Grooming a Hairy Hairless
Written by Martine Couture, Crestars, with Ch Crestars La Belle Danziger HL as a model
ATTN: The following pictures are examples of the way "I" groom my hairy hairless dogs. This page was designed just as an example on how you "may" do it too. I will not in any ways be held responsible if your dog reacts to this type of grooming... If you wish to use this method you will be the sole person responsible for any type of reactions/injuries your dog may have following this procedure. The pictures are basically a quick way of showing you how it's done.
This is Danzee. In this first picture Danzee is photographed after having grown a "coat" for 7 months. The reason I did let it grow for such a long period, was simply because I was asked to do couple of Judges' seminar. I wanted for them to see something they will never see in the ring, something that once shaved are everyone's favourite: the "Beautiful Flashy Chinese Crested".
Danzee I would say, is basically your average as far as body hair goes for the Chinese Crested who sport such long crests, thick socks, and long flowing plumes. Don't get me wrong some do come with a very decent furnishing with minimal body hair, but unfortunately they are not the most common...also there will always be the ones with an owner who is in denial and will never admit on how much body hair their dogs have and choose to pretend and proclaim: "they are not that hairy". Unless there is a good reason to let the hair grow on them most breeders will keep their hairy Crested shaved with a close blade most of the time. By doing this one never really knows just how much body hair his/her dog would get if it would be grown for a long period of time...
I have however chosen to openly show what most often comes with the "Flashy Crested". For those of you who are just starting this may not be the wisest and your best bet to acquire a Crested that needs so much work, flashiness is not everything. Many good dogs will never have a crest which goes down all the way to their elbows. They will do just as good if not better in the ring... If you want hairless dog as a companion, I strongly suggest you go for the less hairy dogs as this type of grooming gets to be a pain in the you know what after a while. After the first day with your new Crested you will love him/her so much anyway that it will quickly become unimportant on how flashy he/she will look. By getting the real scoop on what's involved in the grooming of a hairy hairless you may change or revise your decision on what you want, or, you may arm yourself with bravery... Either way you will now be more informed, and your choice should be base on what YOU can deal with.
This is Danzee sporting her 7 months growth...pretty impressive huh? I bet some of you still have their mouth open!
You will have to excuse her figure a little as she was getting a little pregnant when these pictures were taken.
As you can see her coat was still fairly sparse... there is no undercoat involved....
What I will usually do is shave the face the night before with the electric clippers. Depending on how much time I have the next morning I sometime will also shave the face with the razor the night before or the next morning if time is not going to be too tight... Although Danzee is such a hairy girl you still will have to go thru this with a dog that is not very hairy.
And here is the Danzee girl being shaved. I did use an Oster A5 with a #50 blade. Already you can see the skin... If for example you would shave your regular coated dog with the same blade, you would still see lots of hair as opposed to see the bare skin as shown in this picture.
Note: the same process is applied even when she is kept in a "shorter clip".
And look on how much hair this baby has shed!...Hard to believe it's the same dog!...although poor Danzee looks about 15 inches higher on the rear she really does have a level topline! :-) I never leave hair going down the back. Those "shawl" look makes me cringe! yuk! I always shave a little up the neck...
After having prepared the magic to the right consistency, I pull all the crest and ears fringes up so Danzee will not lose half of this beautiful length by accidentally putting some magic over it.
This is also the time when I cover her feet and tail with the plastic bag. I also secure it with a rubber band which as been stretched for more comfort.
Danzee is pictured here with the magic on. Ordinary I would do this in the bathtub but for the sake of the pictures we did it on the grooming table. Depending on your dog this is where it get critical that you NOT leave it on too long. A few trials may be needed to find out exactly how long it will take to remove your dog's hair.
Now Danzee is being rinsed off. Note the kind of gloves I used to remove the magic... Please, please if you decide to use these too be gentle! When the magic is all removed I then proceed to bath her as usual.
And this is a picture that was taken of Danzee at the Nationals in Biloxi. This was only 2 months after delivering her 5 puppies... told you she had a level topline!