Sheltie Pants!

BarbV

BarbV

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I can't stand it!

No matter how much I brush Indy, I just can't keep his pants under control.

His behind is very coarse and wiry (I'm talking about the area on each side of his tail, starting from the hocks to the base of his tail.

Same with his tail.....very coarse and sticks up all over the place. Typical of Tri's and merles, his behind is grey and very wiry. The rest of him though is still very soft and puppy like (his black hair and ruff).

When I groom him I slather him with CC Ice on Ice, but it doesn't seem to be good enough. I'm sure, I'm still breaking his fur and making it worse. I can barely get a slicker or a comb through his pants.

So the first question is: maybe I should thin it out....if so, I welcome techniques for thinning it out without touching the guard hairs.

Is there a better product than Ice on Ice for conditioning rough, dry hair?
 
I use the furminator on Deska's pants if they get out of control, seems to rake out the coarser bits. Although since using baby oil on his pants (to stop the burrs and grass seeds when we bush walk) they are much softer and he even gets a nice swoosh and sway in them when he walks now. This summer I'm going to try it on his tail as well and see if I can get that to sit better.
 
If they need to be thinned you can work it two ways, one go from the bottom up and work the scissors deep in the pants so you are removing the coat in the middle, where you wont see it or two you can lift the tail and from there clip up at a 45 degree angle a 90 straight across and a 45 down towards the hocks.

Now the really important part take one clip and brush and repeat until you think they are thinned enough.

This is the method I use for my pet dogs who have unruly pants it seems to thin them out so it is a bit more manageable...
 
I thin out Meggie pants all the time. I just use the thinning shears kind of randomly. I think you can hardly go wrong and it's so much better when they are thinned out. You might want to have him professionally done. Meggie and Lottie both look FABULOUS since their recent grooming and the pants are SO MUCH BETTER!
 
BarbV said:
I can't stand it!

No matter how much I brush Indy, I just can't keep his pants under control.

His behind is very coarse and wiry (I'm talking about the area on each side of his tail, starting from the hocks to the base of his tail.

Same with his tail.....very coarse and sticks up all over the place. Typical of Tri's and merles, his behind is grey and very wiry. The rest of him though is still very soft and puppy like (his black hair and ruff).

When I groom him I slather him with CC Ice on Ice, but it doesn't seem to be good enough. I'm sure, I'm still breaking his fur and making it worse. I can barely get a slicker or a comb through his pants.

So the first question is: maybe I should thin it out....if so, I welcome techniques for thinning it out without touching the guard hairs.

Is there a better product than Ice on Ice for conditioning rough, dry hair?
Click to expand...

After being shown how by Calliesmom at the gathering,Trapp no longer has that unruly wirey pants.They lay nicely,and are not thick & lumpy looking.His coat is much like you described with Indy.
It's pretty much just like Linda posted. Thin a bit,then comb out,till you are satisfied with how they look.
To this day,I never have touch Jasper's pants.His coat is so differant than Trapp's.
 
I'm really cautious about letting groomers touching shears close to my dogs, unless they are professional Sheltie groomers.

Back in late winter, I had my dogs groomed at the same place I'd been going to for awhile and I was horrified at the results. They freakin' took a razor to their pants!

8 months later, and I'm still waiting for the guard hairs to grow back.

So, understandably, I'm very cautious about groomers and even myself taking on the challenge. You can see the results in the attached photo. Undercoat exposed and sticking up all over the place. No guard hair covering it. And just look at Indy's poofy tail? What do I do with that?

Lightplum....I'm having difficulty visualizing your technique. I kinda get it, but I'm not sure.

If I understand you correctly:

- Take my thinning shears and snip upwards from the hocks towards the base of the tail, one line at a time (less is better), close to the skin, brush and review. How close to the skin?

- start close to the tail first and work my way out????? Or outwards in?
 

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Yes Barb thats the way I do it with the scissors at the hocks and the tip of scissors towards the base of the tail. I actually dont have a stead fast method to it I kind of willynilly just where ever the scissors fall with-in the pants clip I do also start in the middle of the pants as opposed to the inner or outer and than with each clip work either towards the inside or outside of the pants. It tends to work out well that way since the middle is the thickest part and most dense if you think about it, the inside near where the tail falls is trimmed for the poop chute and the outer which I almost never trim blends in with the hip/knee fur so it tends to be thinner.

I also think (and im too lazy to run down to the dog room:smile2:) that the illustrated guide has some pretty good diagrams on thinning.
 
also with using thinning shears you will not get the same results that they did when they weedwacked their pants. It looked like (if I remember correctly) they used a razor to do it. With the shears its a more consistent blending going on and you are taking out random cuts instead of a razor which does everything in its path.
 
Yes, your description makes sense to me now and does in fact, kinda, work from the Guide. Like you, I tend to experiment a little from the guide and learn from my mistakes. But I'll take you as my inspiration to give it a go! Thanks much!

I just can't trust regular groomers anymore. From now, I will let them bath and poop chute only.
 
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