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The Continental Clip, Poodle traditional haircut new article content ...                                                                                                                            = The Continental clip = The most commonly recognised haircut for an adult Poodle, by most dog societies and clubs such as UKC, AKC,

ANKC and many more. A Poodle starts to be recognised as an adult from 1 year old.

This haircut is traditionally used at dog conformation shows.

At a Conformation Show.

A dog owner is the person who is free to choose a haircut for their dog and they are free to choose anything. There are many more haircuts that exist for this breed.

Continental Clip is one of the most commonly used for Conformation Show representations.

That haircut can be seen on old heritage[10 11] paintings and photographs.

A Conformation dog show has a tradition for their participant dogs.

Traditionally they are looking for specific haircuts which been often has been used in Conformation shows.

A fancier’s organisations work on all dogs being judged equally and a uniform look is a tool to achieve that.

Coat quality in the Poodle breed naturally harsh in the texture, dense through. Poodles under 12 months could be shown in a puppy clip. In all regular classes, Poodles at 12 months and over are traditionally

shown in English Saddle and Continental clip.

In a Stud dog and broad bitch classes a Poodle could be shown in the “Sporting” clip.

” Fanciers organisations are not all the same but they are similar within their

core and traditions for breed related haircuts are similar.

A groomer who does preparation of a Poodle for a Conformation show often has knowledge of a dog’s standards and traditional looks.

There is a way to exaggerate strengths and camouflage weaknesses with a clever haircut. The comprehensive knowledge of the structure of this particular breed of a dog helps a groomer to achieve its' representation.

= A Clip for an adult dog. =

The Continental clip is an adult dogs clip, because this haircut needs for hair to have so much body as an adult Poodle would have.

Younger puppies are traditionally presented in a Puppy trim which suits their soft and not yet fully developed coat.

For a younger poodle it is known to go through the “Coat Change”, during which time it is prone to tangling more than usual."

The usual preparations before haircut is a bath with conditioner and anti-static, and sometime a specialised balm which helps for a softer coat to hold shape better,

if it is done for a dog who is meant to participate in a Conformation event.

As the owner of a dog is free to decide what care to use on their poodle hair or even totally shaving it is a possibility, as a poodle coat is not a double coat

[citation needed] and it allows a very short, shaved haircut to be done.

= Setting pattern for Continental Clip =

It is skilful work to set up the pattern of a Continental clip in the way it is traditionally worn. There are some guidelines

to make it easier. Looking at the scheme a groomer goes by the touch of their hand first.

Feeling the dog’s body and finding pin points of a pattern. Tactile research before starting a groom helps to set a guideline

as it is also helping to feel strengths and weaknesses of the particular dog,

which otherwise would not be visible under its thick coat. The area which is traditionally used as a guideline is often the end

of its rib-cage, the top ends of shoulder blades/scapula, hooks/tarsus bone on its blacklegs and the top of

the manubrium of the sternum where traditionally the shaved area on its throat ends.

= Setting “Jacket” =

or a lion mane.

For the lions mane, which is also called jacket, the Groomer would feel where the rib-cage of the dog ends, the

‘jacket’ traditionally finishes behind the rib cage after it ends, plus two fingers

(1.5 to 2 centimetres.)

If the jacket finishes before that point it will look like the dog has an elongated waist and weak back, if it is too

long it would look like the dog is too heavy and has a long back so this is an important pin point. Jacket sets under an angle as pictured as it helps to make the design slick and pleasant to a viewers eye of the flow of the pattern. Aesthetics are a mysterious thing and using 7 principles of design

[citation needed] could rely to a dog’s haircut. A human eye has a response to flowing lines which leads it into the whole picture.

The whole haircut would look abrupt if a jacket just ends straight,

but there are some exceptions for a dog with plentiful and thick hair who has achieved a complete round shape at their main.

It is traditional practice to use banded rounded scissors on the Jacket.

Another critical point is the chest area. While the neck is often shaved and ends with a

“U” shape as a more natural look or a “V” shape as dramatic sharp look (which is just an aesthetic choice), but the chest itself is a sensitive matter as it could change

the perception of back length and overall aesthetics.

If more hair is left on the chest frontal area it makes a poodle visually longer and if it expands down then legs are looking shorter

and body construction looks heavier visually and a dog looks “chesty “. All of that only matters if a dog is preparing to participate in a Conformation show.

Cutting off hair from the front chest makes a poodle look tighter, makes the neck look longer and overall,

the dog looks taller but if the chest is clipped too much it can totally remove the chest. For a dog who visually has a longer back, clipping the chest a bit shorter would visually change the balance and the back itself would look shorter.

=Pom-poms on the back=

Pom-poms on the back are often called “rosettes” in the poodle breed.

Pompoms on the back of a poodle are set a maximum 1.5 centimetre away from the rear end of the “Jacket”.

They are equally on top of its’ back and continuously on its’ side. An often-seen mistake in confirmation grooms

is that a pom-pom has too great a separation.

In reality they are nearly connecting at the middle of the dogs back and 1 centimetre between Poms could be enough.

Rosettes set enough forward to not cover with its hair the tail set. As traditionally at Confirmation shows a High tail-set is praised by judges,

from that concept the stem of the tail gets visible if resets are set closer to the jacket area.

It is very important to show off high tail set and pom-pom hair could hinder to observe it.

Most often known mistakes are to place back Pom-poms too far apart and sometime too

much on the side as well as push it too far back to the rear end.

= Tail trim =

The base of the tail should be trimmed not more than 10 centimetres up from the dog’s rear for a Standard poodle and not more than 4 centimetres (or better less)

for miniatures, even less for toys. The fluffy part of a tail traditionally is rounder or a cylindrical shape, depending on the length of the tail.

=Leg Pom-poms=

Traditional recommendation do not open feet too much or legs will look short.

Leave most hair at the back and less on the front of legs.

Front leg Pom-poms are starting from a cylindrical shape and back legs are starting as an oval or an egg shape.

The Size of leg Pom-poms should be in good proportion to the rest of the body and tail.

Leg Pom-poms are always covering the whole joint and a little bit above.

Historically they used to be “Joint warmers” while hunting and retrieving.

Keeping it in balance which means not too short but not too long,

as with too much hair when a Poodle would run in the show ring it could possibly look heavier on it’s feet. = Shaved areas. =

In the Continental clip the face, throat, feet and base of the tail are shaved. The hindquarters are shaved, and with Pom-poms

the entire shaven foot and shaven foreleg are visible.

The Underbelly is shaved and it stops two fingers from the last rib of the rib-cage.

On a white dog it creates a contrast between the dark pigmentation of its skin and snow-white hair.

= References =


 * Dahl,Del(1994)."Complete poodle",Howell Book House,Macmillan Publishing Company


 * Kalstone,Shirlee(2001)."Poodle Clipping and grooming the international reference",Howell Book House,IDG Books Worldwide Inc


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