How to trim the fur around your dog’s eyes
Many dog breeds like Poodles, Shih Tzu, Maltese and cross breeds like Cavoodles, Spoodles and Groodles have fast growing fur that if not cut regularly will obstruct their vision. Long fur can irritate their eyes, and can also soak up their eye goop, creating a build up of hard, crusty gunk near the corner of their eyes – yuck!
Trimming the fur around you dog’s eyes can be a bit scary and tricky if your dog doesn’t like to stay still, so I recommend grooming them straight after they’ve been on a walk so they’re tired. You can also ask someone to help you and to feed them treats as you go. Just remember, dogs feed off your emotions, so if you’re nervous, they’ll be nervous, so try and stay calm and confident.
Today I’ll teach you how to trim the fur around your dog’s eyes demonstrating on Soda.
What you’ll need:
(you can buy a dog grooming scissor kit)
How to groom your dog’s eyes at home
Let’s get started. I find it easiest to groom a dog’s face when they’re sitting or standing. You’ll need to be able to keep their face still. To do this, there’s a couple of holds you can try. You can hold them by the fur on their chin (their beard) or you can wrap your forefinger and thumb lightly around their muzzle. Soda prefers to be held by the chin and Poppy prefers to be held around her muzzle. Try both holds to see what’s more comfortable for your dog.
[1] First I like to trim the fur that sticks out from the corner of the eyes. To do this you need to lift up the fur so you can get underneath it to trim it. Comb the fur up away from the eye and towards you on both sides of the face.
[2] Next comb the fur up away from you towards the eye on both sides of the face.
[3] Now open your scissors and place them down on the fur you’ve lifted up, resting them on your dog. Make sure you’re using straight dog grooming scissors with a round tip, and look to see where the tip is pointing. The round tip will help prevent you accidentally cutting your dog. Point the tip of the scissors towards the stop (in between the eyes) and gently cut. If your dog has any goop in their corner of their eyes this is your chance to cut this off. Now what we do once we do twice, so lift the fur up again with the comb, toward the eye, away from the eye and cut.
[4] Next do the same thing on the other side of the face.
[5] Next, if your dog has any fur sticking up on their nose, you can place your scissors down the middle of their nose, and trim towards the stop.
[6] Now that you’ve trimmed the fur around the eyes, it’s time to trim their fringe. To do this, comb a fringe over the eyes so it looks like a visor.
[7-10] Next, using curved scissors trim the visor is a circular motion from the corner of one eye to the corner of the other eye. Don’t be afraid to trim your dog’s eyelashes as you trim across their eyes.
What you do once, you do twice, so comb their fringe down again and re-trim it until it’s as short as you like.
Hot tip: Using curved scissors to trim you dogs fringe will ensure you cut a nice circular line evenly across their eyes.
[11-12] Amazing, your dog’s face should look similar to Soda’s face below. If you look at the before photo of Soda you can see how much trimming the fur around her eyes have opened up her face. Her eyes look huge, there’s no more dried goop in the corners of her eyes, and I’m sure she’s a lot happier being able to see without any fur obstructing her view. I trim the fur around my girls eyes every four weeks or so, as soon as I see any fur obstructing their view I get the scissors out.
Tips for trimming fur around the eyes
Make sure you hold your dog’s head still using one of the grips I mentioned above
Use straight dog grooming scissors with a rounded tip to avoid accidentally cutting your dog with the ends of the scissors
Use curved dog grooming scissors to create an even circular line across their fringe
Do not point the scissors directly towards your dog’s eyes
Equipment used: slicker brush, comb, straight scissors with rounded tip, curved scissors
I’m a qualified dog groomer and fur-mum to two cavoodles; Soda and Poppy. I’m passionate about the health and wellbeing of dogs, as well as helping dog parents groom their dogs at home. I’ll teach you the basics, however if you don’t feel comfortable or confident at any time that’s completely fine, book your dog in for a regular groom and pamper session at the salon. Please never leave your dog unattended on a grooming table.
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