groomer shaved my beautiful pup :( :( how quick does her hair grow back?

[samithecairn]

I asked for a trim and he shaved her!!! Looking for info regarding how long it will take for my cairn to grow her beautiful coat back... Absolutley devastated!!!

[Idaho Cairns]

Not as long as you think right now--probably two-three months to a good coat and couple of more months to a full coat. A lot depends on the dog, of course, but the hair will come back.

[hheldorfer]

Take a deep breath and remember that the hair will grow back. Several other forum members have had this same experience and it WILL get better. I'd cross that groomer off the list, however.

[Lynn in TN]

I hope not long. Poor little thing will freeze. I can imagine how upset you are. I hated to get Kelly spayed this close to winter because I knew they would shave her belly.

[Hagar]

Several years ago I took a two week vacation and boarded Renny at a local "pet resort". I had lost my longtime groomer shortly before so I asked for them to go ahead and groom Renny. I specified a bath and MINIMAL trimming. It's a good thing Renny recognized me when I went to pick him up, because they gave him a buzz cut, and I barely recognized my own dog. This was in late July and while his coat started to grow back fairly fast, it took a full year for his coat to fully recover. We had a lot of cold weather that year and Renny really had a tough time with the cold weather.on walks or when he had to go out.

Fortunately, I found a groomer who is a terrier specialist about the time he was due for his next grooming. Making him look like a Cairn again took awhile, but was well worth it.

If you live where it gets cold I would suggest being extra careful in cold weather. Maybe a coat if she will wear one?

[JohnS33]

We never stripped our prior cairn - Our last cairn used to go to a groomer that said he knew what a "cairn cut" was and the dog would come back shaved with a puffy lions head face, but all the body hair short. What's with that?

[jane in austria]

I can really sympathisize with you - I just took my cairn to a new groomer and am seriously disappointed. I live in Austria, where Cairns are not very common and no one seems to know what they should look like. The last groomer I took her to groomed her like a Westie, so I was feeling encouraged when this new groomer at least asked what breed my dog is when we spoke on the telephone. Apparently, my telling her what breed I have did not motivate her to look up how to groom a Cairn - she shaped her head like a terrier, overdid the ears, clipped her and did part with a furminator. Even I could have done a better job.

Anyway, I have several questions that I would very much appreciate getting the answers to:

1. How long will it take for the clipped bits to recover?

2. What should I do at the next grooming - should the clipped bits be left to grow?

3. What can I do to rebuild the coat?

4. Are furminators okay to use on Cairns?

5. As I am again on the search for a decent groomer, what are the things that I should ask in advance before I agree to let another groomer touch my Cairn?

Thanks!

cheers,

jane in Austria

[Idaho Cairns]

Jane the hair will grow back pretty quick so don't worry too much. It has been my limited experience that groomers just don't "get it" when it comes to Cairns--they can do Westie cuts with that long skirt on bottom, Schnauzer cuts with shaved bodies and eyebrows "out to heck wouldn't have it" but they just don't know how a Cairn is supposed to look or if they do, don't know how to get there.

I would suggest learning the "ropes" on your own, deciding what you want you dog to look like and then slowly working your way there a small bit at a time--learn how to do the face and tail and then, once that is mastered, start the stripping routine (if that is what you want) with the body.

I don't use a groomer and our dogs are rough cut in the sense that we leave the coats long and trim only the face and tail. You can get a lot done with a good wire brush, shears, stripping shears, a Mars King Coat, and a small set of rounded scissors to do the fine trimming. Anymore I just brush regularly and trim as necessary, try to keep some of the hair on the face short and thus stay satisfied with how my dogs look.

Pick out a look you want for your dog and just move toward that look going slowly and methodically as you can. Nice thing about this method is that your mistakes grow out in the shortest of time--unlike a groomer's mistake that may take months.

[Hawkeye]

I second what Idaho said. I also groom my own. My previous cairn was groomed more like a westie than a cairn, they just don't get that a cairn is different. With the help of this forum I research and started doing the grooming myself and you know...it's not too difficult. I was also able to find a groomer who allowed me to watch and she gave me a lesson. My thinking is we can't mess them up any worse than some of the groomers have.

[sanford]

As I am again on the search for a decent groomer, what are the things that I should ask in advance before I agree to let another groomer touch my Cairn?

In addition to the suggestions above, I would recommend that you gather some photos of cairns who are properly groomed and take them with you to the groomer to use as a reference, stressing that you don't want your cairn to look like a Westie or a Schnauzer.

[bradl]

[cairnsby3]

That's great Brad!

[jane in austria]

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions!

I will take them altogether and hope to have my Rosie looking like her old self again. :-)

cheers,

Jane