I need grooming advice
 

Okay, so Ellie has never been to the groomers (and hopefully never will). I cut her hair but I don't have a clue what I'm doing.:rolleyes: I just chop it off.;) I have a couple questions and any suggestions would be most helpful.

Ellie has a STRANGE coat. I never have to brush it. It does not part down the middle at all. It gets sort of wavy and sticks up all over and looks very messy. I leave about a centimeter of hair on her body. I have to do this because I use my fingers as a guard so I don't cut her, so it can't be any shorter. I have tried clippers and I made her bald in a spot and she hates vibration. So, I do everything with scissors and that can't change. Once the hair gets to about 1 1/2 - 2 centimeters it looks very messy, so she gets cut about every 2 months. Her face does have Yorkie potential though. I usually leave the top of her head medium length (not long enough for a top knot) and cut by her mouth. It comes out looking like a puppy cut. I really like the puppy cut but I want to see if I can grow her hair long enough on her head for a top knot. I am also tired of cutting it short around her eyes because then the hair pokes her and her eyes water. I want to grow her face all out but should her ears be cut short? Where do I cut to make it look right? Since I am letting the face grow, should I let her paws and legs grow? Can I use something around her eyes to hold the hair down while it is growing? I usually leave quite a bit of hair by her butt (underneath) because I don't know how much I should takie off. How much hair do they really need there?:rolleyes: How about under the tail? Do you cut that? Any thoughts?

I use to take tootsie to pet smart for the $15 puppy cut which is basically a bath and they cut the hair around the face and anal. They will only do it for the first 5 months but if u haven't went there yet then you can just lie about the age. When she was over 5 months i started taking her to a grooming shop because it is way cheaper than pet smart because after they are older than 5 months they try to charge like 50-60 dollars. I get her hair cut a outside groomer and they do it exactly how i want it. They make up a card describing her cut so everytime she goes they know exactly how to cut it, and it is only 30 dollars every 7-9 weeks

That is pretty cheap but since I do it, it is FREE.:) In all honesty, nobody from Petco or Petsmart grooming department is allowed to lay a finger on Ellie because of all the stories of dog abuse. I would consider a privately owned salon but prefer to do it myself because then I know she isn't being hurt, neglected, abused, unsupervised... There are just too many horror stories. I also don't like leaving her alone with people I don't know. Atleast her hair is strange. If she had standard Yorkie hair I would feel bad for chopping it.