To help with these things is a very good idea to invest in a "cocker pen" or exercise puppy pen", these pens are made of metal, measure 3 feet x 3 ft by 36 inches high and come equipped with a grating floor, and slide out tray under the floor for easy cleaning, this size is a large pen.Or you could get the 2-foot x 3 foot x 35-inch high pen, identical to the bigger one except 1 foot shorter. these pens can usually only be found by vendors at a dog show. Being as these pens are quite expensive approx 100-200 dollars each, you can get almost the same results from buying a used babies playpen. Now to explain why you should use the pens, A show Peke must be kept immaculately clean at all times, and groomed to perfection at all times, and being as these pekes can destroy a grooming quicker than you can blink an eye, it would help cut down on a lot of your time and hard work if you had a place to put your dog so he can stay groomed and clean. I start 4- 6 months before the shows start each year, choose which pekes I will be showing for that year, and separate them from the rest of my pekes, the reason I do this is so the other pekes don't chew on his coat, or when they get rough housing coats are not damaged. I take the show pekes and set up individual pens for them in my front room, (Yes my living room decor is dog pens)! I put them there because our living room is always a busy place and they will be able to receive extra attention, (lets face it being caged does get rather boring), so I try to make it fun for them by giving lots of extra attention while they are penned, they get a water bag incased in a satin pillow case , to lie on, a water dish, toys, and chewable items. Once the pens are set up, these pekes get a completely and thoroughly bathed, nail trims, etc. then I might even wrap their ear fringe, tail fringe, and skirting. Reason for this is to keep those fringing immaculate and out of food dishes, water bowls, and caught up on toys. (Will explain wrapping further along). Still discussing penning, these pekes are put in the pens, sleep in them overnight, are let out for ½ an hour first thing in the morning, with only the other show pekes, then they come in and return to their pens, while the unshown dogs are let out to play for as long as they want. While they are doing this, I start grooming the show dogs, taking out wraps, grooming and misting lightly the fringing then rewrapping it all. Next we put a show lead on, do a little practice leading, then a few minutes of table stacking, training, then we get a lot of hugs, cuddles, and praise, then a big treat for being so good, by this time they are usually ready to settle down comfortably and just watch you working around them At noon they are allowed out on my back deck in the shade for an hour or more, depending on the weather. I feed my pekes at 2:00, so every one comes in and eat, the show pekes return to their pens with their food to eat at their leisure. They usually rest there till around 5 or 6 o'clock where they can go out again for a few hours, then just before bedtime they are checked to make sure wraps are still in properly, and faces are checked for cleanliness. After the other pekes have gone to bed for the night, the show pekes will each get individual play time with me, chasing toys or just goofing around on our linoleum floor in the kitchen. Then about 8-10 days before a show they are re-bathed if they need it and then I start to build up coat for the show. Also try to keep your show dog out of wind, or extended time in the sun, as both these will dry out the coat and damage it. The black pekes especially must not spend much time in direct sunlight as it will turn the glossy black coats, a rusty red or orange, (it bleaches it out). Now we will start to condition their coatsOK, now that you have chosen the dogs you are going to show, you start by evaluating them. Put one up on the grooming table and go over the dog very carefully, (just looking and feeling his structure and coat) What you are looking for are his faults first, find them and see how you can fix them. Example: Your peke looks a little square headed (the best head is envelope looking, more width than height) so find out what is causing him to look square headed, it might just be his hair on the top of the skull is very thick and stands up straighter. If this is the case then grooming can fix this, first you would by using thinning shears or by plucking), thin out that top hair, thinning it will enable it to lay flatter, once that is done you lightly spray the head hair and comb it flat, let dry this way, it is called training the hair to lay flatter. The top of you pekes head should be absolutely flat not domed. Next you can also improve the face width by making it look wider than it really is, to get this effect, you lay the dog on its side and using a little spray gel you lightly spray the cheek hair, (be very careful you never get any in their eyes, now using a tiny comb, comb the cheek hairs towards the pekes nose or face, any way as the gel drys it will have poofed out the cheek hairs causing the dog to look as if it has a wider face.. now make sure wrinkle and stop is very clean and dry, and eyes are free of debris. I also check to make sure the face whiskers are not so long or thick, or crinkled as to make his face look unkempt, if this is the case then I trim off the face whiskers, as you do not want anything to appear unkempt, messy or out of place on the head and face as this is the body part that is so noticeable and highly pointed. Make sure the ears are spotlessly clean. Next moving on, while he's stacked on your table, what do his legs look like, does he appear toed in, toed out, or do they completely disappear in leg fringing. If they appear toed in or out, find out why, is it caused by toe fringing that is so long it is curving in or out? If so using the thinning shears, trim it shorter, so it doesn't fold or curve in or out, but always be very care full with the thinning shears, it should never never look like it was bluntly cut or shaped that way, must at all times look natural. Now if the dog really is toed in or out find out if you can stack him so it won't show, toeing in can be hidden if you make sure when you stack your dog so that the dogs elbows are set firmly against the rib cage, this should straighten out his toeing in problem. If he toes out too much only grooming can sometimes change this look. Next his back must be absolutely level, not dipped down, or higher in the rear. The dipping down can sometimes be hidden by fluffing up the coat in the area that appears dipped. The higher in the rear could be caused by the coat being so thick and stand uppish right where the tail should lay, if this is the case then