.com Forum · Real Show Dogs

I think this would be a great thread to educate/be educated by others in grooming. There's a ton of dog breeds, and I don't think everyone knows everything about grooming every breed, so I see this as a good opportunity. Share your routines and products used, as well as any questions you may have about grooming other breeds and your own breeds.

I'll go first. I've groomed many breeds, but my only one I currently own to show groom is a GSD. I like to apply coconut milk to the cost and let it set for 10 minutes. I use Chris Christensen spectrum 1 shampoo, Burt's Bees shampo, a slicker brush, bristle brush, and a comb. I blow dry the legs up, and hairspray as I do that. I blow the sides up and forward, the topline straight, then the croup against the grain, but then with the grain, so it doesn't dry totally flat. I do the head against the gram as well. I finish with Cindra supercoat, and a shine spray. Oh, and I also use mouse in the coat when it's damp, and blow it out. I've heard shaving cream is a cheaper, sometimes even better alternative. While I personally think most all breeds look best with whiskers trimmed, I don't trim whiskers, because no other GSD people I've ever seen do. The top dog in the country (a GSD) has hers as well, so I'll take that as advice

Now for my questions:

Do you guys notice a major difference between cheap and expensive brushes/combs of any type? What is your happy medium?

What is the best shampoo in your opinion to use? What's the most cost efficient?

What grooming tools are your must haves?

What grooming tools are your must haves?

I have a variety of cheap brushes/combs and I have one Chris Christensen brush - I LOVE it. It's definitely my go-to brush.

For me, the best shampoo varies greatly from dog to dog, I tend to pick and choose from product lines, I'm not sold on one complete line of everything yet. For the wire coated dogs I love the Winners Circle harsh coat shampoo, but I don't think they're making it anymore. I don't use enough shampoos to make it worth buying and diluting, so can't comment there.

Must have grooming tools: A good wide tooth comb, brush, slicker brush, mars coat king, and a variety of stripping knives. I recommend a coat king even for non-wired breeds, it takes a ton of undercoat out of goldens, brittanys, etc.

I've groomed and shown a variety of dogs too, but I'm currently only showing my GWP.
I start with mousse in her legs and chest, let sit then add cholesterol. I then apply white terrier chalk to her legs, applying with a fine brush with soft bristles, against the hair. Once the chalk is set, you can brush out the desired amount and shape the hair, use hairspray to set.
I use pretty much only my fingers to strip out coat anywhere it's needed and smooth out her outline.
I then use a little bit of mousse in her beard and a tad of gel in her eyebrows.

That's pretty much it. Always wash out the chalk because it'll break coat.

I don't have show dogs, but it's fun to see what everyone does!

I'm actually a competition groomer sooooo lol

All are show dogs as well

The cocker starts with pure paws factor 0, then PP Amplify, force dry to 80%. Root lift in hock hair texture foam on back and crown. Stand dry till done, flat iron. Then shave face ears, throat, card back down, trim in bevels. Go back over to get sticky outies.

The pulik (corded) are wash in PP factor 0, wash again in reconstructions or oatmeal. Dry till done (if done right no mold smell)

aussie wash with factor 0 wash again in either H20 or Silk Basics, amp moose on fronts of legs, amp foam for ruff, some interesting dryer techniques and trim ears, feet and nubbie.

There's more but these are the current crew

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posted by Astoria Kennel
What grooming tools are your must haves?

I have a variety of cheap brushes/combs and I have one Chris Christensen brush - I LOVE it. It's definitely my go-to brush.

For me, the best shampoo varies greatly from dog to dog, I tend to pick and choose from product lines, I'm not sold on one complete line of everything yet. For the wire coated dogs I love the Winners Circle harsh coat shampoo, but I don't think they're making it anymore. I don't use enough shampoos to make it worth buying and diluting, so can't comment there.

Must have grooming tools: A good wide tooth comb, brush, slicker brush, mars coat king, and a variety of stripping knives. I recommend a coat king even for non-wired breeds, it takes a ton of undercoat out of goldens, brittanys, etc.

I've groomed and shown a variety of dogs too, but I'm currently only showing my GWP.
I start with mousse in her legs and chest, let sit then add cholesterol. I then apply white terrier chalk to her legs, applying with a fine brush with soft bristles, against the hair. Once the chalk is set, you can brush out the desired amount and shape the hair, use hairspray to set.
I use pretty much only my fingers to strip out coat anywhere it's needed and smooth out her outline.
I then use a little bit of mousse in her beard and a tad of gel in her eyebrows.

That's pretty much it. Always wash out the chalk because it'll break coat.

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i

I don't show but question on the Mars coat King, does it strip more then the furminator? My dog is terrier mix, I use primarily the furminator primarily and a basic dual tooth comb. (Wide toothed one side, narrow on the other...

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posted by Guiding Senjis
I don't show but question on the Mars coat King, does it strip more then the furminator? My dog is terrier mix, I use primarily the furminator primarily and a basic dual tooth comb. (Wide toothed one side, narrow on the other...

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Yeah it does, I'll send you a video on facebook next time I groom one of the dogs to show you how much it takes out. They're super handy.

The two breeds I show at the moment are boxers and tibetan spaniels, both of which I think are pretty easy, grooming wise.


For the boxers, I start out with a good bath using Why Bitch (B3) shampoo. I've found it's the easiest for getting the coat clean without adding or stripping anything out, and it dilutes beautifully. That gets followed with whitening shampoo (Equitone whitening most often), and then applying a conditioner if they need it. Usually I use a 50/50 dilution of mane & tail moisturizing conditioner, although lately I've been lazy and been using my own argon oil conditioner from Organix and seem to be getting nice results. Usually I do this the night before so they just sort of air dry after I towel them off.

