Yes they do need quite a bit of preparation... I have seen this site too. I dont need to strip his coat, as I keep on top of all my dogs undercoats throughout the year. But I may need to strip out the back of his neck a bit... I did work on smoothing out the sides and he looks better. I will try and post another picture soon. Thank you all for te help!!

I love the stone for "cleaning" work - that might be best for the back of his neck. Not that I'd know, I've never touched a long.

use decaf for the tea- it does dry out the coat so don't get it on the rest of the coat. I use it for my wires or did.. now I only really enjoy performance and you don't need to do all that with a perf. event...

I always heard you blend down to the chest bone- but the color won't matter to much if you start grooming a month or so before the show and then continue to blend up to the show. Maybe with a long it should be 2 months earlier.

As we don't trim the coat at all,prefer to leave it as it grows naturally, I love the way it grows down the neck and on to the chest, the only thing we trim is the feet so not complicated at all.

Chase's paws are 2 tone for a few days after trimming but soon blend in when the under hair is exposed to the light.

Rhona