Scissoring the legs, I'm going to use two types of scissor, a straight edge scissor, not too long. If you're a beginner, I wouldn’t suggest too long a pair of scissors. Yes, this Old English has got a long leg and a nice, long pair of scissors would certainly cover the distance. But, if you're not used to using scissors, then not too long a pair would be more appropriate. I personally can’t handle a great long pair. Also, for trimming around the base of the Old English’s feet, I have a curved pair. This is not essential but if you're looking to have a pair, then it’s a nice pair to use.
Tow combs, a large comb because this comb will go right through the coat and lift it. And the finer comb, for separating the hair. Okay, now the Old English’s leg has not got a great deal of angulation, it’s got a long thigh and should be fairly well let down on the hawk. So we’re going to try and follow those sorts of lines. I'm not going to start at the feet. I'm going to start about here. If you start on the feet, you tend to end up with little tiny feet. You can take too much off. So we’re going to start about here and do that piece first and then go down later on.
Now your first cut will be baseline for the rest of the leg. So if you get your first cut right, then it will make life a lot easier. So starting here, we’re going to take this at an angle. When you got that line, you can now work round the leg using that as a baseline, keeping your hands strategically placed so as not to cut anything off. To get to the inside of the leg, if you just lift the other leg. As you see, we took the clippers quite a long way down the leg and it is nicely blended into the scissoring, not a real problem. When you're actually scissoring any leg, it’s as well to have the dog stood in his natural position as possible, little Mollie is a bit frigid today, she’s getting tired. Lifting the foot, I now trim the excess hair there, around the base of the foot. Taking your scissors at an angle, give this a cut. Cut around the foot, all the way around.
Now with your finer comb, lift the hair and take a straight line down to the base of the foot. Check in to my curved scissors. You can stand back occasionally just to check that you’ve got the shape you desire. I do the think the feet on Old English are particularly nice to do. If you look sideways at the leg, you can see whether you’ve got little bits sticking out. So if you keep moving around, you can see why there’s only bits sticking out on the whole of the leg. That leg completed—
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