It is best to start the grooming 1-2 days prior to the show. The closer to the date of the show you do the grooming, the better your Blackie will look. Before Scissoring, the coat must be thoroughly brushed, then washed.

Washing procedure: for best results, please use special shampoo formulated for show dogs or shampoo and conditioner combination. Dilute shampoo in water 1 to 10 (or as directed on the bottle) and lather until an ample amount of foam is formed. Soak the entire coat to the roots with this solution, and then rinse well with warm water.

Make sure that you wash the entire dog paying particular attention to the head. All the decorative hair on the head is thoroughly washed.

The entire washing procedure is split into 3 steps.

1st Step: The entire coat should be soaked in CRISP COAT SHAMPOO (#1 ALL SYSTEMS) , super cleansing shampoo that improves texture (see the link and description below). This shampoo gets rids of all the dirt and cleanses the coat.
Make sure that the entire coat is covered with shampoo, massage it in, then rinse well with warm running water.  www.1allsystems.com
 

2nd Step:The entire coat is soaked with a different shampoo. Use Bio-Groom - EXTRA BODY SHAMPOO or Bio-Groom - WIRY COAT SHAMPOO
Rub the shampoo in, covering the entire coat, massage it in, rinse with running water.  www.showdogstore.com



3rd Step: SUPER RICH PROTEIN LOTION CONDI TIONER (see the link and the description below) is applied to the entire coat, well down to the roots. Leave on for 5-6 minutes, then rinse under running water. Do not rinse as well as you did the shampoo, leave some of the conditioner on the coat.
www.1allsystems.com




Towel-dry the entire dog. Now you are ready for a blow-dryer. You can’t let your BRT’s coat air dry.

You need to blow dry it upwards, constantly lifting the hair up, using a slicker brush or a comb until the entire coat is completely dry. For best results blow-dry against the natural hair growth.

After the coat is completely dry, you may start the actual grooming.

The outline of a BRT

Picture #1.

In Blue Colour - Shave the hind part of the leg with the clipper. From Anus to 2 cm above the hocks.

In RED arrows – holding your scissors parallel to the rump, take off all the dangling hair on the inside of the rare legs.

In Yellow Line shown - making the legs looking straight as columns, using scissors.

Picture #2.

In Red – Marking of the hind part of the rear leg line Blend longer hair on the rump (8-10 cm) with the shaved hair (blue colour on Picture #1). Brush the hair backwards as shown in red arrows, then cut with scissors going from the bottom up, making nice curved line to emphasize the angulations of the rear legs as shown.

In Blue – brush the hair towards the back and cut making hair from the hock down appear perpendicular to the ground.

In Yellow - shows how to cut the front part of the hind legs.
 

The Tail – the entire length of the tail is cut evenly to about 5-6 cm. The tail should complement the body and should not look out of proportion. The tail should appear thick and powerful from each side. The tail is an indicator of the bone structure of a BRT. If the tail is thick, than the bone structure is correct and heavy. That is why the hair on the tail should not be cut short. If the tail is docked too short, leave some hair on the end to make it appear longer.

Grooming of the top line and sides.

Top line is done with scissors: start form the tail and work your way up to the withers.

On the base of the tail (or hip) cut short, leaving 2-3 cm, then the length of the hair is slowly increased from loin to withers. It is left 7-10 cm long at withers. It is done to emphasize well developed withers and high front.





 

Hip (base of the tail) should be blended in smoothly into the tail area. They should be at the same level. The tail should not be either above or below the top line at hip area.
The sides are cut evenly. Brush the hair up and cut. The sides should appear rounded up, not flat. The length of hair at the sides is left up to 8-10cm.

Picture # 3.

The arrows indicate the smooth transition form the shorter hair of the top line to the longer hair on the sides. It must be blended in smoothly.

Picure # 4

In Blue from the blue line and up, cut the hair evenly and smoothly, while brushing it up when scissoring. Make smooth transition from the longer hair on the sides (below the blue line) to shorter hair on the back (top line). From the blue line down, brush the hair up and cut only a bit of the ends, making another smooth transition from shorter scissored upper side to longer bottom part.

Picture # 5

The bottom line (or the “skirt”) is done on a straight ascending line as shown on Pic. # 5 with yellow colour.
Do not leave a long “skirt” for dogs with well-developed chest. An outline of the chest, lowered just a bit below the elbow, transitioned smoothly into a straight ascending bottom line, moderately tucked in at abdomen level, makes a well-developed dog look striking and impressive. If a skirt is left too long on a dog that does not have a well-developed chest, it will make the front look too heavy and the front legs will appear too short. The whole dog will look stocky and not-well-balanced.

Grooming of neck and chest - draw a mental line form the base of the ear to the point where a lower jaw and a neck meet and down to the breast bone (sternum) or chest bone and down 3-4 cm and the other line from the base of the ear to the shoulder area (a bit below) as shown in blue. Using clippers, shave the hair very short, leaving 5-6 mm, to make so-called shirtfront (like a tuxedo shape).