On show days we trim the "undercarriage" on the boys, scissor their cowlicks down as much as possible on the sides of their necks and their thighs, take off whiskers, trim up the inner ear and the crop edge, round off the end of the tail, and usually shave the underside of the tail as well. After that they get a good brushing with a copper bristle brush, and we chalk the legs. Chalking involves making sure the legs are clean, lightly applying a chalk helper product (I use Christensen cholesterol), putting the chalk on the legs (billiard chalk chunks rubbed against the grain of the fur and loose chalk or baby powder packed against the grain of the hair on the feet), spraying down with a mink oil spray, brushing down the legs/with the grain of the fur with a soft brush (a goat brush from tractor supply), and then lightly applying some silk oil to make sure the chalk doesn't "puff" off when they walk. I also usually put some black vaseline on my bitch's nose because she gets that crusty brown line on her nose. If they have white markings on their face, I use ChrisStix to whiten their markings there. My male is "open faced" and has predominately white lips, so he gets loose chalk applied with a short bristled stippling brush, lol. Then I just spray some Shine For Sure over them and brush it in with the copper bristle brush and we're ready to go.


The tibetan spaniels are pretty easy. They get a bath with some sort of cheap shampoo (usually mane and tail), then whatever shampoo they need for color enhancing depending on color (Isle of Dogs or Christensen products), conditioned with evening primrose conditioner from isle of dogs, final rinsed using After U Bathe, and blow dried. On show days we brush them out nicely and back blow them while misting them with Bottoms Up coat lifter, and then use a slicker on them and they're ring ready. One of the boys I show has a super curly coat so we use Coat Link Coat Dressing on him. It's a spray on foam and we just spray it on, then brush the hair in the direction we want it to go, and boom the curl and wave comes out. He also elbows out a little, so we use product and vet wrap to sort of "wrap" his elbow feathers in, then take it off before we go in the ring and comb the feathers. It helps him look less like he has little chicken wings, lol!


As far as noticing a difference in the cheap vs expensive products, I definitely notice that you get what you pay for. Cheaper shampoos are fine for every day use, but you really need something high quality IMO to get the results you need for the show ring. I usually recommend Isle of Dogs products and Why Bitch the most often, and Christensen third. In my experience Christensen can be sort of drying for coats and I seemed to get more breakage with them, but some people really like them. I prefer Christensen for grooming products and Isle of Dog and Why Bitch for shampoo and conditioner.

In the same vein, however, I don't notice a whole lot of difference in scissors, brushes, etc between the expensive and cheap items for the most part. My wooden bristled brush is a "cheap" brand (Bass), and it works just as well as the one my sister uses from Christensen. I do prefer Christensen pin brushes, though. They seem more flexible and have longer bristles. My copper brush also came from Christensen, but they're hard to find from other brands I think. In contrast, my slicker brushes came from walmart, and my combs are either mystery brands I've been given (or found after shows), or from PetEdge. My shears are a mix of ones from PetEdge and some I've "commandeered" from my former place of employment, and were actually destined to be surgical scissors.

My "must have" grooming products include a comb with medium and coarse ends, a "face comb" that is a mini comb with fine and medium ends, a slicker brush, a wooden bristle pin brush (doesn't break coat, unlike what wire pin brushes can do!), a wire pin brush, a copper bristled brush (I think Christensen calls them copper ion brushes), thinning shears, short straight shears (I find anything over 5" cumbersome), a small soft bristled brush, and a chalk brush, along with chalk. I prefer white billiard chalk that comes in cones for legs/chests and loose Lanny's Terrier Chalk for feet. The cones I order from amazon, then take outside and drop on the concrete a few times in a plastic bag to break it up, lol.

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Last edited by Phlossy on 10/27/2015 11:12:22 PM

Thank you all for sharing! One thing I noticed today was that my dog seems to have really thin hair on his snout underneath his nose and around his lips. Has anyone ever had issues with this? He has lighter colored whiskers around that area which make it more obvious, and I realized that it hasn't really gone away.

When I'm trying to add hair I give Vitamin E oil - either a capsule on the food or I break it open and rub on the affected area(s). I've heard other people say the same with coconut oil, but I can't stand the smell of it

Yep, I've been administering coconut, and ordered some Vitamin E yesterday morning. Anyone have issue with plaque buildup? I brush his teeth daily, though I miss a day I between every now and then. I believe the kibble may be the culprit, since it seems like that's what sticks to his back molars. I'll note that the only place he has buildup is his very back molars. It's not awful, but it's still something. I've started feeding him only half kibble, and added extra water in hopes of softening it down a little. Any suggestions?

I purchase 'Smiles' by Mainly Dogs and add it to the kibble. It does a better job of maintaining clean teeth as opposed to actually removing plaque/tartar but it does slowly remove over time as well.
www.mainlydogs.com/details.php?prodId=47

This is a fun thread!

I currently show BRTs and Irish Wolfhounds. The grooming is so extensive for the BRTs, it takes hours and hours to do one, let alone two lol

We start with a good brush out, I like to use a metal pin brush. Then we bathe, we use Isle of Dog, we have a 3 step system. A dark coat, light management and coarse coat. Then we blow dry and brush. After that, we shave. That is what takes forever.

The wolfhounds are a bit easier. They get a bath, again Isle of Dog. We do coarse coat, light management, and white coat plus a primrose conditioner. Then we blow them out, strip ears, do some tuck work, feet scissoring, and pluck hairs here and there.

It sounds like a quick routine but it's not lol

They all get supplements, so we don't have to add those to the coats luckily. However, we do hot oil treatment on the BRTs, which does wonders for their coats and they get cholesterol put on their coats every so often.