parting (down the center) the hair from the last rib to the tail, possible thinning it a bit will teach the hair to lay flatter, thus when he flips his tail up to walk it will appear to lay flatter giving a level back look. , If he is really higher in the back end then learn to stack him with his back legs stretched a little farther back than normal. The same with a dog that looks hunched back, check to see if grooming would improve it or if he is not standing squarely but actually hunching his back up a little, if he is again teaching him to stack with his back legs a tiny bit further back than normal can create the illusion he is level backed. Next the appearance of the back legs, same thing toeing in or out must be checked and seen if the toe fringing is causing it, correct with grooming same as the front, I prefer to keep my back toe fringes shorter that the front ones, if left too long it can make your peke look leggy (taller), so I keep them trimmed shorter and the back leg fringing thinned out more so than the front. Now the peke is supposed to look pear shaped, if he looks wider in the rear, find out why, is the fringing or skirting so thick and long that it spreads outward like a fan at the back of the dog? If so thin the coat a little right from hips to rear skirts, if the rear (pants, on males, skirts on females) is so long it drags out behind them, this could cause your peke to look too long in body length, so I trim (with thinning shears) to shorten the skirts and pants to table length, just so it drags about ¼ of an inch down on the table while dog is stacked. Now with all your corrections you have done, stand back and check the appearance you now have of your dog. Like it???? Then remember which area's you must keep trained, cheek hairs, top hair on head etc etc, as this will become part of your everyday grooming, (not the trimming everyday though) just the training of the hair. Now what does all this have to do with conditioning you ask. It has everything to do with it; it is learning what part of the grooming you must do daily to keep this show dog looking this way till the show. Conditioning is not only grooming it is training the coat to do what you want it too. Now with all this done lets check out the actual texture of the coat, is it dry, damaged, fly away, flat, dull or lustrous. If my dog looks and feels dry, damaged or dull looking I will start by giving this dog a "hot oil treatment", same as you would your own hair. Once that is done, and the oil all washed out, and dog blow dried on a cool or luke warm dryer setting, I will use a spray bottle, filling it with a mixture of rainwater, and coat conditioner (this can be any dog coat conditioner, I prefer a product called "Crown Royal", which can only be bought (at least around here) from the dog show vendors. "Crown Royal" also sells a line of shampoos, conditioners, and bodifiers. also to this spray bottle I will use ONE drop of my favorite men's cologne. This spray bottle will hang on the dog's cage and every time I go by the dog in my daily routine I will lightly mist him. Sometimes 3 times a day sometimes 8 times a day. This is the most important part of keeping a coat in great condition, as dry coat will break easily and moisture will grow coat like crazy, we even have a humidifier in our dog's room during the winter so their coats don't dry out. If you are wrapping their fringes, you absolutely must take out the wraps daily, groom the fringing and rewrap again every single day. The rest of the body coat can sometimes go 3 days before you groom it. Also part of conditioning too is making sure your dog is getting the best food available, lots of exercise, fresh air, clean water, and proper vitamins, and keeping that personality sparkling. OK, now that I have you bored to death or totally confused it is time to prepare the coat for the show ring, which is only about 7-10 days away. From here on in you must "build up your coat", which means making it look fuller, thicker, and properly trained. Start by a fresh bath, getting every bit of dust, dirt or grease out of the coat. Blow-dry the coat in the direction you have trained it for the last 6 months. Now that's done, we change spray bottles, in this new one we will have the rain water, a bodifying solution, (such as Crown Royale Bodifier", it is a stiffener kind of that makes the coat feel thicker and keep its shape better (a lot like hair spray does) Day 7 - sprayed and groomed twice this day with the bodifier, and don't forget those cheek hairs, and top of the head.. Day 6 - this day I will use as I am line brushing, a grooming powder (also a Crown Royal product). You make your line of hair, lightly mist, sprinkle on a little grooming powder, wipe once with your hand to kind of spread it, then brush thoroughly in the direction you want, mist again then go to the next line of coat and repeat up to the last rib, from that rib on to the very tip of the tail the grooming powder is not used, remember the pear shape all coat from the last rib on must be groomed flatter and no fluffing, Day 5 - ordinary grooming with just the bodifier misting. Day4 - a repeat with the grooming powder. Day 3 - Sprayed with a coat dressing, my favorite is St Aubrey coat Dressing, (very hard to find), or Cherry Knoll coat dressing. Day 2 - Same as day 3, with coat dressing.Day 1 - day before the show, spray with coat dressing, and say a little prayer for good weather, and a lot of luck SHOW DAY - Spray lightly with rainwater only, groom and let the show begin!!!!!!! Most of the conditioning is done the same by all breeders, but the show grooming is usually a very closely guarded secret by each and every breeder, and we all have different ways and products we use, I have seen lots of hair spray, gels, dyes, chalks, and tinting used by other breeders, as most of the stuff mentioned in this paragraph are illegal to use and could cause you to be excused from the ring by your judge, it is still a chance breeders will take to gain that extra edge over their competitors. You learn by watching, listening and trying different methods until you find one that works best for you and your dog. Not all dogs' coats are the same or respond the same to products as other dogs and coats do, so you will have to practice until you find the results you like and are comfortable with. Then all you have to do is smile enter that ring souly for the purpose of you and your dog enjoying yourselves and doing the best you know how. Leave the politics, cheating, and back biting at home. This is you and your dog's day to enjoy and shine like a star. Well that's about it, if you have any questions or don't understand something I've said, just ask. |
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