Growing a show coat....
 

As I have mentioned before I have a little girl whom I would like to show. She is 5 months old and her coat is growing nice. I will be taking her to conformation class this fall. My question is.....Are there any secrets to growing a beautiful show coat? My dogs love being outside. When do you have to start wrapping the coat and do you leave it in all the time or do others leave it down. Is there a good spray on conditioner that you can use every few days in between bathing to keep the coat healthy? I feed good food, add missing link, and spray their coat with a spray on conditioner every few days or so while brushing. Any easy tips?:D

Let her be a puppy for now. Once she's about 9 or 10 months I'd keep her on oil. I use Emu Oil, it tends to be less greasy and doesn't attract dirt as much as others do. Once her coat starts to hit the floor, you'll probably have to start wrapping. The secret to growing coat is keeping it clean. I bathe my show dogs every 4 days. Keep brushing to a minimum, never brush a dirty coat as it'll break it.

Where do you purchase the oil? How is it applied? Do you brush or comb through hair and what type do you use? There are so many?:eek:

Here's the website. http://www.dog-bows.com/ The website owner is Cynthia Kage of Rhapsody Yorkshire Terriers

I usually bathe and dry the dog. Once dried and combed a work a small amount into the coat and brush it in. Or you can put a small amount into water and use as the final rinse, then dry.

Mary

I'm going to love this thread :) Thank you for posting it sweetsophia. Can I ask a few questions too ?

I see Cynthia sells Coatlin also - I've heard that's susposed to be really good too.

As far as the Emu or Coatalin....How much of the product do you use on a full coated yorkie and is it good for NON ShowDogs (Like mine) :)

Are these Oils that you can use for just regular everyday grooming... or are they just for Wrapping ?

Thank you !

I only use the Royal Coatlin for doing maintenance topknots. The Emu Oil I use on unwrapped dogs or dogs whose coats are yet not long enough to be wrapped but, you still want it protected.
Can you be more specific on what you mean by everyday grooming?
I don't oil my dogs that are wrapped. Just my personal preferance.

I don't use anything on my non show dogs. Just shampoo and conditioner.

Interesting...by everyday grooming - I mean baths - brushing & normal hair maintenance. So what you're saying is the Emu is better and someone like me would not need Coatalin. Thank you !!!

How long does a 1 oz container of Emu oil last? I see from the website she sells a mister spray to mix it in with water. If it is solid until heated how can you premix it and keep it for the next time or do you only mix what you can use before it solidifies again?

Hello Sweetsophia!

I put my showbitch in oil when she was just 5 month old, cause my breeders told me to do so, they breed Maltese and Shih Tzu too and they do it the same with all 3 breeds. The first wraps I put in when the pup is about 6/7 months(in face and at the tail) and then with 9/10 month I put the dog totally in wraps. For wrapping I use a mixture of oil and the Ice On Ice Concentrate of Chris Christensen diluted with water. That really works exellent, the coat is growing very fast. Here is a picuture of my showgirl taken with just 24 months of age.

Ohhh, what a beautiful dog! She looks like a winner to me!! :thumbup: :thumbup:

I'm a groomer too. However, I groom dogs as I would show dogs. What I use for products on my show dogs are different than what pet owners use. The brushes and combs I use are different.

I bathe my non show dogs every 7 days. Show dogs are bathed every 4 days. They are all blow dried and brushed as they are being dried in my arms. I keep brushing at a minimum between bathes. I do clean faces, brush teeth, topknots and wrapping daily.

Oh, I forgot, I spray in the mixture before I dry my girl and I make the wraps at head new every 3-4 days and all every 7 days that´s enough with this mixture, cause there are no matts.

What Shampoo and conditioner do you use every 4 days? I know there are better ones than others. I need some more and would like to buy a large shampoo and conditioner with pumps.

It depends on the dog's coat. Each dog is different.

All 3 of my yorkies have silky coats, not real thick but not thin if you know what I mean. They do not mat easily but then again I don't give them a chance to. I wash them at least once a week. Any suggestions for a good shampoo and conditioner?

I usually don't make a recommendation without putting my hands on the coat.

Goodness!!! Her coat is beautiful!!!!!

Mary do you ever trim the ends? Or is there no need because of the oil and wraps? (I do know how to wrap, doing the standard poodle but we never used oil because it would soften his coat)

I sew and I was thinking of making a little outfit (I guess you would call it a jogging suit) that is lined with satin and covered the feet too, so that our show dogs would be able to go outside too without ruining their coats when we take the dogs out to play.

