[Retro Chick]

Hey everyone! I’m a home groomer and I need help with my girl spoo’s topknot. I know how to do the classic pet shorter topknot that is cut in at the ears, but I want a long topknot for my female Bettie. As a puppy she had the best topknot/ear balance (my avatar pic), and then I gave her the aforementioned classic short topknot and ever since then I can’t seem to figure out how to grow it out and trim it.

Here’s what happened:
I never trim the topknot when I groom, but it came to a point where for some reason I felt like it had been too long and I should probably take a bit off. I took too much off and now her head is out of balance. Pics to follow.

My questions are 1, does topknot hair just take FOREVER to grow out? Like at a slower rate than the body? 2, is it as bad as I think? And 3, what if anything should I do to fix it? Cut the ears shorter? Give up and recut a short topknot and try again? 4, can anyone tell me how to grow out and trim a long topknot that isn’t show dog length? Sort of mid length?

Topknots are so hard.

It looks worse from my standing perspective:

 

[EVpoodle]

They do seem to take longer to grow that than the rest of the body except the tail. I would just let it grow, and take down her ears some so it looks more balanced. She is super cute, what color is she?

 

[Basil_the_Spoo]

I'd compliment your pup if we crossed on a walk.

 

[Retro Chick]

They do seem to take longer to grow that than the rest of the body except the tail. I would just let it grow, and take down her ears some so it looks more balanced. She is super cute, what color is she?

Thank you! She’s a blue, but her mom was silver so she’s a lighter blue than most. At least I think that’s why...

That’s good advice, I’m going to trim the ears down and just keep growing

 

[Raven's Mom]

I use the same look on both of mine where there is no notch in at the top of the ear. I would put some sort of product in her hair to make it stand up really well and then take just tiny amounts off until you straighten it up a bit. I would not take much off the ears because that can make it look to bushy without the weight of the longer hair.

 

[Starvt]

I have topknot struggles too as a home groomer!
1- yes I agree, it seems to grow much more slowly than the body does.
2- no, it's not as bad as you feel it is. Yes I agree it's a bit short, but not that much.
3- I just recently trimmed the top quarter or so of Raffi's ears short but did not touch the rest of his ears- they are long and silky and I love them. I think cutting down on the volume at the top/base of his ears balances him better. And his tk covers so you can't even tell.
4- I'd like to hear answers to this too! Especially once we get rid of the cords. I do put elastics in but have a hard time getting it right.