Help with ears...

Probably having a go with thinning shears would be a good idea on the ears...probably the chest too. It's REALLY hard to butcher a dog with thinning shears...so you might buy a pair and see how you like them. His coat looks similar to Cleo's aside from her's being coarser along the body...the ears and chest look very similar. I comb thru Cleo's ears daily with a Greyhound comb.

Thanks is that something I can get at any pet store?

The hair on his head, back, hips, and sides is very soft but the hair on his belly, "pants" (under the tail and the butt fluff), tail, and the longer hair on the chest is more coarse (have to use a pin brush in these areas and typically use a rake everywhere else).  Basically the hair that is red or cream colored is where it is coarse (plus the black hair on the tail).  This is the hair that I would like to trim and/or thin out, plus the ears (which are the soft hair, but get all gnarly looking).

they will likely have "a" pair of thinning shears at say, Petsmart...but in general it's best to check at grooming shops...ask if they want to sell any. My nice pair cost $100. BUT they have them MUCH cheaper that will still do an okay job I'd say. They are a Beagler's staple so I invested in a good pair. Mine are HERE

If there are any shows in your area coming up...vendors typically carry quite a range.

I would trim up the hair on the ears a little the rest I would leave....I know it's a pain, Nanook gets some really wild hair being part Chow.....but I just keep brushing and brushing......love his fluffy and longer coat.

So anyone have an old pair they want to sell?  

Got any friends that work at Supercuts? LOL

 I would NOT buy any scissors from just a petstore, your best bet is to either get a human pair or go through a grooming supply store.  For trimming up the chest, I would get snap on combs for a pair of clippers and lightly brush over till you get the desired effect.  I am terrible at explaining.  I used to do this process with keeshonds whose owners wanted a neatened but not shaved look.  Basically take the snap on comb and do not press against the skin, but trim with the clippers over the hair in the direction the hair goes till you get the desired length - just taking a little at a time.  It's not very difficult.  I'm just a lousy instructor unless I can show hands on! 

Well, it's about 90 here right now and humid and supposed to be that way for a while now.  We don't have AC so Coke is suffering.  I was brushing him out like usual and the ears are just sticky and stinky, plus he HATES having them brushed and hates being de-tangled.  We are both sick of it.  So I found my sharp little scissors and did a little hack-job.  It's pretty bad I guess, but could be worse.  I didn't do it really short so I can clean it up if I can get one of those good scissors.  It's not as short as they were when we got him.  Now brushing them out will take 10 seconds as opposed to 10 minutes.  His head looks so much smaller, lol!  I kinda like it though, now I can actually see his cute little ears.

Hair just from the ears

 
The pics look slightly better than in person.  It's a little choppy.  I could have done better but he doesn't hold still for long and I don't want to fight him to do it.  He doesn't care how it looks!

Aw Coke just got on the couch and put his head in my lap.  I think he's happy he has less hair on his head and his peripheral vision back! 

Here's some outside pics, I think the natural light shows it better

So yeah it's a hack job but look at his expression in the last pic!  I think he's so cute with his ears showing.  For comparison:

He has SUCH Collie expression! He looks good...in a couple weeks it'll grow out the chop and look fabulous!

Haha yeah, he does look like a Collie now.  Maybe that's why we thought he was a Collie when we first got him.  Maybe later he will settle down and clean me clean it up a bit.  Towards the end I figured out how to do it less choppy but he was starting to fidget so I let him go.

Now to deal with the feathering and general trim....I got a response from the rescue, they just took him to PetSmart so I might go there and see if they can tell me who trimmed him before, or bring his old pictures.  It'll probably be easier to have them do it than me have to buy new stuff and figure it out. 

 In the top pictures, his ears look shaved with a longer blade. If you brought him to me, and asked me to make him look like that, I'd run a #5F over his ears.

Is a dog shaver the same as a human one?  'Cus my dad has one w/ different blades so I could try that on the ears. 

 No, the numbers are different. If you do decide to shave his ears, use a longer blade. Start in the middle and shave towards the edge. Don't shave the insides of the ears. They're flappy and easy to knick. Ears bleed a lot, and it's ugly.... Just trim the hairs that stick out, from the inside.