Harlequin Dwarf Poodle in Scandinavian Puppy Clip

Harlequin Dwarf Male, "Happy Hippo"

I came across this gorgeous guy and had to post, his markings are beyond lovely. His markings may indeed be this perfect, but I suspect this awesome symmetry is also the result of an awesome groomer (in addition to great genetics of course). 

A true master of grooming will choose a clip style that best compliments your parti's marking as well as use little tricks to make their markings look even more symmetrical. But honestly, when you have a parti just about any clip will look great :-)

 http://www.poodles-in-scandinavia.com/happy_hippo_le_papillon.html

Huxtable's New Cut: Low Poodle Clip

A few months ago, little Hux was in need of a cut. Although I was giving him his brushings, it seemed like he was growing a new layer of hair underneath which caused lots and lots of tangles and some mattes... (sadface). So I was basically forced into getting Huxtable clipped down (extra sadface). And because he had to be cut down I decided to try one of my favorite short poodle clips.  I'm not exactly sure if this clip has a name, but a white poodle by the name of Gunther sports it on the regular and looks so handsome! Huxtable isn't a standard poodle so I figured the clip probably couldn't look exactly the same, but I hoped it would look very similar, neat and attractive (plus top knot).

 Gunther in his lovely short cut. 

The groomer did an excellent job on the clip, but I found the ears and hair to be a little lacking. A little bit of tangled/matted hair had to be cut from his head and ears as well so I'm thinking he just left all the hair he could so that he wouldn't have to grow too much back, but I wish he would have evenly clipped the ears and blended the top knot or atleast styled it in a complementary way. All in all I was happy with the results, he really does know how to blend. I can't stress how important it is to have a groomer that owns a poodle-- I think it really makes a difference. 

I have a couple pics of Huxtable in his new clip... they're sort of blurry since they're from my cell phone. I wish I would have gotten one at the groomers like I usually do.

I think the clip came out cute, just like Gunthers-- low in the middle, then fuller on the arms and legs, fluffy tail, and neatly cut poodle feet. 

 Toy parti poodle in short clip; 
After some research I realized it's a model / town and country clip. It''s like a blend between a lamb clip and a town and country. 

I'm going to try and find more pics of the clip so hopefully there's more to come

Toy Parti Poodle Cut: Continental Clip

Huxtable on the grooming table

Toy Poodle in Continental Clip (no rosettes)

This was hand's down my favorite cut/grooming Huxtable has yet. The groomer has two poodles himself -and- he used to do dog shows on a regular which really showed. I loved how Hux looked so happy while being groomed by a new groomer, which indicated how great the groomer had to be, not to mention Hux was a perfect round poodle ball, lol. I had originally wanted the Scandanavian Puppy Clip, but he didn't have enough fur on one part of his leg since he had just gotten his teeth pulled. The veterinarian had to shave off part of his front leg fur for the I.V. Therefore a Continental Clip was the best option. The finished product was so lovely, everyone loooooved it! The groomer told me that the front leg bracelets are actually a bit lower than they're "supposed" to be due to the fur that the veterinarian shaved off, but he worked with it, made them even and it looked great :). 

The groomer and I had a long conversation, ranging in "poodle topics", one of which included some of the industry/poodle grooming/show dog trade secrets, lol. He told me how show dogs usually wear hair extensions to make their top knots and "manes" so super full. People sell their poodle's hair after they have completed and gotten their  "CH" (champion) title, and supposedly the hair goes for top dollar, especially if the particular color or shade of poodle is less common (silvers, blues, partis). So all the perfect full-maned super long hair show poodles have a head full of extensions and hairspray, lol, quite hilarious to me. He told me that some judges are getting more tough with the rules and aren't allowing extensions and hairspray, but for the most part it still goes on. Very very interesting stuff!

He also mentioned loving that Huxtable was a "true toy" poodle. Supposedly there aren't a lot of "true toys" these days-- they're either too small or too big. I guess so many people want the "teacup" dogs that they're becoming more and more commonplace despite how unhealthy it can be to have dogs too tiny. 

