Grooming Your Shih Tzu -Part II

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General Grooming

Continue parting and brushing with your pin brush in layers up to the center back of your dog. Chest is done the same way, beginning at front legs and working up in layers to the chin. The whiskers and beard is a sensitive area and should be groomed with care. The facial area requires special attention because food particles may adhere to the hair around the mouth and matter accumulates under the eyes. I like to use a fine face comb on the facial hair as a brush may scratch and cause damage to the eye. Using a fine tooth steel comb close to the eye, remove all eye matter with the comb by pulling gently away from the eye. If the matter has dried, use a wet cotton ball to moisten it before combing. It is also a good idea to wash the eyes daily by placing a couple drops of eye wash solution in each eye to rinse away matter and to clean them. When grooming the facial area carefully inspect the eyes and note any redness or irritation that may require attention by your vet.

Facial Staining

Moustache and beard are susceptible to staining from food and even water. If this area is stained, you can apply some cornstarch to the stained area after dampening the hair. Work the cornstarch in with your fingertips, allow it to dry, and then comb it out thoroughly being careful not to get any in either the eyes or the nose. The first step in preventing staining is to keep the facial hair dry. Shih Tzu are easily trained to drink from water bottles in a water bottle stand, which keeps their facial hair dry. Besides preventing facial wetness and staining, water is available at all times for your Shih Tzu's drinking pleasure.

Tear staining can be an ongoing problem with Shih Tzu, especially if the nose hair has been clipped and the eyes are irritated from facial hair poking up into the eyes. Check your Shih Tzu's eyes daily for signs of irritation, and if you notice excessive tearing it is best to have your vet check the eyes first to rule out several medical reasons that may be at fault. There are many products on the market to treat facial staining, but always use caution when applying any product next to your Shih Tzu's eyes. Personally I would wait for my puppy to finish teething. Often by the time your Shih Tzu is full grown the facial staining corrects itself. I have a male Shih Tzu who's face was terribly stained all of puppy hood and after he became mature the staining stopped and his facial hair is now snow white. I do not apply anything to his face to lighten the hair. The only change I made was to get a water bottle stand to hold his water bottle and eliminate wet facial hair.

Ears

On long coated breeds such as Shih Tzu, there will be hair in the ears. This hair can easily become embedded with dirt, causing infection or odor. It should be removed about once a month or as needed. Frequent ear hair removal helps eliminate irritation to the skin. A hemostat is ideal for pulling hair from the ears. Lay your dog on his/her side. By holding the ear leather with one hand, the ear canal can be exposed and made accessible. Use the hemostat to pull a few hairs with one stroke; do not jerk. A steady pull is less painful as the ear canal does not have a great deal of sensitivity. Do not try to pull too much hair with one stroke. Instead, make several attempts to remove all the hair. Don’t probe into the ear canal; allow the hair to grow long enough to grasp. After the ear hair has been removed, place a cotton ball on the end of your hemostat that has been dipped in ear wash or alcohol. Swab the ear repeatedly until the cotton is clean when removed from the ear. The alcohol helps to remove any infectious particles from the ear and will dissolve accumulated wax. Ears should be cleaned with alcohol or ear wash every time your dog is groomed. If you would like to purchase a high quality ear wash, I highly recommend one called “Oticlean-A” ear cleaning lotion for dogs and cats. It is made by ARC laboratories and is an excellent product for cleaning and odor control of the ear canal.

Finish Grooming

Finally, using your scissors you should also trim a small amount of hair around the anus for cleanliness. You may want to apply a little baby powder on the area and brush it in. The baby powder absorbs moisture, removes stain and controls odor.

When you have completed brushing/combing the entire coat, part the coat down the spine from the back of the neck to the tail. To get the part centered and straight, your dog should be standing four square and facing you. Use a knitting needle to make the part down the center of the back.  Attempt to part about four inches with each stroke of the knitting needle. Continue a straight line from the back of the neck to the base of the tail, following the spinal column to center the part. Spray the part lightly with grooming spray and brush all the hair on either side of the part straight down with long smooth strokes of your pin brush.

Finish your Shih Tzu grooming with a beautiful topknot and maybe a pretty dog bow. If your Shih Tzu has a long, heavy head fall you may choose to divide the topknot hair into two topknots. Tiny dog bows may be added to the double topknots for fun. If your Shih Tzu is still a puppy, without an abundance of topknot hair, you can still make a little topknot that is fairly low and secure it with a latex band. 

I give detailed instructions on making topknots on my other instructional pages, but for a puppy please follow these instructions:

Shih Tzu Puppy Topknot

To begin with these topknots, part the hair evenly with a straight part between the two eyes just above the top back of the nose. This is the area along the front side of the stop. The part is accomplished with a parting comb. This is usually a rattail comb. A small face comb may also be used. The hair above the nose and between the eyes is gathered up and sectioned into a neat inverted V. It is secured with an elastic band. Place either a double loop or a single loop puppy dog bow into the topknot. As the hair lengthens, more hair may be added by making the parting for the front section larger.

Eventually the hair is long enough for a second section. Then you may have enough hair
 for an adult topknot.

Source:  http://www.doggiebowties.com

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