Before
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After
I’m kind of stumped myself on the breed. Any ideas? He’s about 40 lbs. He had a single coat (no undercoat), no webbing on his feet. The after looks almost like a poodle mix, but there was no curl to his coat, just slightly wavy, so I suppose he could be part poodle. His hair seems almost like an Old English Sheepdog, but he’s smaller than that. Maybe an OES mix? Mixed with what?
Here are some in-progress pics:
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What a transformation! You did a wonderful job.
i don’t know much about breeds, although he does look like a sheep dog like you suggested.
Whatever his breed, he sure is cute.
Thanks. He is pretty cute.
wheaton terrier?
Possibly but he’d have to be mixed with something, or else have a shitload of “faults”! He is about the right size and has a similar coat though! Good guess. (I forgot how much I hate grooming wheatens, LOL)
There’s a dog that looks just like that on a dog food commercial in Australia. I have no idea what the breed is, but he’s a cutie.
Does that dog look like the before or the after?
He looks like the Dulux dog!
And he had *a lot* of hair! Wow.
Yeah, and the hair was in chunks that were inches thick. You couldn’t separate it to see his skin anywhere. It made it difficult to get the clippers started in there.
He’s cute that’s for sure. I’m thinking his head looks kind of square like a lab. I know he’s small but some labs are smaller than others. Maybe a lab-ra-poodle.
I thought he looked similar to a labradoodle I groom who gets clipped pretty short like this (not this short because he isn’t as matted) except that dog’s hair is more poodle-like to start with. Also, lab’s and poodle’s ears are both more flat against their heads than this, so I am trying to figure out where these ears came from! It’s like they want to stick straight out to the sides but they are heavy and fall down. (Which I think is adorable, LOL.)
I’m so bad.
That third in-progress picture with him shaved except for his head?? That’s how I would groom him!! That is so cool looking!! Of course his head would need an expert groomer to make it look right but I know one of those!! She’s my kid!
It’s amazing that that’s the same dog. WOW! Great work, BabyGirl!
Ha ha, no you wouldn’t! His head was a solid, thick mat, underneath that top layer of hair. It was sooo gross! I would have liked to have left a little more hair to style it a bit, but there wasn’t any to leave, it was like thick cloth. (See that bottom pic? That is what was hanging down from his face after I clipped it.) Thanks though.
I like one of your tags I hate people. LOL Sorry I shouldn’t laugh. It just caught my eye and made me smile. Yes people sure can be hateable at times. One of the pictures he’s looking back it kind of looks like he’s think wow what happen to that big patch of hair? Boy I must be really shedding.;+/. Boy the after picture he sure looks good. I bet he feels great!
Yeah, I do hate these dog owner sometimes! He did feel much better after losing the rug!
I was thinking Dulux paint dog as well.
He’s a cutie.
Oh my goodness, it’s hard to believe that’s the same dog. Cute both ways, however:)
I appreciate all the nice comments here, but I really can’t believe that nobody seems to realize what awful condition this dog was in before. The vet could not vaccinate it until I shaved it because he could not find any spot to get to its skin because the whole entire dog was matted over.
The “shaggy” hair you can see is only the outer LAYER of the hair sticking out of the mats. I know it is hard to tell in the before picture, which is why I included a few in-progress ones. It was easy to see in person, and especially if you touched the dog. The coat was all greasy and lumpy and hard. I would not have shaved this dog so short if I hadn’t had to.
Would you post about your craft? It’s so very interesting to see how you determine these things and how you make decisions whether to shave the whole dog down and what not. And, I might be addicted to “Groomer has it.”
I had started a post about shaving dogs and never got around to finishing it, but you just reminded me! I’m not sure it will address what you asked, but I would be happy to answer questions in the comments. My most popular post in search engines is one I did about why you shouldn’t shave a double-coated dog, so this will probably be another “technical” type post that I hope will help people.
Poor baby! You’re right though, it is hard to tell from the first picture how bad the matting is, but the progress pictures tell a different story…
You really do make a huge difference in these dog’s lives, you should feel proud.