Its been a busy couple of weeks. First trying to get myself organised to go to Athens for the dog shows. Then the days in Athens at the dog shows, grooming etc. Then coming back home to the mess I’d left behind and working on bits of the house at a time so get sorted.

Imagine if I actually had a big house!!! It takes me days to clean/tidy/organise a single bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room in one…

I give up.

Well, actually, I don’t. I keep trying to make this space as practical as possible and to keep all my art supplies and projects accessible and neat with a place for everything and everything in its place.

Right now, the place for most things is on the kitchen benchtop, the kitchen table, the floor around the door and in front of the bookcase…

Anyway… thats regular life. Here are some photos of my little man at the dog shows. He went really well as always, showed his little heart out and got the certificates and excellent ratings as expected.

I love the hair, the brushing, the banding, the feel of it under my hand when I cuddle him. I adore the look.

But summer is coming and it will be hot. And I’d like to be able to take him with me to the beach sometimes and let him swim if he wants to.

Not to mention there are SO many fleas around these days. Every second dog I groom has fleas. Vincent caught fleas.

Lately I’d gotten Vectra top spot for him as I couldn’t find the Frontline TriAct I wanted locally. Before the Vectra top spot was due for a repeat, Vincent had fleas. Not impressed. So, before going to the shows I gave him a flea pill. Thats working so far. But I really want to go back to what I had for Lainee – the Seresto flea collar. Lainee never had fleas and that’s all she had.

Now we come to the problem – a poodle in a full show coat can’t wear a collar all day, every day. The hair will matt terribly around it. Its not like I can put a satin sleave on it to protect it from rubbing the coat as I do with his regular collar (which he only wears when we go out).

So, what to do? Cut him off? I’m not sure I’m ready to do that just yet, though I do think about it a lot. I just can’t bring myself to cut off that glorious coat. He has such a beautiful coat, its got body and stands up by itself even when its conditioned heavily.

I’ve decided that after this wash (today/tomorrow) he will be trimmed back a fair bit, to a much more tailored T-trim so I can keep the coat at least a little longer. See how that goes. I have another 2 weeks till he needs flea treatment again… maybe I’ll decide what to do by then. Maybe not. Who knows?

Basically, he’s in a Swedish T-trim now. I adore the Continental, but he’s really long legged and rather thin so I don’t think it would suit him.

Picture this with his hair in bands, cause that’s how poodles in show trim live their lives…

By the way, in case you’re wondering, I can only find photos of standards in some of these trims.

Another option is the historially correct continental (or in Vincent’s case it would be more of a non-shaved leg version), but I dislike it very much. I find it the most inelegant of all poodle trims.

So the only real option is the moderne trim. Here are the variations on that. Clipped tail and ears:

Scissored ears but the rest more of less the same.

Long ears and boofy tail.

Personally, I like the scissored ears and trimmed tail best. I think the fluffy ears and tail are more a lamb trim than a moderne trim.

But I still can’t bring myself to cut off his coat…

Stay tuned… One day Vincent will appear without all the hair and bands. And no one will recognise him!

z