Also do you blowdry on cool or warm? I would worry that using the blowdryer too frequently would dry out their coats? Or do you use an ion dryer?

I nip the ends about once a month until they are in full coat. But, that is how I do it.....I do this for the split ends. I use plastic wraps so, I don't use oil. What I use is either Ice-On-Ice or a leave-in conditioner.

Cynthia Kage's web site has a satin coat to go over wraps so, the little terrorists won't take off their wraps. I have one, but have not had the need to use it until now......Denny or better known as Double D for Demon Denny.

I blow dry my dogs upside down, so, I start with their tummies with warm and then go to cool. I have a professional dryer at home and have a table professional dryer that I travel with.

Which dryer do you use (I am familiar with prof dryer names, I am still debating about grooming school...I do enough for my family, lol and I know it is not good enough I got the grooming bug when I started learning more about show grooming and spent many days in the grooming shop with the std poodle), talking with other show breedrs some use prof dryers and some use regular dryers.

I have feeling a suit will be needed, Reggie and Kenzie chew on each others ponytails...I can only imagine their glee with a fully wrapped bussy in their presence...

I have a Double K for home. Now the one I take on the road I can't read the , since my mentor/breeder bought it about 35 years ago, but it's fabulous. Old and very quiet.

Grooming school techniques are a great ground work and it's easy to incorporate them into your show grooming. I know that pet hair stylists hate show people. I took grooming classes because I hated what they were doing to my yorkies.

Oh my!! Now I am really laughing!! When I first started calling around for a groomer for the poodle you should have heard the snarky remarks I got!!! Then I struck gold, got a show groomer, who was also a prof handler and took my under her wing.

Now when I called about the school the instructor asked why I was interested in grooming, I told her about how I loved grooming for the show...I got no further and she was very defensive and abbraisive telling me she does not tolerate "show people", she went on a tirade about show grooming...yada yada...I then told her I did not expect her to teach show grooming. She then was a bit testy and asked why I was bothering to consider grooming school cause they did not need a "know it all"! yikes, I laughed and told I was no a "know it all" that was why I wanted to go to grooming school, cause I sucked at it, lol.
It is not the best school, but it is the only option I have. my boys are still too young for me to leave for 3 months, the school is 1 hour and 45 mins away but it will be worth it.
I have been speaking with another groomer in the city who I have struck up a friendship with, I lurk on the groomers board and have for well over a year. I have been gathering up tools for grooming here and there (I love ebay...:) )
I have been eying the double K's for a while, that or an Edemeco (sp?).

OK! Here you go, I don't know how this will work since you are in NB, but here's a website that teaches you grooming, but you can do it through home study. http://www.learntogroom.com/. Not as expensive as going to school either.

That is very kind, but I really feel I need the hands on, more dogs to work on besides my own.
Even if this school is the pits I am book smart with regards to pet grooming just not hands on smart (if that makes sense) I can use my own knoweldge and use the practice and go form there.

Have you ever gone on the groomers BBS? I love it there, I learn so much and surprisingly it is small community.

http://www.groomers.net/discus/messa...rd-topics.html

Ah but it is on, you offer your services to Rescue pets, Animal Shelters to get your hands on training.

What is the BBS?

This is a great thread. I'm learning a bunch! Not that my girl is show quality but I'm learnig how to take care of her coat.

Glad you're learning. Taking care of show coat is much more tedious. When I had my first 2 yorkies (pets), I'd spend hours taking care of their coats. Then I started showing and tried to keep up with show coats and the my lil pet girls.....guess what? puppy cuts on my lil pet girls. And the show girls are cut down as soon as they are ready to breed. Too much work to keep everyone in coat and clean.

Growing a show coat
 

Hello, and congrats to you for having the motivation to show your little girl! The world of dog shows is interesting to say the least! However; it can be loads of fun! I have shown both with AKC and APRI> I have one tiny male who has Champeoned. The best advice I got came from my daughter when she heard me talking about shampoos, conditioners, wraps, etc. She said, Mom, you need to focus more on what you put into the dog, and not so uch on what you put onto him!" This is totally true! I have found one thing to be vital in his diet. Try putting wheat germ oil in his water daily (just a little), or a few drops on his food twice a day. Gives the coat a beautiful shine and texture.