How can I shave Chloe into a puppy cut
 

Chloe has really bad mats in her hair. I think it's because the brush I am using isn't very good so I am going to get a Madan pin brush soon (maybe I'll ask for one from my SB!) I brush her every day, but she still seems to get these awful matted sections! I started cutting a few out today, but I have to cut down really low so I feel like I may as well be shaving her.


She is only 4.5 months so this will be her first cut. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I might fix her up? I have a hair clipper here but it is quite large, what do you all use? I don't want to take her to a groomer, I want to do it myself (worried mama!). A video would also help if anyone has one. Thank you so much!

I had another member ask about Lola's haircut and was able to give her this info. I give both my pups their haircuts and thought maybe this might help. :)

What I typically do is:
1.brush her hair out and part it down the middle from her forehead all the way down her back,
2. lift her up on a chair seat and sit on the floor so that she is eye level with me (Hubby helps to make sure she doesn't take a flying leap off the chair),
3. then I basically trim her (with a scissors) along her body as straight as I can...then try and do the exact same length on the other side, lifting up both sides to compare the length. I try and trim along the natural lines of her body and legs, so it looks a bit more tapered and natural instead of choppy.

As for her face and top knot, I try to cut her face in a shape that is a bit wider around her "cheeks"...and thins out towards her ears. I also trim under her chin a bit to give her that "chubby cheeks" look. I leave her "bangs" a bit longer so I can pull them back into the topknot. When I do her topknot, which I have to redo about every 2 days (she loves to roll around and mess it up), I brush her "bangs" and pull them back and put them up in a tiny rubber band. Then once you have the hair in the rubber band, you can pull the hair a bit forward to give it a bit of volume and tighten the rubber band.

For her face I only use a scissors. I have a big scissors that I use and a small one...they are both sewing scissors as I find that they cut the best.
When I start her face I first cut close to her ears to create the shape there and then I can know how wide I can go with her cheeks. I (TRY) to comb it out so it is free of snarls then I taper from right below her ears to almost a point down to her chin. It trim underneath her chin to almost give her a "bob" cut...if that makes any sense. I try to match both side...but to be truthful she isn't a big fan of getting her hair cut so sometimes days after I see some hairs that seem like they came out of nowhere and then I just grab the little scissors and trim the hairs so that it all falls into place.

Also...I always cut her hair when it is dirty, that way I can tell which way it is going to naturally lay and then after a bath and conditioning it dries nice and fluffy into the new style.

If she's only around 18 wks old the mats are probably from her blowing her puppy coat. What you are finding are probably the shorter hairs being carried with the new growth. The hair that they are born with has new hairs growing through it and that carries the puppy coat out away from their body. If she has a "halo" of longer hairs on her back and sides you can trim them to be a uniform length with the rest of her hair. If you work with very small sections at a time with a good conditioner that might loosen some of the "mats". When I put mine in a puppy cut the hair is between 3/4 & 1" on the back and sides.