Help please re clipping

[The Waltons]

Hi everyone havent been on here for ages but i need your opinions please.
Milo due for a bath & tidy up at groomers on tuesday, she handles him very well.....he hates me grooming him & to be honest we struggle alot , especially if he gets a matted bit.
She suggested we get him  clipped right off, must admit would be so much easier but we just dont know, usually we just have the coat king & scissoring & Milo looks good but the long fur soon returns & the matts start again.  
We love the feathering on cockers & to me thats how they are supossed to look, got to decide by tuesday, just trying to picture him all clipped  
thanks all
jo & milo

[LynneB]

Please do not have him clipped. Sorry but cockers are meant to have a coat and feathers. Apologies to people that have their cockers clipped but I think they look best as nature intended. I do show and love the way my dogs look. I do not clip the one that do not make it to the show ring even though it is a lot of work.

[The Waltons]

thanks lynne for your reply 
was thinking that too, will we regret it.
maybe best to stick to the scissors & shorter feathering etc.
jo.

[jennyspin]

I clip the ones that I don't show and still leave feathering. Just done our Jasmine who is 8 years young and she has a super shiny coat with goooogeous feathering! 

[fr1day]

I know how you feel Jo as I've recently had to make this decision myself. Our girl was spayed almost a year ago, and while her coat was fine for the first 6 months afterwards, it has slowly started to become more unmanageable. She has become extremely woolly and gets knots and matts faster than I can keep up!

I finally made the decision to clip her (though I bought some andis clippers and have done her myself). I've kept all of her feathering, and have left the hair on her back quite long (didn't want the shorn sheep look). I did however give her an 'air-conditioning strip', i.e. clipped most of her underside, but the feathering that I left on the sides means that you can't tell that she's bald underneath when you look at her! Don't know yet how much this will cut down on the knots/matts as I just clipped her over the weekend, but fingers crossed it will at least help!

I think in the end the decisions to clip or not comes down to what you have the time and patience to do, but I definitely don't think that being clipped means they necessarily won't look like a cocker... Here's the link to a thread with photos of clipped cockers that might help! http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=90531.0

[The Waltons]

Milo at groomers now took him at 4.30,got to pick him up at 8pm 
decided to stay as before, a nice bath & tidy up with scissors & coat king......
she was fine but i think she would of liked to take the lot off !............. (just got that feeling)
Cant wait to pick him up, house feels strange without him 
jo & Milo

[HelenS]

Dont want to be cheeky but me thinks you should change groomers 
definately wouldnt be happy with a groomer who suggested this !!!!
Why would she want to take the lot off ?

[The Waltons]

she is very nice & handles him very well, gives him little breaks & a stretch of legs as he gets bored.
I think she feels it would be easier for me to deal with as he gets matts & hates being brushed with the slicker brush.
Living in the back of beyond , a good dog groomer is hard to find , she is very kind but firm.
Maybe its easier to take the lot off ? 
he really is quite a  fidget
jo

[HelenS]

Just going on experience we are now on the 3rd groomer and its 3rd time lucky....
1st groomer :  made a lovely job of Cupar, not too short and nice feathering, but didnt like her attitude then heard bad reports of her handling of the dogs !!!!
2nd groomer : new groomer started up in the village we live so thought Id keep the trade local, but OMG this groomer shaved him all over he was like a shorn sheep I cried for days.
3rd groomer : was recommended by someone on COL and at last we have found someone who understands cockers and grooms to breed standard. Hand stripping his back coat (she explained that repeated shaving makes the coat coarse and lighter in colour through time) she leaves lovely feathering on his bib and legs and he always looks good when he comes out . So now we are happy. She doesnt come cheap though 48 quid a time (but IMO you only get what you pay for!!!! and he`s worth it  )
It is hard to find a groomer you can trust. I thought we`d never find one but I am just so grateful to the person who recommended this groomer to us.
Im sure you have made the right choice of tidy up with scissors and coat king and Im sure Milo will look good.

[VickyG]

I totally agree that show cockers look beautiful with their full coat and when I got my two show cockers the plan was to keep their true coat.  Henry is now 4 and when he was done his fur became a nightmare and got really thick and he easily matted, the same with Holly who is 2 when she was done. 

At first we tried to keep their coats but eventually we decided to have them fully clipped and the reasons we chose this was
- they both dislike me grooming them so it was a fight each time
- we dont show
- we do a lot of serious walking and even just out of our front door there is a river with a nice muddy wood for them to jump in
- we both work from home but didn't want to end up taking over an hour after each walk to clean them up
- it is easier for the dogs as they now don't get knotted and dont have me running after them with a slicker brush every 5 mins

I would have loved to kept their coats but practical reasons took over, but it did take me about a year going shorter and shorter at the groomers so now they are clipped off fully but I know it's not to everyones taste so you can still have them clipped but leave the feathering etc..  I wouldn't let your groomer bully you into it though, think what is easier for you and the dog. 

PS my two are in the pics of the clipped cockers

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Last time I got Charlie entirely clipped (the groomer was mortified) however with his lovely thick fur and the mud it was a no go. This time...I'm going to get him stripped (I have a coat king and he can still be stripped) and keep all of his feathering...however I'd like it thinning out a bit.

[winewood]

Sorry to hijack thread but was about to ask similar question. My black boy desexed, and clipped twice (as i dont' show and it was a friend and breeder groomer i knew through cocker club said i should  clip i regretted  it even before i left the room, )when he was younger (now 6) since then I've been trying to get his coat back, I was told if I kept working on it mars, thinning scissors and stripping blade I could get it back. I'm about to bath and groom again and wondering is it worth it , it's still wild and woolly has straight patches but is wavy, if I clip will it get curlier ? Considering using a big blade say 5 and just taking of surface hair not clipping into coat if you know what I mean I was told that they naturally go curly with ages is that true?

[henryjack1dogs]

Coat is down to gene and the effects of neutering/health/diet etc!

Some cockers have naturally curlier coats/some sleekier/some woolley (especially after neutering)some heavier some lighter.

If the coat is curly, it won't get curlier because of clipping or age!!!!!  The problem with clipping on a dog coat that is very dense -curley is that a 5 blade may tug the coat (I was a dog groomer) if you are just looking at taking the tips off use a higher No. blade maybe 7 with a comb attachment this will hardly touch the coat but may give you the desired effect.  If your dog is neutered, if will always have a woolley coat it's not down to clipping.  You can have a nice cut on a cocker with clippers - not taking it to short, nice feather with a natural flow.  My dogs are clipped but very naturally, I don't keep the feathering too long but lovely long ears.  I have also taken all the coat off    A full show coat takes a lot of work but yes looks beautiful!

[dazza71]

Henryjack1 any  chance of a photo because this sounds like what I want for Bella for the hot weather?

[Holly2009]

For purely practical reasons we've had Holly completely clipped all over twice (once buy me as I got a bit carried away  ) don't regret it one bit, no knots, no matts....she looks odd to start with but it grows back really quickly, it's like having a new dog for a few weeks