Hi...I must commend you for having the courage to try the grooming yourself, especially for the good of you baby. I have an 8 month old , Kali, and Mica just turned one on July 11/08. I have been grooming them myself and it has been going quite well actually. Mostly, ever time I bathe them I use a set of narrow clippers for the tips of the ears and shave a V on the outer third of the ears. I shave the backs as well. They were a little jumpy at first but now Mica seems to love the feel of the clippers on her ears and she just lays down to sleep when I do it almost like the buzzying and massaging puts her to sleep. I clip their nails and, under their tail, around their paws and shape them using a scissor cut. I think they come out looking quite cute. I scissor them at about knee length and then shape their face with a rounded look using scissors. They both have a top knot now and look very, very cute when they are all done. It really only takes me about one hour or so per dog, and probably as time goes on I figure I'll get better and better at it. When Mica was very tiny she just too jumpy so I took her to a groomer and was not happy with the results . They literally cut her face too straight and she ended up looking kind of like a Scottie dog (Scottish Terrior) which was rediculous. Also, they shingled her hair all over and layered it which I never asked for and the cost out here can range from 40 to 55 dollars which is rediculous, especially when I had to bring her back to get them to shave the tips of her ears properly after paying for the grooming. I'm going to keep trying to do the job myself, it really isn't all that difficult with yorkies because as you know they have no undercoat. Good luck with your grooming. Take care. Cory
