Groomer shaved pup, now what?

[kayhold]

I tried searching the forum but didn't find much help.

I recently acquired what I believe to be, at the least, a Cairn mix. She was found, and owners couldn't be located. I decided to rehome her for the friend who found her, but fell in love and will be keeping her.

So, I know nothing of her history. My vet says she is about 1, and in great shape.

 

I took her to the groomer yesterday and clearly asked that she not be shaved, but trimmed and cleaned up a bit.

What I got back was a pup completely shaved. Lesson learned, stay next time and watch.3

Now, as it grows back, what do I do to maintain it?

The groomer said she was not double coated, but this same groomer also shaved her so I'm not sure I trust her assessment on the double coat.

 

I am not opposed to hand stripping. I do own a furminator for my other dog and cat - not sure how helpful it would be on her coat. 

 

Before and after:

 

 

Edited July 27, 2013 by kayhold

[Sam I Am]

Don't you just want to take clippers from the "groomer" ( and I use that word loosely ) and do the same to their own hair! Our old Scottie when she was a pup had a similar experience. She came back shaved after we told her to do a Scottie trim. But, the good thing is that hair grows back. I would just wait and as Cairns have a messy look anyway, and as you won't be showing her, just use the furminator occasionally and perhaps use some thinning scissors to just keep her tidy. After our Scottie experience both our Cairn and new Scottie pup have only had their coats done by myself. After a while you get the hang of it and as I said before, it grows back.

[Hillscreek]

She's still beautiful with a lovely coat color and yes it will grow back. There's no one near where Angus lives who could strip his coat. I learned how from this wonderful and helpful forum. It was not as hard as I thought it might be. While I'm not that good at it yet he does retain his harsh outer coat over the fluffy undercoat. Perfect for our needs. 

[Autumn & Lola]

Can you imagine if you walked into a hair salon and asked for a trim and the stylist shaved your head?!!  Sheesh!  I would be PISSED at this. Yes, it grows back.......but damn, you sure didn't get what you asked for/paid for. 

 

Luckily she is very cute and can pull it off! 

 

You won't have to worry about overly long hair for a while, but when it starts coming in, just tidy her up with scissors or hand strip her yourself. There are a lot of threads about that on here. It will all depend on what "look" you'd like her to have. If you saw the photos I posted of Molly (of whom my ex now has possession), she looks a bit straggly. I prefer a slightly more "groomed" look, NOT, mind you, groomed like she spent the day at the spa, just a bit tidier. Some folks on this forum like the "rough and ready" look of a traditional Cairn. I think you just need to play with it as it grows in and practice. Find some pics of Cairns on here whose look you really like and try to model your new pup's hair after him/her.

[sanford]

She is a beauty... No wonder you kept her! What's her name?Generally speaking, groomers just don't know cairns and many have never even seen one. Some folks on this site bring photos of properly groomed cairns with them to the groomer, but even that is no guarantee. As mentioned above, many of us like our cairns to look "natural"... with a coat that is not overly neat and tidy. This allows for a lot of latitude when you trim the coat yourself — whether by hand-stripping, or with a Furminator, Mars Coat King or stripping knives.

 

P.S. That groomer was having a really bad day! She shaved the body too closely, but left much too much hair on the bushy tail! The hair on cairns tails is supposed be kept short enough to reveal its natural shape: some tails are naturally curved like a banana, some are naturally straight and tapered like an upside-down carrot. Bushy tails belong on other breeds — not on cairns.

 

It's hard to tell from your pix, but her tail also looks very short for a cairn. Do you think it may have been cropped at one time?

Edited July 27, 2013 by sanford

[Sam I Am]

I am starting to think she might be an Australian terrier or part?

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=australian+terrier&qpvt=australian+terrier&FORM=IGRE

[Scout's home]

Oh My this is just what I am worried about. Scout is 8 mons. and she needs cleaned up a bit, But I love her coat now and she never gets dirty unless she plays in the mud.

[4DogsSake]

OMG! That BEAUTIFUL coat! You must feel just sick. She was a gorgeous girl, and now she looks like a little gremlin (or Brussels Griffon). At least it's warm out and she doesn't know she looks funny.

I don't think the groomer knows what she's talking about. I can see that Molly's remaining coat is fine, soft, undercoat. Very few breeds don't have any undercoat, but undercoat varies tremendously from the dense fluff that comes out seasonally in handfulls from Nordic or spitz-type breeds, German Shepherds, and wolves, to the short, fine, sparse undercoat of my own little cairn mix. Dobermans, dalmations, poodles, poodles (I think), etc. don't have undercoat. The groomer might only consider "double coat" to mean dense undercoat, but I can see that Molly, like my Pixie, has a fine undercoat.

Your lovely little girl, and my Pixie look like the same exact dog in different colors. Dyed, they'd be identical. I too am mourning the loss of my girl's beautiful coat. Pixie's is shedding though (for unknown reasons). I hope both our girls are fully furred and lovely again soon.

Here is a post with pictures of Pixie's sparse undercoat (and a bunch of her coat when it was lovely and thick like your girl's was). I'm guessing your girl had the same thing.

http://www.cairnterrier.org/forum/topic/14504-newbie-questions-with-recent-rescue/

Edited August 15, 2013 by 4DogsSake