Question about trimming ear hair..

[BabieChloe]

Well, last night I trimmed Chloe's ear hair with a pair of shears because the hair was long and she isn't letting me use a trimmer yet. I think I might have taken too much hair but I'm not sure.. She had hair growing outward so what I did was trim around the shape of her ear. I did leave the hair that goes in the front of the head and covers the ears. In the back though, you can see I trimmed the hair to the shape of the ear. After looking at some pictures, I can't tell if I did it properly. Are you suppose to ONLY touch the hair growing at the tip or are you suppose to outline the ear as well? She had really long ear hair so I thought it was suppose to be trimmed but now I see her little ears very clearly, lol.. While in pictures of show dog Yorkies the ears seem to be hidden away. She does have hair in front of the ear to drape over them and behind.. But the ear itself is outlined. I hope what I'm asking makes sense!

[mimimomo]

Only the top 1/3rd tip of the ear should be trimmed...if you trim anymore, their ear gets huge.
Grooming Smarter: Yorkie Ears on Westie Type Heads

[EarthAngel]

I bought a little trimmer for ears...ConairPro Palm like the one in the link. Got it at Agway and it is very quiet and runs on a battery and does a great job. You may want check it out if you have an Agway...the lady there even put the battery in for me to run it so I can feel the power and the quietness. Just a thought if you wanted to check it out in person.


ConairPro Palm Pro Micro-Trimmer | Free Shipping - Pet360 Pet Parenting Simplified

[BabieChloe]

Originally Posted by mimimomo

Only the top 1/3rd tip of the ear should be trimmed...if you trim anymore, their ear gets huge.
Grooming Smarter: Yorkie Ears on Westie Type Heads

Yeah, I think I trimmed too much. I hope it grows out quickly. I feel bad that I didn't do such of a great job as I thought.. It's harder than it looks!! Now I feel upset that I took too much hair off but I guess it's my first time doing it and I'll know when it grows out not to do it.

[mimimomo]

Don't worry, it will grow out. We need to practice to get good @ it. My furry buddies were my guinea pigs when I 1st started grooming.

I trim their ear tips (outer edges) w/a small blunt nosed scissor during their bath. You can see the hair & edge of the ear better when it's wet, easier to trim, try that next time. Just move the hair w/your finger out towards where you want to trim & use your other finger as a guide. Trim the hairs sticking out.

[BabieChloe]

Originally Posted by mimimomo

Don't worry, it will grow out. We need to practice to get good @ it. My furry buddies were my guinea pigs when I 1st started grooming.

I trim their ear tips (outer edges) w/a small blunt nosed scissor during their bath. You can see the hair & edge of the ear better when it's wet, easier to trim, try that next time. Just move the hair w/your finger out towards where you want to trim & use your other finger as a guide. Trim the hairs sticking out.

That's a good idea to trim when the ear hair is wet! I'll try that at her next bath. I actually didn't go very close to her ear when I trimmed it yesterday because I couldn't see the tip of the ear clearly.. so I need to do some touching up.

I see the mistake I made now that you pointed out how you trim. For some reason I didn't think the hair at the base of the ear needed to be kept so I trimmed it along the shape of the ear. My mistake!! Her ears look a little big now lol.

I wanted that little show dog look but I can see now that before I get there it's going to take a lottt of practice. Now that I did this I'm definitely not touching her skirt until I watch some grooming videos. It's about an inch from the ground so I just want to trim it very slightly to freshen the ends.. but I'm not trying to make a mistake on this because THAT took forever to grow!

[mimimomo]

Originally Posted by BabieChloe

That's a good idea to trim when the ear hair is wet! I'll try that at her next bath. I actually didn't go very close to her ear when I trimmed it yesterday because I couldn't see the tip of the ear clearly.. so I need to do some touching up.

I see the mistake I made now that you pointed out how you trim. For some reason I didn't think the hair at the base of the ear needed to be kept so I trimmed it along the shape of the ear. My mistake!! Her ears look a little big now lol.

I wanted that little show dog look but I can see now that before I get there it's going to take a lottt of practice. Now that I did this I'm definitely not touching her skirt until I watch some grooming videos. It's about an inch from the ground so I just want to trim it very slightly to freshen the ends.. but I'm not trying to make a mistake on this because THAT took forever to grow!

For her skirt, you can use a comb as a guide to cut a straight line. This vid shows ear tipping too.
@ 5:10 trim skirt:

Yorkie Pet Grooming - YouTube

[BabieChloe]

Originally Posted by mimimomo

For her skirt, you can use a comb as a guide to cut a straight line. This vid shows ear tipping too.
@ 5:10 trim skirt: Yorkie Pet Grooming - YouTube

You know what I don't understand about the video.. why he goes through all that work to make the yorkie beautiful with long hair and then he shaves it off LOL.

I wish there was a pure paws groomer in my area and then I would take her there for them to make her look sexy lol.. I realized from a simple ear trim that it's pretty difficult to make Chloe's hair look perfect on the first try. I have some more practicing to do!

[paisleypixels]

My breeder recommended the Wahl Peanut Trimmer. Sally's carries them, but I also found online at Valley Vet for a little less $.

How often do y'all trim their ears/feet/personal area?

[mimimomo]

Originally Posted by paisleypixels

My breeder recommended the Wahl Peanut Trimmer. Sally's carries them, but I also found online at Valley Vet for a little less $.

How often do y'all trim their ears/feet/personal area?

It really depends on the dog's (in this case, Yorkie's) hair. Momo is in a short puppy cut so he needs a weekly ear & sanitary trim, his hair grows so fast. My other 3 are silky haired & their hair grows very slow, I trim them every 2-3 weeks. Sometimes I don't have to tip their ears for a whole month.