Picture # 6

In Blue the approximate line which should be used to clip the neck (so-called shirtfront or a tuxedo shape).

In Yellow the shoulder and the breast bone is shown. Find these bones make the neck appear longer and more stylish.

Next scissor the upper neck area. Brush well against the hair growth, cutting with scissors from the top down all the extra hair. Form the “mane” (hair length is 6-5 cm). Try to make a transition between upper neck and withers area as smooth as you can, otherwise you can get an impression of a short neck coming out of covered with long hair body. On the side of the neck the transition from very short to longer hair is very subtle and smooth. The length of the hair on the mane should suit the dog: leave more hair on a thinner neck, cut shorter on a big, thick neck.

Picture # 8

Front view. The neck (shirtfront or tuxedo) looks like it is shown in BLUE.

Yellow dot –breast bone, yellow lines are your shoulder lines. The neck is clipped a bit lower that the shoulder lines.

Picture # 7

The arrows show how to brush the hair and blend in the longer hair on the sides with the shorter on the neck.

Chest and Shoulder.

Picture # 9

A BRT Standard calls for : “…front part of the chest of a BRT is deep and comes forward a bit beyond the shoulder line….” I think, it would be nice to emphasize this feature. This is how it is done:

Blue lines indicate the transition between the short hair on the neck and longer at shoulders. Don’t make this line appear obvious. All Scissor lines on a BRT should blend smoothly from one part into another. All anatomical parts should appear proportionate.

Starting from the longer hair down from sternum, the hair is left about 4-6 cm long. Front part of the chest is shaped with scissors. Beautifully done front with apparent and proportional shoulder line makes a desirable appearance of a forward motion. The Shoulder line should be rounded and end up at the level of the BLUE DOT on the picture. Red dot indicates where the elbow is. Rounded part of the chest should end up a bit below the elbow.

Picture # 10
           

Grooming of Front Legs – Front legs should be thoroughly brushed with a comb/slicker brush against hair growth. Take all the extra hair off, making legs appear as even columns. Bunches of hair left in between pads will make the paws look spread out and must be cut out. Make sure to cut all the extra hair around the paw, to make paws appear round. Half of the nails should be visible.

Grooming of Head

Picture # 11

brush the hair on the head and face forward. Clip the hair on both ears short on the in- side and out-side. It is best to do the ears last, for the short hair can fall inside the ear, causing the dog to shake its head excessively, which will make your job more difficult. Even though it is best to use clippers on ears, you can do it with scissors as well. By the base of the ear the hair is left as long as hair on the head, making another smooth transition form a very short hair on the ear to longer at the base, otherwise the ears will cling too close to the cheek bones. The hair on the tips of the ears should be carefully taken off , be careful not to injure/cut the ear.

The shaved part on the forehead (“little square”) is done with the clippers. Start at the level of a brow lines, just above the eyes and go to the base of the ear level, making the “little square” the width of a scull.

The rest of the hair is cut with scissors. Make a smooth transition from shaved part to longer hair at the end of the head. Where the head and the neck meets, form so called “Hat”. The “hat”is formed just beyond the occipital protrusion to make the head appear longer.

The hair on the cheek bones almost left intact except the ends are evened up. There should be lots of hair on cheekbones to make the head looks more wide and massive.

The head is cut to look like a brick (looking from the above), trim and blend in the transition from the short hair to long, shaping decorative beard and mustache. Looking from above, the head should look like a brick, from the side, like a triangle, where the banks and mustache form the 90 degree angle.

The banks should look like a natural continuation of a forehead, emphasizing its straight line and be parallel to the nose line. The banks that are formed too low or too high distorts the proportions of the head and looses parallel appearance to the nose line and forehead. All the hair coming out of a rectangular brick-like appearance of a head, should be carefully trimmed. Keep brushing and blending till it is smooth. Now all you have to do is to shape a beard and mustache to look like a triangle from a side view.

11.1. The correct formed head.The hair on the cheek bones almost left intact except the ends are evened up. There should be lots of hair on cheekbones to make the head looks more wide and massive.

11.2. Too narrow head in a cranial part.

11.3. Too wide head in a cranial part.

11.4. The correct formed head. The hair on the cheek bones almost left intact except the ends are evened up. There should be lots of hair on cheekbones to make the head looks more wide and massive.

11.5. and 11.6. The banks that are formed too low or too high distorts the proportions of the head and looses parallel appearance to the nose line and forehead.

11.7. All the hair coming out of a rectangular brick-like appearance of a head, should be carefully trimmed. Keep brushing and blending till it is smooth.

11.8. The correct formed head

11.9. All the hair coming out of a rectangular brick-like appearance of a head, should be carefully trimmed. Keep brushing and blending till it is smooth.
 

11.10.The facilitated head


 

 Groomed dog

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Photos and article: Natalia Stolbova
Breeding Kennel BRT "Deneb-Keitos"

Translated by Jean Brown from www.midnightsolo.com

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