Grooming Question-Shih-tzu specific

I have tried to get Melei trimmed, and no one will do more than her face, butt and paws. I want her trimmed short. The excuse I am getting from groomers is that you shouldn't trim a young shihtzu because you will ruin her puppy coat. I have explained that she is a X and one groomer was willing to look and told me when she saw Melei that she might as well be pb. No full coat trim.

And what frustartes me the most is noone can tell me how this will ruin the coat and how exactly the live roots of her hairs would be affected by the dead ends being removed.

I have searched the web and still no answers.

I am close to allowing my friend to trim her! He has shihtzu pbs and does it him self.

Any advice on an appropriate cut for her or a valid reason why I shouldn't trim her would be so much appreiciated.

I am the type of person who has never been satisfied with 'because I said so' even as a kid and am not likely to take it from some groomer now;)

Hi there,
when I took my Chihuahua in to be trimmed,
the groomer also didnt want to use the clipper on
her. I did convince her, as I explained clipping her
is better for her, as she goes hiking, camping, swimming,
and everything with us in the summer.

Some groomers are weird like that, wont trim a coated dog.
Tell them when you call them that you want your dog
clipped short no ifs ands or butts about it.
Youre paying them, they should clip how you want,
not the other way around.
If it was a show dog...I could see giving them the leeway,
but for a pet, they go to far.
Too bad you arent here! My Groomer does shih tzus regularly,
clips their body coat close, and trims up their heads and rumps
nicely!

We actually had the opposite problem with my boyfriend's yorkie, he went to two seperate groomers and both times they clipped his fur instead of using scissors and leaving a 1" coat like we wanted. We do it ourselves now with scissors, it doesn't look great for the first few weeks, but it evens out and he keeps that puppy look you get with fur that's an inch or so long. Have you tried your hand at it? Its not that hard if you have someone around to hold the dog... Or get your friend to show you how

In double coated dogs, using clippers typically makes their under coats grow longer than the guard hairs which makes them look silly when the fur grows back in. If your shih tzu isn't double coated, I really don't see what the problem is?!

Joey was a shih tzu or a shih tzu cross. We really never knew which. We always had him cipped very short in summer.

Cooper is a shih tzu and the groomer never said anything to me about ruining his coat. She never did a whole lot of grooming on him as she thought it was more important for him to get comfortable there than to force him into too much too soon. But the last time he needed to be groomed we just played phone tag, and dueling calendars so long that, in desperation, I took him to PetSmart. I think someone here recommended them. I'm sorry I don't remember who. I like to be loyal to my groomer but the poor pup was just oo long, and getting matted no matter how much I tried to keep him combed.

Petsmart shaved him down to an inch. I was sooo surprised to see him. He looks more like a terrier now !! Then I was at a freinds house whose dog was sporting the same do. They had been to PetSmart as well.

So I guess if you want a short short cut that's the place to go !

But I'd appreciate it if anyone knows about the cut affecting their coat. I hope I didn't do anything that would be a detriment to my little guy.

well i'm certainly no expert, having short coated dogs. BUT... I think it is basically what petfriendly said. Guard hairs are supposed to grow over the undercoat, but when everything is clipped back, the regrowth doesn't sit back as well as it should... hair has to be 'trained', otherwise it sticks out straight until it gets long enough to fall over again.
All I really know is in horses, it is inadvisable to ever cut the mane and tail hairs of a horse (they are pulled out, or thinned to shorten...) because the regrowth stands straight out like a broom and is very hard to retrain to lie flat.

I guess that is probably the reason then Phoenix. At least that makes sense. I was just tried of the groomers not being able to explain it to me. Maybe the way to 'fix' that problem would be th trim it but not really short? I am having the same problem as Joeysmama, I brush her everyday, but it just seems to take a good play session outside to form a decent mat. She is also bringing in lots of grass and sticks in her coat. That can't be comfortable for her, even though I pull them out right away.

If I find a groomer to cut her, I will do before and after pics! that should be cute :)

You might want to see if they'd do it with scissors as its something about the clippers that srews up the undercoat, not the actual shortening of the fur. Another reason for leaving an inch or so of hair is that it will insulate her against the heat of the sun.

Harley is a shih tzu and I get him clipped every 3-4 months. In the first year tzus tend to have thicker undercoat which they will blow. Tzus can also be cottony or silky, so depending on your dog's coat, there maybe a difference. At this time of the year, Harley gets a grooming to take off the winter coat, but not too short. He is basically in a "puppy cut" from now until September and then I will let his coat grow in again, with daily brushing and grooming. My dog is not a show dog, just my best friend, so I get him cut to make him comfortable.

Tzus take a lot of work to keep neat. The long "show" coat is beautiful but only if you have at least an hour a day to dedicate to your pup.