The Truth About the Fur...

Whenever I mention that my dog has a blog, my friends laugh at me. I then explain how I take my duty to share my knowledge of ChiSpaniels very seriously.  When we first got Nyota, I had never had a small dog in my life. I grew up with varieties of snow dogs and German shepherds. My first dog was an Alaskan Malamute, then I had a white German Shepherd (a brilliant dog!), and then I had a Siberian Husky.  All of my dogs shed, but never needed shaved. I’d take them to the groomers, but they didn’t need their nails clipped. Nyota was a very, very new awakening into small-dog hood for me.

Nyota needs her nails trimmed every two months. If I don’t take her, she inadvertently scratches us, she puts holes in my clothes, and I’m sure it feels uncomfortable for her.

"Messing my head fur up only annoys me, FurParent."

The fur is a whole new issue. Basically, Every other month, Nyota gets hygiene shaves, every four months, she gets her fur clipped, and once a year, I have her shaved completely.  Inbetween that time, I have professional clippers. Don’t skimp and buy the cheap ones, they break and can painfully pull at your pet’s fur. If you can’t afford at least the ‘better’ clippers for around $100, you will end up taking your dog to the groomer’s.  My trips to the groomers are $20 or less. This was a big surprise to me because my large dogs can be upwards of $50 per session.  But, it makes sense…smaller dog, less fur…less grooming time/ work! Also, with so much fur, the options are unlimited as to the fur-do's you can give your ChiSpaniel.

The groomer called this a "Field Cut" - naked on top, tripped on the bottom.

If you’ve lucked out and been blessed with the fuzzy variety of ChiSpaniel, you will know that the Cocker-like fur takes a lot of upkeep to prevent problems. Fur mats are inevitable. Sometimes my dog does this squiggling on her back thing that instantly dreadlocks parts of her fur together. I will wait until she’s calm, and pet her until she’s nearly asleep, and then carefully snip the mats out with scissors. However, this will only work part of the time, for some of the areas.

Pre-shave and super fuzzy...sitting on top of the table while we are trying to do schoolwork! 

Mats can bind up in your clippers. I purchased a small, hand-held, mini-clipper for areas around her ears, but they were useless and I threw them away. Scissors work best for mats in easy to reach places like on the back of her legs. Around her ears is a different story. This summer, the groomer told me that the skin around the ears is so delicate that you have to be careful because it will just peel back when you are clipping it (HORROR! I was mortified! I nearly took my dog and ran out of there!) So…I err in the side of a professional and simply take Nyota to the groomer.  I might get an extra week or two between grooming if I clip here or there, but overall, she’s taken somewhere at least every other month.

It just keeps growing...and growing...and growing...

When I have to do more than just simple snipping on Nyota and require actually using my clippers or nail snips, I place a non-slip backed rug on top of my dryer, connect Nyota’s harness to a short leash, and secure it  somewhere so she can’t jump off, but mainly so she knows she’s tethered and won’t pull away as I try to clip her. I turn the clippers on and just set them down, safely out of the way, so she gets use to the sound, and I give her a treat. This method works best for me because it secures her at a high level so that I can do my job, yet not risk having her jump from the height or slip off and fall while I’m handling her.

This is Nyota’s grooming schedule:

She looks like a mini-pit bull when they shave her head/ face! 

April: full body shave! I take my dog to the groomer’s near me. I call him the Nazi groomer because when I say he shaves everything, I mean E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. He shaves her face! Her privates! Her tail (buh-bye white tuft at the end of her tail!), Her whiskers! Her eyelashes! Her ears! It all GOES! When this happens, Nyota transforms into a different dog both visually and personality wise. My sister sent me this meme which perfectly describes her:

Naked Nyota is humble, passive, and meek…and she looks like a rat! I travel with a blanket for her and put her hoodie on her when it’s cold or at night!

Full-on Fur Nyota will cut a bitch in an alley.  As her fur grows back, the transformation is slow, but sure. She’s mid-fur length now (August), and she’s snippy sometimes, and sweet the other times.

Naked Nyota
Not even a whisker! :(

June: The vet gives her a hygiene shave and clips her nails. I utilize the vet because it’s cheap and fast. Groomers like to take appointments where they cut, shave, and bathe when I just want her butt shaved and her nails trimmed, so I take her to the vet’s…plus, the longest I usually wait for the vet tech to have an opening is a week. Some groomers schedule months in advance.

September: Vet’s for a hygiene shave, nails clipped, and her feet clipped around her nails. (The pom-pom feet are back!)

Pom-Pom feet!!!

November: It’s time for the annual groomer’s fur-do. I take her to a friendly groomer  who will bathe, clip, get rid of any mats, give her a hygiene shave, and do her nails. We do not go to the Nazi groomer because he will shave her face every chance he gets and it’s holiday photo time.

January: Back to the vet’s for a hygiene shave and her nails clipped. I wait until as late in January as I can because after this, I will hold off until her annual shearing with the Nazi groomer in April.

I waited until after her Easter Bunny photos to have her shaved!

Fur products I use:

I use a variety of brushes on Nyota simply because she loves being brushed so much that switching the type of brush seems to make her happy.

I use the flea brush on her head:

The therapy brush on her ears, legs and belly:

And a regular hairbrush on her back.

Her fur is exceptionally fine on her ears and legs. It is where the mats most commonly occur.  I also used fur detangler, but it doesn’t work that well. It smells great, so I keep it in my bathroom and use it as an air freshener.  The other product I use is fur hygiene wipes. I only mention these because poop WILL get caught in your ChiSpaniel’s fur and if it’s on her fur, it will get on your FURniture. No one wants that, so wiping is necessary so much less frequently if you keep their bum fur shaved. Nyota actually comes to me when she needs her butt wiped now!  She will tap me with her paw and cautiously sniff her butt.

Adorbs.

In conclusion, my advice is to keep after your ChiSpaniel’s fur. Daily brushing, snipping out mats, and periodic grooming will keep them healthy and happy. Now, when my friends laugh about my ChiSpaniel blog, I say, “I write it to help people. I wish I had known when I got Nyota that I’d need to shave her bum every other month!”

"She shaves my butt...oh, the shame of it!"