Spitz is a dog with a very thick, fluffy and rather coarse coat. Such wool quickly becomes dirty, falls off, forms tangles, plant seeds cling to it. A neat haircut will help avoid these problems, make brushing easier and give the Spitz a neat, attractive look.
The breed standards do not provide for the haircut of the Spitz, so if the dog is a show dog, its haircut is done several months before the planned event so that the coat has time to grow. For show dogs, only slight trimming of the tips of the protruding hair is permissible at the edges of the ears, around the pads and on the hind legs - from the hip to the hock. If the participation of the Spitz in exhibitions is not planned, you can make a shorter haircut by completing a curly hairstyle. It should be remembered that removing too much hair can lead to a violation of the dog's thermoregulation and the appearance of bald spots on the skin.
Preparing for a haircut
Grooming a Spitz begins with a careful brushing of his coat. Previously, the entire coat is slightly moistened with cool water, combed with your fingers so that water penetrates both the top layer of the coat and the undercoat, rub the dog with a towel. Starting from the head, the Spitz is combed with a comb with sparse teeth, dividing the hair with partings into separate sections. After that, the dog is carefully combed with a massage brush and a comb with fine teeth.
Spitz haircut
For a haircut, you will need hairdressing scissors with rounded ends and thinning one-sided scissors. At the beginning of the haircut, the Spitz removes excess hair from the back of the ears, after which, equal to this length, the hair is cut off at the tips and front surfaces of the ears. Do not peel off too much fur on the front surface, otherwise the ears will visually look larger than they actually are.
Further, the contour of the "collar" is formed - the excess hair is removed behind the head, on the sides and from the chest of the dog. The length is removed first with straight scissors, trying to give the "collar" a rounded shape, after which the edges are trimmed using thinning scissors.
The length of the collar is used as a guide when clipping the dog's body. The protruding hairs on the shoulder blades, back and lateral surfaces of the thigh are removed, moving from the head to the tail. Thinning scissors level the coat over the entire body of the Spitz.
The tail is trimmed with thinning scissors alternately on both sides, leaving a sufficiently long coat - this creates the illusion of a high tail set and makes it easier for the dog to throw it over his back, according to breed standards. For hygienic purposes, a rather short haircut is allowed near the root of the tail.
With the help of a slicker, the fur is lifted up on the front and hind legs of the Spitz, after which the excess length on the dog's “pants” is removed. After that, the metatarsus of the hind and front legs are cut with small scissors, giving them a rounded shape. The hair can be cut fairly short between the toes, because these places are most susceptible to pollution. The haircut is completed by a general trimming of the length of the coat over the entire body of the dog using thinning scissors.
