# Setting a pattern(for continental)



## KalaMama (Nov 20, 2009)

So, Kala has practically no hair right now but i have a pretty free day today and she needs a bath, fft, etc, and I am excited about growing her coat out again. I love to groom and 'see results' so I have thought about going ahead and setting a continental into her coat(despite the fact it is uber-short right now). I know it may look goofy for a while but we aren't entering any beauty contests anytime soon. I have a couple of questions: 1) If I do this, I will wash, dry and stack her to post pics to get tips on setting the pattern PRIOR to doing it. Last time, her jacket was way too far forward and the rosettes were misplaced(photo attached). This will be for a show coat so setting it properly is a must. *Should I just wait and get it professionally done?* That said, if I go forward with it I would like to stay on the safe side and not take the lines as far as they need to go so I have room for error. I plan to have her professionally done once there is coat to work with but it is pointless at this point. 
2) Advice?


----------



## cbrand (Aug 9, 2009)

Find her last rib. The jacket should end half way between the last rib and the hip bone. There should ideally be 1 finger width between jacket and rosette. Looking at her previous picture, it looks like the rosette is correctly placed and that the jacket is simply too far forward and cut at an angle (jacket should come straight down.

In general, the most common mistakes I see are setting the rosettes too far back and the jacket too far forward. It is OK if the two almost touch in the middle!


----------



## Fluffyspoos (Aug 11, 2009)

cbrand said:


> Find her last rib. The jacket should end half way between the last rib and the hip bone. There should ideally be 1 finger width between jacket and rosette. Looking at her previous picture, it looks like the rosette is correctly placed and that the jacket is simply too far forward and cut at an angle (jacket should come straight down.
> 
> In general, the most common mistakes I see are setting the rosettes too far back and the jacket too far forward. It is OK if the two almost touch in the middle!


Oh.. so I had read something like this before, and set Vegas's pattern for his CC when I did it with this. BUT I read it wrong and read 'half inch past last rib', but I knew the rosettes were suppose to be a finger width away from the jacket. That's why everything was so far forward for me.

I fail. Thanks for the re-explanation.


----------



## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

KalaMama said:


> So, Kala has practically no hair right now but i have a pretty free day today and she needs a bath, fft, etc, and I am excited about growing her coat out again. I love to groom and 'see results' so I have thought about going ahead and setting a continental into her coat(despite the fact it is uber-short right now). I know it may look goofy for a while but we aren't entering any beauty contests anytime soon. I have a couple of questions: 1) If I do this, I will wash, dry and stack her to post pics to get tips on setting the pattern PRIOR to doing it. Last time, her jacket was way too far forward and the rosettes were misplaced(photo attached). This will be for a show coat so setting it properly is a must. *Should I just wait and get it professionally done?* That said, if I go forward with it I would like to stay on the safe side and not take the lines as far as they need to go so I have room for error. I plan to have her professionally done once there is coat to work with but it is pointless at this point.
> 2) Advice?


I have no advice for you, BUT Kala looks gorgeous in that picture!


----------



## Harley_chik (Nov 7, 2008)

Just my very amatuer opinion but setting the pattern now seems like good practice. If her hair is super short now, it won't take much time to start over. (That is, if you don't like the result.)


----------



## Birdie (Jun 28, 2009)

Harley Chik makes a good point. If the hair is pretty short now, you could practice with the pattern and have some room for some error. Good luck with whatever you choose to do!


----------



## KalaMama (Nov 20, 2009)

Harley_chik said:


> Just my very amatuer opinion but setting the pattern now seems like good practice. If her hair is super short now, it won't take much time to start over. (That is, if you don't like the result.)


Exactly what I was thinking! Now, her hair is super short (like i shaved her down a few weeks ago other than poms) and her topknot even has the dome shape. However, considering how much i messed up last time when she had a lot more hair, I thought messing up on a few weeks worth of growth is much better than a few months worth. She is cleaned, blown and wrapped and I am letting her(and me) take a breather before I attempt to set the pattern. Thanks for the encouragement and tips(cbrand)!


----------



## KalaMama (Nov 20, 2009)

So much for the before photos, but I finally got around to getting some photos of after. She seems to have forgotten her show stack(we will be working on that again) so these aren't the best, but the main thing is for me to set the pattern straight so that as her hair grows I can keep the same lines. How does this look? Also, you will notice on the legs that I am letting the hair grow higher now as it just seemed too short.
































Note: Any tips for sun tinted hair? (besides stay out of the sun) We may have to stay out of the sun but we are outside so much and it is always sunny. 

Also, her topline looks like crud in these pictures but it is actually very straight. Since she hadn't been stacked in a while, she gets this awkward feeling and always roaches her back like she is trying to roll into a ball. She has other flaws though........


