# maintaning hair length?



## kathyc (Mar 7, 2013)

EDIT.... I DIDN`T SEE THE THREAD RUNNING ON TRIMMING

My husband and I have been having a discussion on how long we would like, (Werli our little Hav), his coat to be, we both agree we don`t like it short, with short hair on his face. We`ve both decided we would like his hair to be on the longer side. not 6 inches, if it ever gets to that length, but somewhat longer than a puppy cut. 

Question, I`m trying to get a idea on how you keep a Hav`s hair at a certain length. I`m guessing that length will be about 2 1/2 inches. What type of trimming tools will I need? We do have a electric trimmer. Is there a place that has tools relating to Hav`s that I can go to or are the tools generic to all dogs with nothing especially made for hav`s?

We haven`t found a good groomer yet so we`ll be tackling this ourselves, at least for a period, so I can experiment with his length and how we would like it. We did have a Poodle 30 years ago that required trimming but his coat was nothing like our Hav`s.


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## atsilvers27 (Jul 5, 2011)

You would need a professional grade dog clipper with a #30 blade and an "E" or 1 1/4" guard comb. That is the longest attachment comb on the market. You may need to hand scissor the legs and face. You need thinning shears for the eyes and face, and also curved shears and/or straight shears. You need a #10 blade for the paw pads and sanitary, which often comes with the full clippers. Make sure you wash and dry your dog first right before you do the cut, as oil and microscopic dust particles will dull your blades and shears and dirty hair doesn't cut evenly. On a coat that stands straight up, like a poodle or bichon the hair length left will be what is specified on the guard comb. For drop coat dogs like our havs, the length left will be longer than the actual guard comb length because the hair falls at an angle (think of the length of the sides of a square vs the diagonal).


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## TilliesMom (Sep 30, 2010)

Welcome and congratualtions on your baby!!

I keep Tillie in a very long cut, but not full coat... I trim her down myself maybe once a year in the spring. I tend to buck all 'advice' and just trim her with scissors... no shaver, no thinning shears, no curved shears... she may not look amazing when we are done, but she looks pretty darn good! and then it grows.


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## kathyc (Mar 7, 2013)

atsilvers27 said:


> You would need a professional grade dog clipper with a #30 blade and an "E" or 1 1/4" guard comb. That is the longest attachment comb on the market. You may need to hand scissor the legs and face. You need thinning shears for the eyes and face, and also curved shears and/or straight shears. You need a #10 blade for the paw pads and sanitary, which often comes with the full clippers. Make sure you wash and dry your dog first right before you do the cut, as oil and microscopic dust particles will dull your blades and shears and dirty hair doesn't cut evenly. On a coat that stands straight up, like a poodle or bichon the hair length left will be what is specified on the guard comb. For drop coat dogs like our havs, the length left will be longer than the actual guard comb length because the hair falls at an angle (think of the length of the sides of a square vs the diagonal).


Thank you so much for your reply, lots of good info. I`m coming to the conclusion that the grooming of Havs is much more involved than we ever imagined for such a little guy but we`ve taken it on and of coarse the coat grows back haha. I once said that, when I received a hair cut from someone that all I can say made a mistake, living with the results is the problem.

We have maintained our big dogs Husky and Border Collie and our Husky has long hair but of coarse it`s a totally different coat, the Havs are far more involved.

Is there a good place on the Internet to look at the clippers, combs etc.


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## atsilvers27 (Jul 5, 2011)

Petedge.com is a good site, though for combs and brushes you can go to amazon. Both have competitive prices and fast shipping.


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## marlowe'sgirl (Jun 17, 2010)

I do 90% of my Hav's grooming myself. I shave completely down his belly/sanitary/armpits every month or so down. These tended to get the worst mats and bring in much of the outside too. For the rest of him, I keep his hair long, or rather let it grow out from a professional 'summer cut' down to 2 inches. I do trim his paw pads and legs on occasion. My boy loves puddles and mud. The leg mats sometimes get out of control and I just (very very carefully) cut them out then even up the rest of his legs. They're such shaggy mops anyway that it doesn't have to be perfect for a Hav to look like the adorable Hav they are.


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## kathyc (Mar 7, 2013)

TilliesMom said:


> Welcome and congratualtions on your baby!!
> 
> I keep Tillie in a very long cut, but not full coat... I trim her down myself maybe once a year in the spring. I tend to buck all 'advice' and just trim her with scissors... no shaver, no thinning shears, no curved shears... she may not look amazing when we are done, but she looks pretty darn good! and then it grows.