All in all it was a great experience. It truly makes a difference when the groomer not only has your same breed of dog, but also spent years grooming show dogs. I'll definitely be going back to that guy :)

Toy Tuxedo Twin Poodles

Parti Poodle Tuxedo Twins, Perry & Winny 

Two darling tuxedo parti poodles, with great markings.  Winny is sporting a Scandinavian Poodle Clip. Check out more parti poodle clips, here. 

https://sites.google.com/site/albanigr/gallery

Classic Elegance: A Silver and White Standard Poodle

Silver and White Standard Parti Poodle in Historically Correct Continental Clip 

I was pretty gun hoe on my next poodle being a black and white parti, the first known coloring of the poodle. But now, I'm seriously considering silver and white... they have a regal elegance about them that I simply can't resist! (I used to not like gray/ grey/ silver dogs b/c I thought they just looked old, but now I love them). Hmmm, I really thought I'd only have two dogs, but now I'm thinking three... or maybe four partis? Only time will tell. Either way, I truly love these original poodles :)

Standard Parti Poodle in Continental Clip

Blue and White (or gray and white) Standard Poodle

 I was looking for info on growing out a top knot and stumbled upon this lovely photo of a standard poodle in a continental clip / cut. They call this the HCC-- "Historically Correct Continental". Maybe they call it that when it's on parti's since they're the historically correct color for poodles... lol, I kid I kid... I love poodles in every color :) I suppose they call it that in the "grooming" world because others have created their own new age versions of the continental, idk, I just call it the continental... 

photo: groomers.net, I believe the poodle's name is Tinlet, a champion show poodle, and was bred by Gloria Ogdahl

Parti Poodles: Modern or Lamb Clip

Beautiful black parti poodles in either a lamb or modern clip / cut.  Miniature poodles.

I can't wait to have several parti poodles too!

Toy Parti Poodle Continental Miami Cut

Toy Parti Poodle Continental Miami Cut. 

So as stated in the last post, it's time to get a summer cut. I narrowed it down to a few: European puppy clip, miami cut, continental, and english saddle. After a lot of thought I decided to combine the Continental and Miami clip to create a clip I'll call a, "Modified Continental" or the "Miami Continental".

I wanted him to be cool so having his fur low was priority, but I didn't want to loose his fluffiness and I wanted to try something a bit more traditional. I decided to combine the two and had the groomer do a "Miami Continental". His fur is cut low like the Miami, but not shaved down to the skin like the Continental, he has the front fur of the Continental, but doesn't have the two balls on his back, so it's more like the Miami.

Before and After:

Fluffy fury, parti poodle Huxtable

 Miami Continental, toy parti poodle

I want to grow out Huxtable's top knot, so I told the groomer not to cut his top knot. I think (I know, lol) he may have slightly ignored my request and shaped it a bit... which could be better, but I really wish he wouldn't have touched it.  But still all in all he did a pretty good job on a my little baby :-)

Sidenote: This was taken a good bit after the actual grooming, after he went to the park, and some roughhousing/play, etc...  might even have been a day later... next time I'll be sure to take one immediately after the groom.

More Photos of Huxtable's new summer poodle cut in next post. 

Check out Huxtable's MUCH better Continental Clip, here.

Parti Poodle in Cuts and Clips: Lamb, European Puppy, English Saddle

This southern sun is starting to beam down pretty hard. So, as a good poodle parent I know I have to start thinking about summer cuts for my toy poodle pup.

A low puppy clip is the cut that first comes to mind, and I know if I want to show him it is usually the required cut for puppies 12 months and under. That said, I really wanted to try something different and more poodle-like so after some brainstorming and searching I narrowed it down to a few:

- European puppy clip

- Miami Cut

- Continental

- English Saddle

After showing pics to some of the family, everyone slightly preferred the Miami, since it would take off the most hair all over, but still give him a poodle look. I used the following photos for inspiration...

Miami Cut

European Puppy Cut on Toy Poodle

Scandinavian Puppy Clip (aka European Puppy Cut)

English Saddle on Toy Poodle. 

 Continental Cut (2 more photos of continental below)

(images above from various sources)

And of course I had to find some parti poodle cut inspiration. Luckily I stumbled upon K9Style and her standard parti poodle, Tripp. She's cut him into different poodle clips-- European puppy clip, English Saddle, etc. He's not a toy so I couldn't tell how Huxtable would end up looking exactly, but it gave me an idea of how different clips would look on the traditional coloring and pattern of a parti poodle. 

I initially thought this was a shorter lamb cut (parti poodle), but after getting a similar cut for Huxtable I can much more clearly see that this is a model / town & country clip-- cut all the way down in the middle, with hair left on the arms and legs.  I just believe they are harder to notice on parti poodles

European / Scandinavian Puppy Clip (parti poodle). 

English Saddle Cut (parti poodle). 

Isn't the front cut to perfection? I would have loved to see his top knot out in front. Also, Tripp doesn't have his tail docked that's why the back isn't in a ball. 

After much deliberation and back and forth I decided to go with a "modified continental". I'll explain more in the next post.