Showing Tips
Keeping a Bolognese Face Seen in The Ring
Reading in Viginia Dowty’s recent critique about keeping your dog’s hair off its face when you enter the ring, I thought I would share my tips as I could imagine people thinking – how do you do that!
Interestingly when I first started showing Bolognese well over 12-years ago, we didn’t bother so much about the hair over the face, BUT, I agree its much better if you can see the dog’s lovely face. This is what I have learned over the years. please let us know if you have any other tips using the comment box below.
- When you bath your dog for a show, and the coat is just about dry, either clip or band the top knot up and leave it up until you get to the show.
- Quite near to going into the ring take the band/clip out and comb the fringe back off the face with a very wide toothed comb.
- Cover the dog’s eyes with one hand and spray a fine mist of spray gel over the fringe.
- I use Groomers InStyle Spray, but other spray gel products are available.
- When the gel is still wet, massage it in to the coat to bring back the crinkles and take out any marks from the bands or clips.
- Most dogs like a head massage.
- Allow the gel 10-mins or so to dry.
- Use a face comb to comb the whiskers on the muzzle down and out of the eyes (some gel on the fingers can help here too).
- Use gel to clear the hair away from the eyes, don’t trim the coat as it will totally alter the look of the Bolognese. If there are any fine short hairs right by the eyes, I pluck them out with my fingers.
- Then just hope for the best!
When you are in the ring
When you are showing your dog on the table, stand your dog and then sweep the hair off the face with your hand and use your fingers to swipe down over the muzzle. Watch the judge as you stack your dog, when they are heading towards your dog, clear the hair back off the face with your hand. This is why I find it better to stack my dogs rather than free stand them, it gives me a chance to clear the hair off the faces.
These are just my tips, I’m sure people have others. Please use the comment box below to share yours.
When I bath my dogs ready for the show, I do something slightly different with the headcoat. If the dog is an adult, the headcoat will be quite long, so when it is nearly dry I take the front portion and comb it through with a wide toothed comb and put it into three sections. This I then plait and finish off with a tiny dental band. When I get to the show I just break the band and gently break the plait open and comb it through with a wide toothed comb. Because the hair has been plaited the crinkles are all still in the coat and because the hair has been pulled back, usually overnight it generally stays back where it is supposed to be.