Dear Bad Hair: Grooming a purebred dog is an art form. Professionals at the dog shows spend hours, sometimes days primping and preening their charges before their go into the ring for a few minutes of glory. Most of the owners, breeders and handlers of a certain breed specialize only in their breed making them the ultimate experts. They groom the same breed of dog day in and day out and really know the secrets to keeping all the parts in place and looking good.

Dog grooming salons cater to a much wider audience. They are visited by every breed and mixed breed under the sun on a daily basis. Groomers at these shops are usually trained through dog grooming schools and licensed by the state to operate their stores.

Many times a groomer is an overall expert in grooming but not a breed specialist. They know how to bathe, blow dry and cut hair on all types of dogs with an eye to what is best for the dog’s health and not necessarily what looks good on TV at Westminster. Not to say there aren’t groomers who do know breed specific cuts and clips like the show pros. But on average a groomer will do a fine job on your dog.

Handling The Look

Perhaps your grooming salon is filled with a few groomers and each time your dog comes in he gets a different groomer. Each groomer may have his own interpretation of what a breed should look like. Or perhaps they don’t know what a Maltese should look like. The Maltese is a hard breed to trim, since the show dogs have a long flowing cut that is rarely chopped, except if it is a house pet.

Your best approach to staying at your current groomer is to bring a photo of your dog in the cut you like him best. Ask the store owner to assign his best groomer to your dog and begin a relationship with that individual groomer. Bring the photo during your first visit and explain in detail what you want your dog to look like. Show the photo while explaining and leave the photo with the groomer.

I’m betting she will try very hard to meet your expectations. Plus, if she does a good job and you tip her handily, you can bet the next time around she’ll aim to please. This way you build consistency with one groomer, and you won’t insult anybody by saying they have poor staff. If you don’t have any photos, trying looking through breed books and finding a picture of a puppy whose coat is not yet as long as a show adult. Keep the photo in your dog’s file, so if his regular groomer is on vacation they will have a blue print for success.

Lisa Peterson, a long-time breeder of Norwegian Elkhounds, is the Director of Club Communications at the American Kennel Club. Contact her at ask@lisa-peterson.com  or Dogma Publishing, P.O. Box 307, Newtown, CT 06470.