Pippy, a Wire Fox Terrier, came in a few weeks ago. We do what we call a "pet strip" on this dog. We card and strip her jacket to retain as much color and texture as possible but clip her head and scissor her furnishing. I thought there was something odd about her appearance when she walked in, but it wasn't until I began to dry her that I realized that her eyebrows were almost non-existent.
I added a little mousse to the small amount of brow hair that remained and proceeded to prep her for grooming. When it was time to groom her head and try to make her look like the breed she is, I was in a pickle. It is hard to shape the signature Wire Fox head without brows. I did my best, trimming the remaining coat's wisps to vaguely resemble some little terrier points.
When Pippie's owner returned, I asked, "Did you trim her eyebrows, or did she rub them off?" Her owner looked ashamed and said, "I cut them. I felt like she couldn't see."
This left me with a few choices:
- Say nothing and be annoyed that I couldn't make the dog look as good as I usually can.
- Say something to make the owner feel even worse than she already did.
- Make a joke about the hair growing back.
- Show the owner how to trim the hair more reasonably.
I opted for the last option. I put the dog back up on the table and pointed out that if Pippi indeedcouldn't see well, it wasn't her short little brows that were the problem. More likely, the fur that grew upwards from the corners of her eyes and the top of her muzzle near her eyes was causing the perceived problem. I showed her owner how to comb that hair down and away from the eyes to see if that helped. If mere combing wasn't enough, maybe using a little dab of product every few days would help keep the hair down and out of the way. If that didn't do the trick, I showed her how to trim the hair that was bothering her carefully. (Don't panic about this. The owner was already wielding scissors around her pet's eyes. I wasn't suggesting it.)
Next, I combed her sad little brows forward and showed her the proper angle to trim them if she felt she must. I explained that if she had the shape right, I could send Pippi home looking more like she should. She grabbed her phone and took a few photos of proper scissor placement, and she and Pippi left happy.
Poodle and Doodle owners often whack away at the hair over their pet's eyes, making creating a pleasing topknot or head shape a real challenge. A few moments showing pet owners how to comb and trim the fur appropriately is a winning situation all around. Sometimes, they quit the home grooming efforts altogether; other times, they learn to do it in a way that leaves us something to work with when they return.
One excellent option is to offer free eye trims between grooming appointments. That doesn't work in Pippi's case because she lives several hours away, but it is a terrific plan for many customers and one they will truly appreciate. A little education or extra service can go a long way towards keeping pets looking their best.