She looks better than good, she`s a doll. Our Werli is a duplicate of Tillie all white of coarse we have a he, so the`re not quite a duplicates haha. Well it`s good to hear that I can start out without breaking the bank with all the tools but I`ll bet as time goes by I`ll end up with what`s needed. I`m pretty much a perfectionist which makes me unhappy about to many things much of the time. Anyway I`m going to get some good scissors and do a little trimming here and there and work my way into it. I`m thinking that a little longer coat may be simpler to deal with because you can trim a little at a time. Anyway it will all work out.Kathy


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## kathyc (Mar 7, 2013)

atsilvers27 said:


> Petedge.com is a good site, though for combs and brushes you can go to amazon. Both have competitive prices and fast shipping.


Thank you I`ll go there. I must say you Hav is so cute. Especially the way you trim him I bet those legs are tough to keep up but look so cute. If they would only stay like that without all the fuss haha that just isn`t going to happen, wishful thinking. Kathy


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## kathyc (Mar 7, 2013)

marlowe'sgirl said:


> I do 90% of my Hav's grooming myself. I shave completely down his belly/sanitary/armpits every month or so down. These tended to get the worst mats and bring in much of the outside too. For the rest of him, I keep his hair long, or rather let it grow out from a professional 'summer cut' down to 2 inches. I do trim his paw pads and legs on occasion. My boy loves puddles and mud. The leg mats sometimes get out of control and I just (very very carefully) cut them out then even up the rest of his legs. They're such shaggy mops anyway that it doesn't have to be perfect for a Hav to look like the adorable Hav they are.


Thanks you`re giving me confidence I can handle this grooming. The way you describe your trimming is pretty much what I thought I was going to do belly, armpits etc. Werli at 6 mts. I haven`t seen matting his hair just cords all over, one of the members here said that my guy probably has curly hair. I brush him out and if his shampoo has been longer than 1 week he cords up in about 2 hours. So I may go to weekly baths huh. Kathy


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## Suzi (Oct 27, 2010)

I do mine with just a pair of blunt end scissors.


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## atsilvers27 (Jul 5, 2011)

kathyc said:


> Thank you I`ll go there. I must say you Hav is so cute. Especially the way you trim him I bet those legs are tough to keep up but look so cute. If they would only stay like that without all the fuss haha that just isn`t going to happen, wishful thinking. Kathy


She does not get trimmed at all. Just sani and the hair that touches the ground. If I were to scissor her it would be too obvious and i would rather leave her natural or trim her properly all over. After a certain length the armpits and to a certain degree the legs tend to not mat up anymore because the weight of the hair keeps itself in place and doesnt ride up anymore. Unless you neglect to brush and comb the dog properly, then yes, it would mat.


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## kathyc (Mar 7, 2013)

Suzi said:


> I do mine with just a pair of blunt end scissors.


Yep we have groomed all our dogs for decades and I learned long ago, I better use blunt scissors when I stuck one of our more energetic pups. Thank goodness it was just a minor issue. As I remember my husband took the scissors down to his shop and ground them to a rounded end, since we always have blunt scissors.


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

Well.......this Hav will break you out of being a perfectionist for sure. :laugh: If you have been through the seasons that include lots of leaves, twigs, sticks, grass with a longer haired Hav. Oh! Forgot the snow! I use to be a perfectionist , then had children, grown up now....thought the Perfectionist was back....then found out it was not when my boys were introduced to my house.


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## Ewokpup (Nov 3, 2012)

kathyc said:


> Thanks you`re giving me confidence I can handle this grooming. The way you describe your trimming is pretty much what I thought I was going to do belly, armpits etc. Werli at 6 mts. I haven`t seen matting his hair just cords all over, one of the members here said that my guy probably has curly hair. I brush him out and if his shampoo has been longer than 1 week he cords up in about 2 hours. So I may go to weekly baths huh. Kathy


Armpits? Is there a proper way to do them? Harnesses can cause mats down there and i have ended up cutting those mats out. Would love if I could keep it short and avoid it altogether.


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

I do not shave the upper armpits, only the back legs when I am cleaning up in the sanitary area. 

I use Andis clippers with snap on combs. When I was researching the clippers, I looked into grooming classes and one of them did recommend Andis. I also, love shopping on Amazon because I love reading the reviews and that is what prompts me into buying something. 

I also think, you will probably only have to clip maybe 2 or 3 times a year to maintain a length.

Once you start clipping, you will wonder why it took you so long to try it! Using the clippers is so fast, start with the longest clip on comb, take pictures and look at them...this is what I do to figure out where I need to trim more.

Hair grows! You will get better the more you practice.


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