If dog grooming appears to some as a luxury, it is partly a necessity. It does not only consist of washing dogs but also of maintaining their hair, trimming their claws, cutting or shearing their fur, even waxing them, and even, in extreme cases, styling and dyeing them. In wild animals, the toilet is provided by the animal itself or its congeners, but this is not the case in the dog, which needs its master to ensure its hygiene.

If it is important not to wash your dog too often to avoid attacking his skin, it is considered that two baths a year is not too much, and it is also necessary to pay attention to the condition of his claws and ears, and brush his hair regularly. The simplest solution for this is to rely on a professional: the groomer. This profession is relatively new, but the shearing and grooming of dogs in general is much older.

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A hunter's cut

Originally, dogs were cut for utilitarian purposes. The barbet and the poodle, water dogs responsible for raising game to hunt, were shorn "with the lion": the hindquarters were shaved to facilitate movement in the water and so that the animals did not get tired under the weight of their abundant wet hair. However, the chest was left intact to protect the heart and lungs from the cold, which effectively gave these dogs a lion-like look, the voluminous hair at the front of the body evoking a mane. There were variations of this cut, such as tufts of hair left on the hips, forming species of pompoms with a decorative appearance but actually intended to protect the skin from brambles, common in marshes.

With the gradual disappearance of the marshes in Île-de-France, these dogs have found another place. Appreciated by the nobility who recognized their playful character, adaptability, intelligence and unwavering loyalty, these hunting dogs, always with the lion cup, enthroned from the sixteenth century on the sumptuous sofas of the aristocracy. If their working cut was partly preserved by coquetry, it also found a meaning. In the seventeenth century, sleeve dogs became very popular with nobles; Small in size, they are carried, as their name suggests, on the arms of the women of the court to keep them warm in the icy castles. Partial mowing made it possible to better conduct heat, the hands being in direct contact with the dog's skin.


The evolution of grooming

From the nineteenth century, with the rapid industrialization of Europe, its urbanization and the appearance of the middle class, the companion dog becomes more and more common and the profession of groomer appears in the city from the Second Empire. The poodle is still very popular, as is the bichon, which are still entitled to the lion cup, which has become classic. At the end of this century, the arrival of the mechanical mower facilitated the job of groomers and allowed them to be more creative: in the 1920s, the electric mower made mowing even easier, and more daring! These are the Roaring Twenties, a period of carefree and joy after the First World War, and fashion is affected, for humans as well as for their dogs.


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