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This page is dedicated to show you how an Afghan hound is groomed for show.
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This is your stripped afghan please excuse his coat it's a bit crimped and the table is too small for him. If you are stripping an afghan puppy do not start stripping till they are at least 10 months old or when they are starting to pattern out natural. Do not rush your puppy to look like an adult till they are well over 12 to 14 months old. You want to make the changes gradual and natural looking. An over stripped puppy make them look gangly they need to grow into them selves first. A good judge will appreciate an unstripped puppy the very last thing you would what to strip on your afghan puppy is the monkey fuzzy on the face because naturally it is the last that goes |
Now back to the adult dog Here is a close up of his neck. Notice I did not leave any neck hair on the back of his neck that is to make his neck to appear longer, also notice I leave feathering on the front of his neck and throat. It is not to thick or bushy sweeping away from his neck that is to help make is neck appear leaner as well down a little bit in front of his shoulders. Some people leave neck hair on the back of the neck depending on the type of dog. Some use it to hide a dogs over long and thin neck; some leave it medium length which is ok as well some times it is fashion. The best reason I love to have no neck hair is that the dog will be cooler on a hot day and your lead will least likely get caught up in the hair. Remember what ever suits your dog the idea is to make the dog look elegant. Each Afghan is an individual and they don't all look the same there are many different types and they all can potentially win when groomed to their best and shown off to their best |
This is his shoulder notice the angles of his pattern and you will also notice I strip him fairly low on his body (I'll tell you why later). That is to show off his shoulders you do not want his shoulder to hairy it will make him appear strait in the front. He will also appear fat, thick short in the neck. You want to show off that he has good 45degre angles and his front legs are well set under him. You also want to show off that he has good space between his shoulder blades (three finger width’s is normal for an afghan)The reason why I strip this dog fairly low on his body is because he is a small dog with good substance to his body and long in loin. It is help him appear taller leaner and shortening the loin. Some people will have small saddles on there dogs to make them appear they have more substance if they are to lean or narrow. |
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Now this is his rear I hope you can see I have a pie wedge just below his hips this is to help him again to make him appear leaner and shorten the loin. What it also dose is make him appear more muscular in the rear and make his hip bones more pronounced |
This is the latest picture of my black afghan bitch she might be hard to see the pattern but I left her neck hairs at medium length and her saddle coat smaller because she is to refined and to lean you can also see that I still kept her pie wedge on her rear for the judge to see that she is a muscular bitch |
Stripping your Afghan face well most people clip nowadays. You can get away with it on self colored dogs except reds. Red coat is lighter than their guard coat when clipped they look it and the standard says left natural. So make your red dog look natural they must be hand plucked. (Ouch!) Occasionally you may get one that you do not have to. Their are different stages of stripping for your afghan's face look all the way to adult hood but I don't have many pictures of them. There is the baby puppy look with the full furry face at 6 months and then it start to get less on the face till 10 months but still pretty full then their is the young adult look till about 14 to 16 months then it all comes off about 24 months or sooner to compete with the specials depending on the length on your dogs coat |
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I don't know if you can tell in this picture but I pluck out there temples. It is to help their head appear more refined. Pasha is not plucked here. If the coat is left long from the corner of the eye along the optical bone to the ear it will make their head appear wide in the skull and coarse. This is best suited if you have a dog with large back skull or had predominate optical bone. Pasha here has a large back skull. If you have a dog with evenly proportion head like my Domino you can get away with hair on the temples it would make no difference on her look. My black bitch has predominate optical bone even thought she has a very refined head if I left her hair on her temples she would look wide in the head. I even go the extra step and trim the hair extremely short in the outer corner for her eyes to slim her optical bone down. If you are grooming a domino plucking out the temples will really Accentuate their markings on their heads. Hair under the neck I left it here on Pasha because he is getting older and gravity it taking its toll. It is to hide the loose skin under his neck. So instead of showing off an ugly neck line I made look glamorous. Naturally they do pattern out like this anyway. A lot of people like to pull it all off and I think that is what makes them look over groomed. |
Mandarins Pasha use to have one when he was younger as you can see in this picture. It is only the course hair that is left coming out of the flue of the mouth. I use it to my advantage if I have enough hair their, it is a choice and fashion it is not necessary. I gave it to Pasha because in my point of veiw he dose not have a very strong under jaw it helped make him look less snippie in the face. Afghans are suppose to have a strong under jaw. Were looking at the front muzzle of an afghan it will appear square on their side profile. Mandarins will also shorten up faces as well so if you already have a short muzzle it will make it appear shorter. Mandarins look awesome on a dog with a extremely long muzzle like my black bitch Hope. I gave up on it though because she looses it every heat circle. |
This is not the greatest of tails but you can see I leave sparse feathering tapered. Some people if they do not have enough tail to have a good ring they grow the hair on the end of it and make it in to a better ring |
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Here is a pic of a naturally pattern bitch I don't have to strip her I love them like this. Some Afghans vary in coat pattern so don't panic if your afghan naturally looks bald. If you got an excellent quality dog it will still win. But you have to remember and extremely pattern afghan will only do well at a specialty under a breeder judge it is rare it will do well at a regular show but again it has to be a top Koch dog every were else for a judge to look past the coat. This bitch is what some people call a tazi hound because of her patterning you will get some that are bare on the bracelets this one has full hairy legs |
This is the same red dog (Pasha) but at 16 months old notice how fat and short his coat makes him look when left too hairy. Must not forget the feet I hope in some of the pictures you can see that the feet puddle to the floor or drape to make them look large. Not to much that they make him look short and he looks like he has a long hare foot. They need to broad and round and must be trimmed to look natural no cocker feet. Afghan feet are hard to trim with out making them look choppy it is best to shape their foot with thinners never a striate pair of scissors. It is ok to experiment on your feet in the summer because of the long grass will hide it. That is the only time I trim feet. I usually let them grow out for the winter for the in door shows they look better on the mats and concrete floors. I do trim them fairly short for the summer if his feet are to long it will make him look to short in the grass unless you have an overly tall dog that would be Ok |
Afghan Show Ring Tip You probably know this but I always remind people of this. Always dress in the opposite color of your dog to show off his top line. Some time you need you as his back drop to show him off. I hate it when people match their dog you can not see him well. Loose the busy pattern again you will still loose the dog because the judge will notice the pattern before the dog, if you must keep it in moderation. If you are showing several different colors of dogs remember to pick a color that they don't come in. I say this more to the women showing and some of those special men out there. I know it feels good to go all out glam and glits but the Idea is for the judge to judge the dog not your attire. Keep it neat clean and professional. When it come to skirts you have to be wise about it because you have to run with your dog he is not a toy. You do not want anything to long or you will trip over it and nothing to tight so that you can sprint when need be. For out door shows nothing to loose for those windy days you do not want your clothing to wrap around your dog and hid him or worse spook him or your neighbors with sudden movements that wouldn't be fair. Don't forget sometimes some days are so windy you might get and expected embarrassing moment. Keep those jingling keys, cell phones, pagers etc behind in your tack box or some wear safe. Nothing is more unfair than running around the ring with your dog looking behind him because the person behind you did not do so. You don't want to be that person. Shoes well that is a hard one, women find it hard to find shoes for the ring that is comfortable and look decent with a dress on a hot day. Make sure it fits it's got grip so you don't slip and you are not suddenly kicking them away at the speed of the moment. Remember you need to run so no heals, rain is another story. If you chose to show in the rain at this point I don't think it matters longs you and the dog are comfortable and you and your dog can show safely by the time you are both done both of you will look like hell looking like drowned rats. Now that is the sport of dog showing. |
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