# Grooming Papillon myself?



## lucidity (Nov 10, 2009)

I've been sending Cadence off to the groomers' every 4-6 weeks to get a bath, paw pads shaved, nails clipped, and his potty areas trimmed. 

I'm thinking that I could save myself some $$ and do these myself--they don't seem all that complicated. I've pretty much mastered the bath and nails part, and I think I've been doing his paw pads pretty well... but I'm having trouble figuring out how to trim his potty areas.

I've read that you're not supposed to trim off the fur that grows around a dog's penis because he uses it to direct urine away from his body? Is this true? I find that the fur tends to get pretty dirty and yellow after a while.

Also, if you guys could give me some tips on how to trim his bum, that would be GREAT. I haven't really been able to find any good articles on this online.. if you have a site to recommend, please do. Thanks!


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

Honestly papillons are probably one of the easiest (maybe the easiest) longhaired dogs to groom and care for coat wise. I actually don't do a specific 'sanitary trim' except I do trim the hair that gets messy and discolored. 

All you really have to do are bathe, nails, and trim the feet once a month. The feet are pretty easy to do and there's lots of tutorials on how to groom papillon feet. Here's a couple:

http://www.braylorspapillons.com/groom.htm
http://www.showpaps.com/grooming.htm
http://www.papillonclub.org/papinfomain.html
http://www.papillonclub.org/Education/grooming_trimming_the_papillon.htm


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## lucidity (Nov 10, 2009)

Hmm... doesn't seem too complicated at all.. I wish there were more photos, though. It's so much harder trying to imagine what to do in your head lol.

I'm thinking of getting a spray in conditioner for Cadence. The fur on his tail is always super dry and brittle looking. Do you use any of those? Which brand do you use?


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## PappyMom (Jun 5, 2009)

lucidity, as far as Cadence's 'sanitary trim' goes, you can shave the fur on his belly, around his penis to keep it from getting messy. I find that if I let Gizmo's get to long, his belly fur will carry a strong urine-odor. Be careful not to trim what we call the 'peepee string' and it is the long strand of fur coming from the penis. This directs the urine down and away from his belly..

As for his lil butt, I just watch him potty, and then go in for the kill, trimming the fur that a) got poopies stuck in it already, or b) look like they were very close to getting some poopies in it.. lol..

Other than that, a good brush, combing of the ear fringe, and trimming of the pads is all you really need to do for these lil guys..

I LOVE Forevr Paps grooming page, Laur listed it above..that's where I learned everything, and they do break it down into pictures...it's the www.showpaps.com one.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

Um a good creme to use for furnishings like tail or culottes is the Vellus satin creme. A lot of breeders and handlers use it to keep the furnishings moist. I personally don't use any, I just wash with shampoo and conditioner. I bathe with Vellus shampoo and conditioner.

As for the potty area trim, I trim around the anus a bit and take off a few wisps of hair from the tail that is in that area as well as some extra hair straight down vertically from the base of the tail. I trim every couple of weeks. Not that often actually, only if I find it starts to get dirty or something will I trim it.

My breeder did say not to trim off the hair coming off the penis to direct the pee downwards. 

I trim paws every 2 weeks or so because we have hardwood floor and the hair makes her slip.


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

Great advice so far from all of the papillon folks here. The only thing I have learned about "triming" is to keep things like the penis or tender spots between my fingers so they cannot accidentally be cut by the scissors. On males I usually hold the penis between my thumb and index finger, cutting with the other hand. For the sanitary trim you can get a human hair trimmer, or a pet one and just gently glide it through the pants and a bit up the tail. You'll see what gets discolored from urine splash and poopies hanging on. I try to blend the trimming so it doesn't look like we hacked off a hunk of fur, but gradually trimmed around it instead. And usually if you are feeding the right food for that dog you can get stools to be of the consistency that they are firm enough not to get stuck in the fur.

As for shampoo and conditioners I like Mane 'N Tail or Pantene Smooth.


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## lucidity (Nov 10, 2009)

Great advice guys, thanks! I'm going to have to look into some grooming tools... since I have nothing other than a pin brush right now. I'm currently using my "eyebrow trimmer" scissors to trip his paw fur lol. 

Poop DOES get stuck to his fur a lot  It's quite frustrating. His poop is fluctuating between really nice and firm and pudding mush. I think it's because I recently switched his mealtimes and cut down from 3 meals to 2.. still trying to figure out just how much to feed him. That's why I'm asking about how to trim his bum properly... having to wipe his bum after every single potty break is getting kinda frustrating. Lol.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

I have clippers (not really used for papillons but they work), Shears, thinning shears, a pin brush, and a comb. That's really all you need imo as far as coat care goes.

What are you feeding him? Mine got loose stools on quite a few kibbles.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

I have a pin brush, thinning shears, and a regular pair of scissors. Also a steel toothed comb but I hardly ever use that.

Hmm seems like a lot of Paps have sensitive tummies? Nia eats almost any food without a transition period and she's fine LOL. The only thing she can't eat is pork. 

I know you feed Cadence on a schedule, but perhaps free-feeding might be better if he's eating too much all at once and then having loose stool?

Nia actually eats only once a day and a day's worth in one sitting haha.

Edit: I found this site with pictures on how to groom the potty area.
http://hollyhuxford.com/PapillonGrooming.htm


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## lucidity (Nov 10, 2009)

Laurelin said:


> I have clippers (not really used for papillons but they work), Shears, thinning shears, a pin brush, and a comb. That's really all you need imo as far as coat care goes.
> 
> What are you feeding him? Mine got loose stools on quite a few kibbles.


