. I took the jacket up a little bit at the elbows. I think I could go a *tad* higher... but I think where it's at suits where his chest hair is. I also got tired of grooming my boy tonight... I cannot wait till I shave off his hair! Even with only half his body covered in hair, it still took me a while to brush him out. 

I included some extra pics of his teeth! He still needs more time with the RMBs... still some brown spots in there. I also wished I had good lighting to capture his expressive eyes.


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## Tymaca (Oct 13, 2011)

tokipoke said:


> I included some extra pics of his teeth! He still needs more time with the RMBs... still some brown spots in there. I also wished I had good lighting to capture his expressive eyes.


Love the bow in his hair!  

What is it and brown spots on SPOOs teeth? We just switched to raw and I am already seeing a bit of a difference, and it has only been a week. Is Leroy missing a tooth? What happened? One of the major reasons that even pushed me to finally do raw was the condition of Zoe's teeth. UGH!


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

What a fantastic job you have done. I like the modifications you made on the jacket; it looked good before now it looks great! Such an interesting thread. You know when you look at a dog if you like the cut or not but it is so interesting hearing how it is achieved. Keep up the RMB and soon his teeth will be as immaculate as the rest of him.


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## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

Tymaca said:


> Is Leroy missing a tooth? What happened?


Ah!! Is he really missing a tooth? I never noticed! Just to check we're looking in the same area, where does it look like he's missing teeth? I wouldn't be surprised if he was missing one... he can get enthusiastic with his chewing.


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