Cutting Cooper's Hair

Cooper's first hair cut was a learning experience for both of us. I had always cut my last dog's hair. Bonnie was a mix breed (beloved mutt) who was about 45 pounds, so I thought cutting Cooper's hair would be easy.

WRONG!!!

Bonnie was a well behaved, calm dog who wasn't high strung about anything. Here I was with this little 12 pound puppy, who was well behaved, yes. HOWEVER, he was wiggly and squiggly and quite unwilling to sit still for very long. I had to give him breaks so he could run off nervous energy. He had no idea what I was doing to him.

Bonnie

She was our beloved mutt from the day she was born till the day she died

By the way, I didn't try to do too much with electric clippers the first time. I hadn't worked with him to get him used to them, so they made him very nervous. I resorted to scissors to get the bulk of hair off him and get him used to the whole grooming process. I had planned to clean up the haircut with the clippers after I got the long stuff down to a manageable length. He had different plans though. I would have to use another day when I wasn't in the middle of a haircut to focus on getting him comfortable with clippers before I could get serious about getting near him with them.

Cooper just minutes before his first hair cut

He had been REALLY fluffy before I had the heart to cut his hair. It felt kind of like your child's first hair cut, only I didn't save a lock of hair from him as I had from each of my children. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with his ears and tail. Was I going to leave them long or cut them short like the rest of his body? I got him almost completely done without touching his ears or his tail. My first look at his adorable face with long ears looked RIDICULOUS!!! It took less than a second to realize I did NOT like this look for Cooper. Snip, Snip, Snipping took care of that foo-foo look. I worked on his little ears until they were short and well shaped. He looked handsome! His tail remained medium fluffy by the time I was done cutting. His tail bone is curled so I could have either cut the hair short or medium, but long looked messy.

The long ears didn't appeal at all!

I had been most worried about trimming his face. I wanted to leave him looking like a puppy. I hoped I wouldn't take too much off his muzzle but sometimes it's hard to hold him still as you hold the hair out while cutting at the same time. It takes more than two hands, but I can't ask Jesse for help. Cooper behaves badly when Jesse comes in. He does the 'Daddy help me' thing, then Jesse feels bad for him. Jesse doesn't believe how well Cooper is without him there because he never sees it. Some day I'm going to get it on video to prove it.

Completing his haircut took about three days, doing a little bit each day. I gave him a shower after his haircut when we were done on the first day. The next day I was able to cut off all the stray stuff I had missed around his feet and between his pads. He was so sick of me going at him with scissors but really didn't like the electric clippers much.

He has become very comfortable with the ritual now. He doesn't mind much at all (unless Jesse is there). We sit on the couch, him across my lap with a towel under him. He will allow me to do anything I want, even with clippers. I'm so good with scissors that I prefer them over clippers. I think he does too. I think he likes how much I touch him while I'm grooming him. I would like to think we're bonding, but I guess I wouldn't go that far. Other than the more comfortable short-haired result, I think Cooper would rather I didn't have to cut his hair at all. I tend to agree with him there. At least we only have to do it two or three times per year.

Handsome little guy