----------



## passion4poodles (Apr 11, 2009)

Good luck on your HCC! Are you going to enter her in the Sept shows? There are like 5 I think it would be nice to have a dog to root for LOL! You can always practice on Kiara LOL! I am hoping my grooming stuff will come this week or next, I had it shipped to my inlaws in Cali and they are on vacation, so I have to wait till they get back and ship it to me....Then we could get together for the grooming!


----------



## KalaMama (Nov 20, 2009)

passion4poodles said:


> Good luck on your HCC! Are you going to enter her in the Sept shows? There are like 5 I think it would be nice to have a dog to root for LOL! You can always practice on Kiara LOL! I am hoping my grooming stuff will come this week or next, I had it shipped to my inlaws in Cali and they are on vacation, so I have to wait till they get back and ship it to me....Then we could get together for the grooming!


Yes, I'd love to get together for grooming. As far as sept shows, I will be there with my pwds but Kala looks pretty pitiful right now so I think here coat will need to grow some more before Sept. I have a feelinng some of the bitches that are coming out are also shown on the mainland and will be tough to beat(and the hcc wouldn't help the matter). We will see next Saturday


----------



## *tina* (Jan 3, 2010)

Pet's Discount has sunscreen for pet hair. I try not to shop there as they do sell puppies in the store (at least the one by my house), maybe Petland Kahala has something similar? I know for my colored hair I use a shampoo with a UV filter to slow down the fading from the sun.


----------



## passion4poodles (Apr 11, 2009)

KalaMama said:


> Yes, I'd love to get together for grooming. As far as sept shows, I will be there with my pwds but Kala looks pretty pitiful right now so I think here coat will need to grow some more before Sept. I have a feelinng some of the bitches that are coming out are also shown on the mainland and will be tough to beat(and the hcc wouldn't help the matter). We will see next Saturday


The sunscreen that Tina recommended is a great idea, you could also use Ice on Ice CC, it has sunscreen in it and I LOVE it for show coats. I was going to look you up on Monday night, but did not make it. I was on the mainland for a funeral and cam home on Monday at 3:30, so I was EXHAUSTED, and did not feel up to going to class. Next monday I will be there for sure! Maybe I will see you there?


----------



## cbrand (Aug 9, 2009)

KalaMama said:


> but the main thing is for me to set the pattern straight so that as her hair grows I can keep the same lines. How does this look? Also, you will notice on the legs that I am letting the hair grow higher now as it just seemed too short.


I think this is a great start. The placement of jacket and rosettes looks good. I'd trim up and round out the rosettes just a bit (especially in the back), but otherwise..... good job! As far as the front bracelets go, use a yard stick, level and the back bracelet to mark a straight line from back to front. Then raise the front bracelets only slightly to give her a gentle uphill aspect.



> Note: Any tips for sun tinted hair? (besides stay out of the sun) We may have to stay out of the sun but we are outside so much and it is always sunny.


Are you talking about her bracelets? Didn't she have brown patches on her lower legs when she was a puppy (Possibly Phantom markings)? If so, no amount of sunscreen will help this.



> Also, her topline looks like crud in these pictures but it is actually very straight. Since she hadn't been stacked in a while, she gets this awkward feeling and always roaches her back like she is trying to roll into a ball. She has other flaws though........


Actually her topline looks great in the pictures where she is standing by herself. Her front looks great too. When you are stacking her, make sure that her back feet are directly under the pin bones of her croup. You have her standing too far under herself and that is why she is roaching her back and sucking in her front.


----------



## KalaMama (Nov 20, 2009)

cbrand said:


> I think this is a great start. The placement of jacket and rosettes looks good. I'd trim up and round out the rosettes just a bit (especially in the back), but otherwise..... good job! As far as the front bracelets go, use a yard stick, level and the back bracelet to mark a straight line from back to front. Then raise the front bracelets only slightly to give her a gentle uphill aspect.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks cbrand, you are such a great help. Now the brown patch, glad you mentioned it, she has a brown tint on her topknot and some on the bracelets but this is from the sun. The brown that I started the topic on that we thought may be phantom-is not. If I can find the photo of it again I will repost, but it is right around the back pawpad(the one that doesn touch the ground). I had been told by a groomer that it was probably from the dew claws being removed. You can only notice it if you are grooming and blowing or brushing upwards behind the front 2 legs. Now, I hadn't thought much else about it until recently when I was grooming my black(solid with a bit of white on chest) pwd and noticed the same exact thing. She is a great black and doesn't even fade in the sun really so this was curious to me. I have to believe it has something to do with the dewclaws since this is in two totally unrelated and not of the same breed females. Or maybe it is something in our water-ha ha.


----------



## KalaMama (Nov 20, 2009)

*The brown in both pwd and poodle*

the first foot is the black pwd(full photo also) and the second is Kala foot






















.


----------

