# shaved neck style



## outwest (May 1, 2011)

I was looking at show pictures we took recently and noticed something. Oh, darn! All those poodles have very, very tiny V's for neck shaves. I didn't realize the style had changed to this! Crap. My pup has a V, but it is wider than this and slightly lower. The Vs I saw don't go down very low at all. The lowest I saw was on a veteran dog. 

I can adjust my pups neck shave now, but he turned 4 months old. I suppose there's time, but my goodness, what will I mess up next...sigh. 

I cropped out anything that might identify these show dogs, so hope it is okay to post some necks. LOL

puppy









adult









almost feel like crying...whatever...grrrr...feel like I am flaying around on my own with this. Stupid, stupid hair.


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## sarahmurphy (Mar 22, 2012)

Don't beat yourself up over it.

Remember the 80's? How about the early 90's? Thankfully, hair grows and we are not all stuck with *THAT* hair forever....!

sarah


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

No worries! That's very minor!!


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

If a judge takes this into account when judging they are a lousy judge. Although great grooming can definitely show a dog to his best advantage something so minor which is merely a style trend should have no influence at all.


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## Fluffyspoos (Aug 11, 2009)

I imagine it's about preference, as well as correcting any faults. If your dog lacks neck, I'd shave down a bit further, and as with rosettes, perhaps it's also personal style. I absolutely wouldn't beet yourself up about it. I dislike a small shaved throat personally, and my dogs' throats are shaved A LOT!


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## mom24doggies (Mar 28, 2011)

As others have said, some of that is personal style. The lines also vary from dog to dog....on dogs with nice long necks, a wider v is fine. If the dogs neck is shorter, a narrower longer v elongates. I doubt you've messed it up....even if you did, the puppy trim is taken fairly short around that area, so it won't take long to grow back in. And you are competing in conformation, not a grooming competition, the judge probably won't care.


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

I'll try not to worry about it.  It is just a fashion trend.


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## Paragon (Feb 18, 2012)

Hello Outwest,

As Mom24doggies said, it is what you are trying to feature on your dog. If you have a nice neck and backskull, you want to show it off! you will shave a bit more to show off the refinement. If you have a ewe neck, you might want to shave less, and scissor to hide the protrusion.

Here is a photo of Princie. You can see there is more shaved on his neck than the photo you provided. While I am no expert on grooming, and am adjusting lines from the cuts of the 70's and 80's, I wouldn't worry about the throat-latch. The coat is short there anyways. It should be fixed in a month to 6 weeks, regardles of how bad you did!

You will want to start at the spot below the little lump on the ear, below where you set the the line for the topknot. You will want to make a triangle going from this point to just a tiny bit below the adams apple, then back up to below the lump on the other side. There should be a bit of coat shaved at the ear in front of the litle bit of tissue. The angle here is also adjusted to the type of backskull you have. More gone if a fine head, more coated if poor backskull.( more coat would be left in the area in front of the ear lobe).

I hope I did not confuse you.Good luck! Don't worry, at least your dog did not decide to take a big hunk of neck coat out of your girl while playing.....the week before a show! That would take months to fix! It isn't the end of the world though. This happened to us, we showed, and won.... It is just hair... A good judge can look beyond this!


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

Oh, thanks Paragon! Jazzy's neck is like your picture. He doesn't have a ewe neck and has a slim skull. He's a baby, but I thought he looked nice showing his neck. I will follow your directions and adjust.


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