I'll need to look for thinning shears. Where do you use those on? I really need to thin Cadence's bum fur out.. it looks puffy now, kinda like a Pomeranian's.. I think that's why his poop is getting stuck there so much. He's currently on EVO Red Meat + 1 teaspoon of EVO chicken canned. He was totally fine on it before I switched his mealtimes, sigh. What do you feed your paps?



Michiyo-Fir said:


> I have a pin brush, thinning shears, and a regular pair of scissors. Also a steel toothed comb but I hardly ever use that.
> 
> Hmm seems like a lot of Paps have sensitive tummies? Nia eats almost any food without a transition period and she's fine LOL. The only thing she can't eat is pork.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the site! Very informative. Hmm.. I think so. Cadence did badly on anything with grain in it and had diarrhea when I gave him one piece of Dentastix. But he's usually fine when I change his food, though. Maybe it helps that I give him only raw strictly for a couple of days before switching him to a new kibble...

Lol, I dunno how well he'd do on free-feeding all of the day's worth of food in one bowl. He's pretty much free fed now anyways.. I just leave his bowl down until he eats it (when he's hungry, it's gone in 5 minutes... but when he's not he leaves it lying around for hours -_-) and then I refill it at the next mealtime.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

lucidity said:


> I'll need to look for thinning shears. Where do you use those on? I really need to thin Cadence's bum fur out.. it looks puffy now, kinda like a Pomeranian's.


I use the shears in the middle of the butt fur. But recently I haven't really needed to trim it much, Nia never has loose stool so nothing sticks. Sometimes I use it a little on the top of her paws as well, she has really hairy feet LOL.


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## lucidity (Nov 10, 2009)

Lol, Cadence has pretty much bare feet. Do you know if Tisol sells all the shears etc etc? And where do you get Nia's shampoo/conditioner from?


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

lucidity said:


> Lol, Cadence has pretty much bare feet. Do you know if Tisol sells all the shears etc etc? And where do you get Nia's shampoo/conditioner from?


Yup! I bought both my grooming scissors and shears from Tisol. For Nia's shampoo stuff, I order it online because none of our stores carry it. I get it from Www.k9groomingsupplies.com. The vellus show shampoo and conditioner is what I use, most people don't need
the clarifying shampoo unless your dog is very oily and greasy because
that ones dries the coat quite a lot. I bought the smallest sizes last time and it's lasted me about a year Next time I'm going to order the biggest
bottles because it's not worth itnfor me to keep shipping small
bottles. 

I really love their products. Another good shampoo you can get in Tisol is Biogroom. My breeder said it works wonders for her dogs.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

Thinning shears I use to even out the hair a bit, but you're supposed to use them on the tops of the feet to thin out the foot fluff. When he gets older he'll probably start getting hairy feet. Paps like all spaniels tend to have feet hair that grows and grows and gets in the way of their pads. This all needs to be trimmed to keep them tidy looking.

You guys are reminding me my two haven't been groomed in over a month lol! They need a small trim.


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## lucidity (Nov 10, 2009)

Michiyo-Fir said:


> I get it from Www.k9groomingsupplies.com. The vellus show shampoo and conditioner is what I use, most people don't need
> the clarifying shampoo unless your dog is very oily and greasy because
> that ones dries the coat quite a lot. I bought the smallest sizes last time and it's lasted me about a year Next time I'm going to order the biggest
> bottles because it's not worth itnfor me to keep shipping small
> bottles.


Hmm, how much do they charge for shipping? The few online stores I checked out were charging even more than what the shampoo costs! I'm also worried that customs might charge taxes when the items cross the border. Do they ship from the States?



Laurelin said:


> Thinning shears I use to even out the hair a bit, but you're supposed to use them on the tops of the feet to thin out the foot fluff. When he gets older he'll probably start getting hairy feet. Paps like all spaniels tend to have feet hair that grows and grows and gets in the way of their pads. This all needs to be trimmed to keep them tidy looking.
> 
> You guys are reminding me my two haven't been groomed in over a month lol! They need a small trim.


Lol, yeah, he's getting furrier all around now.. Makes me miss when he was "bald".. he was so much easier to groom then! Haha, how often do you groom your paps?


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

lucidity said:


> Hmm, how much do they charge for shipping? The few online stores I checked out were charging even more than what the shampoo costs! I'm also worried that customs might charge taxes when the items cross the border. Do they ship from the States?


Nope, these people either ship from Quebec or Ontario, I can't remember which. But you have to ask them for the shipping, send them an email. They don't tell you how much shipping is, and then just charge it. The first time I bought 2 12 oz. bottles, shipping was about $12. But surprisingly when I emailed them and asked about shipping for 2 bottles of 2 gallon formula along with the largest box of satin creme ($200 something value) the shipping's only $22ish.


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## lucidity (Nov 10, 2009)

Wow.. the shipping is expensive for small bottles but pretty cheap for huge ones.. Lol. I'll look into it.. I don't know if I really wanna pay $12 for shipping haha..


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

lucidity said:


> Wow.. the shipping is expensive for small bottles but pretty cheap for huge ones.. Lol. I'll look into it.. I don't know if I really wanna pay $12 for shipping haha..


Hmm if you want, the next time I order I can add your order in too? I think shipping becomes a lot cheaper if you buy a lot.


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## lucidity (Nov 10, 2009)

Yeah, that sounds good! We can just split the shipping... Let me know the next time you order


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