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The Australian Cobberdog grooming look
The Australian Cobberdog is a sweet, friendly and very sensitive dog to the emotional state of people. With its grooming look, the aim is to ensure that the dog's appearance transmits these temperamental characteristics visually, so that the dog's appearance and way of being must be consistent.
To make the cut of the Australian Cobberdog breed, we must bear in mind that, according to the breed standard, it should not be an exaggerated dog, but have a natural appearance. To enhance this charm of the breed, the aspect that we should look for is that of a soft toy, but not very polished, always bearing in mind that in the cut the naturalness of the dog will prevail.
Another important aspect is the eyes of the Australian Cobberdog, which must always be visible because they are very expressive and friendly, and it is with which the dog can get along with people. This detail is very important, since we are talking about a breed whose goal is to achieve excellent therapy and assistance dogs, so creating a connection between dog and human through the eyes is key.
The video explains, step by step, how the groomers look for an Australian Cobberdog is like
BEFORE AND AFTER GOING TO THE GROOMER
Front side of the Australian Cobberdog
Face of the Australian Cobberdog
Steps before the groomers for an Australian Cobberdog
BRUSHING
Before cutting for the arrangement, it is necessary to do a good brushing. Brushing is the same that we carry out during the maintenance of the Australian Cobberdog. We will do the brushing with a wide-tooth brush, this way we will remove the dirt and the possible knots that it may have, avoiding breaking the hair. We must go in with the brush all over the cloak, lifting the hair and brushing it layer by layer. A correct brushing ends when, when finishing with the wide-toothed brush, the metallic comb is used throughout the body to ensure that it does not have any knots. Once we have opened the matted hair and we have verified that the cloak is free of knots we can go to the bathroom.
BATHING
The Australian Cobberdog has very waterproof hair, so we must wet his hair well, layer by layer. Once well wet, we will lather with moisturizing shampoo (diluted in water so that it is better distributed throughout the body) and we will gently wipe each strand by strand (from the root of the strand to the tip), avoiding circular movements that can promote creating knots. When we have rinsed the shampoo well with water, we will apply the moisturizing conditioner and let it rest for three to five minutes to rinse again later. Once we have made sure that the water has taken any excess soap, it is time to dry the dog with a drier. In drying, it is important to influence the roots enough to leave the ends moist to be able to work better later during the hairdressing arrangement. For this it is recommended to use the drier with a nozzle.
The grooming look for the standard Australian Cobberdog breed
The Australian Cobberdog cut stands out for not having exaggerations, that's why all angulations will be marked very smoothly looking for a natural effect
Rear side
At the back we will discreetly mark the rear angle. We will take the ischium as a reference point, which will be the longest rear part and from the ilium we will trim the excess hair. When we reached the ischium, we incised with the scissors from the ischium to the hock to mark the posterior angulation.
Back legs
Observing from behind the dog, on the inside of its hind legs we will draw an inverted "V". This way, the moving dog will not cross the hair of the left paw with the hair of the right paw. Then we lift all the hair from the foot to the hock and trim the excess. We round the feet and clear the paw of the excess hair.
The tail
The Australian Cobberdog's tail tends to go down so the tail insertion is low. To do this, we lower the tail putting it between the legs and round with the scissors. The tail is feather-shaped and to trim it you have to start from the base of the tail to the tip.
Breastbone hair
The space between the front and rear legs will try to make it as short as possible in order to shorten the length of the dog. To do this, we must leave a lot of hair on the inside of the legs and cut a lot on the outside. Thus, when trimming the skirt, we must bear in mind that it can never be above the elbow of the front leg.
Back
In the upper part of the back we will mark the size of the hair to follow until the cross of the dog. From this measurement, we will compare the measurement of the rest of the back, thorax and flank hair. The hair should fall straight down with a subtle curve towards the inside of the belly.
Chest
In the chest, we will define the angle taking into account the sternum as the longest reference point. From the neck we will cut to the sternum, and from the sternum to the legs. The chest should look like as if it was wearing a flat bib, and avoid the bulky bib effect.
Neck
Aesthetically, the neck should highlight the difference between the dog's head and body and should be trimmed enough to avoid a "double-chin" effect and allow better ventilation of the ears. To highlight the neck, we will cut from the ear to the shoulder, for reference.
Front legs
We mark the feet with a rounded shape and we will have as a reference that length to trim the excess hair from the legs, which should look straight and firm. They must have a feeling of consistency, look collected and enhance the feeling of holding the structure of the dog as if they were two pillars. Looking at the dog from the front, its elbows cannot be seen sticking out.
Eyes
It is a breed that stands out for its eye contact and for having a human gaze. This is why their eyes must be cleared with natural bangs in order to make the deep look typical of the breed visible. We must focus on clearing only the area of the tear ducts, because the nose and beard must be abundant in hair. It should be avoided that the bangs are left with an excessively marked cut, we must look for a blunt and natural void that does not overlap the eye, but remains on the eye.
Face
If we look straight at the Australian Cobberdog, we should see two circles on its face. One circle would be the face in its entirety and the other circle around the dog's nose and beard. To round the face, it is lowered by cutting from the inside of the ear towards the beard, and from the longest point of the beard towards the nose. In almost all breeds, the longest reference point is the outside of the eye, but in the Australian Cobberdog the longest reference point is the inside of the eye.
Ears
The ear will have a flared shape and integrated into the head, an insert should not be seen. The Australian Cobberdog should not have any exaggerated points, less so on the face, its strength should be focused on its eyes. Under the ear, we will empty the entire area well to leave the ear canal well ventilated.
The final touch
When we have finished cutting, we will give it a final touch. We will spray water on the hair to achieve a curl with a more natural look.
