# Paddy's Hair Growth Photo Journal



## PaddingtonandMe (Oct 17, 2012)

Im curious to see what differences i have in my dog between now and the time i get his hair cut (which if i can last long enough will be October 2013). I already was looking at his pictures from when i first got him 2 months ago and was like wow, is that even same dog?

*October 13, 2011:* Arrived home with new dog.








Body hair is about 1 inch long.

*November 4th:* Almost a month later.








shows body hair growth, now at about 1.5in.








shows face hair growth (this ones actually November 17th)

*Late December 2012/ Early January 2013:*
















Body hair is now about 2 inches.
















Face hair is getting quite long now, especially noticing lots of beard growth.


Will continue as time progresses, this will be interesting to look back on many months down the road and see the progression from puppy cut to show cut on my Maltese mix that i now am 70% sure is mixed with Coton de Tulear.


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

This should be interesting.

I've only see that type of show cut in real life once, on a Pekinese. (Don't anyone slap me, they're similar cuts.) It was really something, but all I could think of was the poor owner picking twigs and dirt out of the fringe dragging on the ground.


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## PaddingtonandMe (Oct 17, 2012)

O yea, its only just over 2 inches and already hes getting twigs tangled in his legs from trips to dog park... It will be quite a challenge.

My silly grandma seems to think that growing a dog's hair is like, a choice i cant back out of. "What happens when you start to have issues keeping up with it?" "What if it doesnt look right on him?" Simple really, if i start to not be able to handle it or not like it, i take him to groomers and chop it all off. His old owner said she let it grow out once and hated it. I think he will look adorable, and by October it should reach its goal of 7" and then ill cut it back down just to 2" for winter so i can fit his sweaters on and stuff.

Summer will be fun, his hair should be... about 5" by the time im ready to take him swimming. Ill definitely have to schedule my swimming days on same days as bath days, lol...

EDIT: Luckily since hes pretty tall (about 9.5 inches) his hair shouldnt drag on floor too bad. I wonder if if i dont cut it after it reaches 7 inches if it will keep growing even longer. Does it ever stop?


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## PaddingtonandMe (Oct 17, 2012)

Update!

January 18, 2013:








*Very* noticeable growth of body hair. Face barely grew, but i did get it professionally brushed out and cleaned so it made it appear longer. Body is now at 2 1/2 inches. 

Face hair is now long enough to put in topknot everyday:

















This one was after yelling at him for rolling around and breaking the clip off the bow because he doesnt like topknot. Thats why his face is all poofed and everywhere.


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

This is Lucy's coat at 10 months old. Her body coat has never been clipped but I have cleaned her face off. She is Shih Tzu x Maltese and I usually clip them down short in the summer but did not do her. It is a lot of work to keep their coat from matting until they get their adult coat and I will be clipping her off in the spring when it gets warmer out. It only stays looking nice for about ten minutes when she is out playing in the snow.

Your dog looks really nice with the longer coat, you must do a good job of brushing him.


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## ThoseWordsAtBest (Mar 18, 2009)

Yeah, his coat looks really great and that takes so much work. I love full coats but I don't know if I'd have the patience.


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## PaddingtonandMe (Oct 17, 2012)

Yea its definitely a lot of work. I spend about half hour a day brushing him. When his hair really gets going i have a clothes-making friend thats going to help me create a sling to hold up his hair on his belly so i dont have to shave it all (im scared to shave his belly, its so sensitive and im clumsy). We are geniuses. Ive already made the blueprints, taken the measurements, and chosen materials. All he has to do is find the materials, put it all together, and sew it up nice and sturdy for me. Then everytime i let Paddy outside to potty i can put it on.

@Kyllobernese: If i let my dog outside naked like that i let a snowball back in. His hair loves snow more than he does i think, lol. He will be opposite, long and handsome for summer short and covered in sweaters and booties for winter.


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## Newf-mama (Jan 27, 2013)

wow he is going to have gorgeous long fur! I cant wait to see it get longer


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## PaddingtonandMe (Oct 17, 2012)

I found a site that sells homemade bows. They are really nice and pretty cheap! I got:

This one: .... ..... ...... ..... This one: .... ..... ...... ..... This one: .... ... .... ... And this one:






























Now he wont look like a girl when i put his topknots in! These are bows made for boy dogs. :bounce:


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## PaddingtonandMe (Oct 17, 2012)

Well, i think its about time i made another round of picture updates, dont you think?

February 23, 2013: Body hair is now 3-3.25" depending where you measure (neck and shoulder hair is thicker and longer than near back). Face still slowly growing. Doesnt seem to grow nearly as fast as body hair though. Topknot hair however... Different story. I can now get it up with only two ponytails, the lower one and the main one. Main topknot hair grows like a weed. Hes getting that Elvis look up front when hair is down. XD









Chillin.








Body hair growth.








Side profile of face. Now i have to hold my hand like a beak to make the beard not bend and stay straight for picture. Good bit longer. This is what i mean by Elvis hair there on brow.








Hair is now long enough under eyes to stay down better and not stick up in face. Also his hair looks dumb on top now if i try to brush it back. He usually keeps it sheepdog style like first pic if he doesnt have a bow. But the hair sticking straight up gives a good idea of how long his topknot hair is for ya.


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## PaddingtonandMe (Oct 17, 2012)

Its been a long time again... Well, this time his hair growth has really slowed, saddeningly. His body hair is now 4.25" at its longest (3.25 last we updated), which is from base of neck to about halfway down back. Then its gets to the thinner shorter hair there in the back. That was about 3" at last update, and is now only 3.5. So he has wierd growth rates. That crazy topknot hair is now just under 4" and the beard is growing alot too. I cant even put hand under beard to hold face for pics now, i have to hold front of bottom jaw all awkward. Pics are taken today unless othewise noted:

Unbrushed but showing how the hair is a nice looking length now when he lays down. This pic is from May 6th.









Tried parting his hair on face the same way as body. Hoped he would like it. It lasted about.... 10 seconds after i took picture. Taken yesterday, May 8.









Comparison pics from same/similar angles as last update:








Hair down as normally held and brushed. MUCH longer than "Chillin" picture posted in above post.









Side of face. Notice that hand is just barely touching the tip of mouth and still cant be there without making fur move. Last time we had halfway up mouth and hand in beak form.









Side of body. Beautiful shiny long maltese hair. So happy.









Front view of face with hair brushed back like before. Now it lays flatter.

Now i will try again to stay on schedule and return with more pics in a month...


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## Tylerthegiant (Apr 5, 2013)

What a darling dog! Love the name!


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

Lots of pretty long hair now! Paddy is adorable!


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Gorgeous! I love the long hair, though I'm sure it's a big pain to keep up with.


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## PaddingtonandMe (Oct 17, 2012)

I had to put fencing up all over my garden this week after i bought Paddy a kiddie pool to splash around in back yard. After hes done having fun splashing around he would run into the garden that we were working to remove some bushes from and so was a big area of really dark dirt. He came out black as can be... Quite a mess!!! So now he can play all he wants in his pool, but he is not getting in that garden. The prickly twigs from the bushes we ripped out, the dirt, the mulch, the bugs. Too much to deal with with the long hair, lol. He can roll around all he wants in the grass, that dirt is able to be shaken off easily without staining him.

I didnt get any pictures of the black dog (too busy listening to grandma fret and tell me to hurry up and bathe him quickly) but she did take pics of me using pool as a bathtub.









"No mommy! This is horrible! No bath!!!"

















A stiff back and 20 minutes of blow drying and brushing later... Happy dry fluffy dog again.  I need to get a grooming table so i can have him at my level for drying and brushing...









A few days and a pool play later, 40 ft of fence is completely blocking off the whole entire garden, and Paddy sits on grass not knowing what to do with himself since he cant squish Grandma's plants or roll in dirt anymore.

EDIT: Huh, looks like i forgot his feet when i was brushing him after his bath... I dont bother completely drying his legs, they are cool and just naturally curl when wet and stay curled until i brush them at which point they instantly go straight again like in my hair growth pics.


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## PaddingtonandMe (Oct 17, 2012)

Sadly, I have to cut off all of Paddy's precious long hair on Tuesday. He got sap all over his belly and legs from when we went camping in Massachusetts last week, and nothing I try is working to get it off. Grandma wants me to just get it all taken off and let him start over again like new.

So final hair is as follows:
Hair on back near shoulders, measuring from his part - 6-6.5 inches (mostly 6 but a few stray pieces from every measure hit 6.5)
Hair on back near back legs where its thinner and shorter - 5-5.5inches (same concept as above)
Beard - irrelevant, i cut it.
Top of head - 4.5-5 inches

His face started to look unattractive to me, so I made him adorable by chopping ears down as far as possible. I had cut a 4 inch thick ring around his neck in July the whole way down to just over 1/4 inch. Its growing back amazingly fast and is already back to an inch. I cut it because the collar was twisting up his hairs and creating horrible knots and mats that needed cut out every single day. I cut his back legs really short because of him moving during a feet trimming and messing it all up. With the ears so tiny the rest of his face looked stupid, so I made his lower jaw beard non-existent and trimmed his whole face. I think it makes him look absolutely adorable. But the long chest looked horrible with short neck ring and short face, so that had to be fixed and blended back into long hair. I blended head into neck. Tail needed worked on for sanitary reasons. Okay, stop describing, lets use pictures...









Left side of body. I used an all natural doggie soap yesterday that i found while i was on vacation in Maine that stops itching and makes coat super shiny. I love it!









Right side.

Face (left, right, front showing long top hair):

































Face with hair up. Also, chest area and lower jaw kind of.









Tail. "Shaved" the base for sanitary reasons, and then cut the whole thing shorter for some reason. I think i was hoping it will grow back thicker looking now. I put shaved in quotes because I don't own a buzzer thing. Everything i do i do with grooming scissors. Even the super close cut belly that the groomers usually shave down to skin. I carefully and slowly cut it down to skin instead.

So excuse the super long post... I think this ends my hair growth journal. It was a fun journey I think. Looking back on all of these pictures now I can barely believe this is the same dog I brought home last October. I'm amazed.


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## valkyrja (Aug 28, 2013)

Cutie! Interesting to keep track of the growth. I would think it keeps growing, at least Shih Tzus need to have an even trim regularly since the coat keeps going, if not it gets messy and lots of split ends. And since I let my Lenny "be a dog" I do have problems getting all the twigs and moss out! Lots of leave-in conditioner, lots of work. But I don´t mind because I think long hair is much cuter


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## Indigo (Mar 31, 2011)

Pretty cool. I can totally understand the reasons that people get puppy cuts on their longhaired dogs (omg the maintenance!), but I do like to see them in full coat.
That picture of him with the red bow, I was imagining him saying "But maa! I look like a girl dog with a bow!". 
No, Paddy you look cute!


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## PaddingtonandMe (Oct 17, 2012)

I plan on puppy cutting once a year because of sweaters in winter. If he didnt get all the sap on him that is below the surface and on belly so you cant see really see it in these pics, I would have kept him going until late October or early November. He acts like a baby in the cold without his sweaters, and I can't deal with the snow on him in the winter without sweaters or the mats from the sweaters if i keep hair long, so it will be puppy cut there. But I agree he looks so much more beautiful this way. I think I'm going to be sad when I pick him up from groomers on Tuesday.


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