Cosette’s NEW Korean Styling ~~ Sprinkle of Seoul ~ Korean Cut

Cosette ~ Cheerful & CaringHappy 5th Birthday to my 1st Pet Maltese Cosette.    Cosette arrived to us and she has FOREVER changed our lives.

Cosette ~ my first maltese!
Cosette ~ my first maltese!

Cosette is who has inspired us to grow MALTESE OBSESSION.    Cosette came to us via her AKC Breeder, who had her hand delivered and escorted to us by airplane ride.   Cosette was so sweet and smart from the minute we held her in our hands.   She was FULLY POTTY trained within the first MONTH.    Cosette since then has enjoyed sleeping right next to my rib cage each night in our bed.

Cosette as a puppy NEVER had any eye staining
Cosette as a puppy NEVER had any eye staining

Cosette can play fetch with a tiny cat ball 24 hours a day if we would engage with her.   We stock up on these tiny balls each Christmas as we can never find them any other time of year.

Cosette is ALWAYS Cheerful and CARING!    WE LOVE HER!

Cosette has always been in a creative AMERICAN style cut her whole life, but we decided to give her a fresh new look for her 5th Birthday.

We slowly transitioned her to a KOREAN STYLE GROOM.

Cosette ~ Cheerful & Caring
Cosette ~ Cheerful & Caring

The reason we transitioned her Korean style cut, is because we wanted to take care to NOT cause unnecessary staining by having the short muzzle hairs poke her in the eyes.

NONE of the hairs ON TOP OF HER NOSE NOR IN BETWEEN HER EYES have been cut in this particular Korean cut.    Cosette’s style of Korean cut is VERY different from Tweety’s.

Cosette has some nerves that get her stressed some on the grooming table and other uncomfortable places.   She tends to show signs of stress sometimes when she is nervous.    Cosette typically dances all over the grooming table as she really finds it nerve wracking to be off the floor.   She prefers not even to be held unless she is able to sit on your lap on the couch.

We therefore try to break up her grooming sessions into multiple MINI grooming sessions.    If you have a nervous dog, or one that dislikes the grooming process, we recommend splitting up your grooming routine into little MINI SPA Sessions ^_^

Hair products used:

 

PurePaws.net       or     in our MO SHOP

 

Cosette ~ Cheerful & Caring

 

 

We hope you enjoy the videos where we show you how we created Cosette’s new Sprinkle of SEOUL with a Dash of California ~~ SeoulCAL look.

Korean Style Cut ~~ NO Cutting Hairs on top of nose NOR in between eyes

WARNING ~~~ Please do not try to use SHEARS, CLIPPERS OR SCISSORS  around the NECK, EYES OR FACE if you are not experienced in using these sharp grooming tools.  We also recommend you not use the same tools around your DOGS FEET, unless you have been properly taught SAFETY technique on how to use them.      ~~~~~~ KOREAN style cuts involve very fine detail work around the FACE and FEET and SAFETY should be a PRIORITY.             

 


 

Korean Seoul + California Grown = SeoulCal Just Playing with Camera

Tweety Ears Flying

Korean and Korean Fusion style cuts are not necessarily for all maltese.   Some face structures can carry the EXTREME Korean cuts better then others.   Maltese all have different hair structure and density as well.     A good cut, however, will grow out quite nicely.    Many people comment that they love the Korean faces, but do not favor the PINK SKINNED body/torso/neck.

Here in this video we have Tweety and Cosette who are both in TRANSITION styles.   Their neck and torso have a little over 1 MONTH/4 weeks of grow out.   They are soft to the touch and nice to pet with fur on their bodies.    Tweety’s face has the hair around her nose all trimmed.    We must take care when this grows out to ensure that none of these hair poke her in the eyes and cause staining.

Cosette had the hairs on the corner of her eyes cut about half a year ago and she suffered from severe staining as these grew back.    We trimmed back her muzzle some to move towards a Korean muzzle, BUT we left the hair on her nose UNCUT.   The hairs are all longer then a ‘proper’ Korean style as we left her unfinished intentionally to ensure that none of the muzzle hairs poke her in the eyes.    We will then trim back and round out her muzzle to a proper Korean shaped muzzle ~~ hopping to video tape this to show you how to shape her muzzle without cutting any hairs on top of her nose nor around her eyes.

Playing with the camera we show you both girls ~~ still pretty ~~ even in between grooms and in between cuts ^_^

Korean SeoulCal
SeoulCAl ~ Korean fusion style grooms
Tilting Twisting Tweety the Sweety! ~ Korean style groom

Korean style groom

Cosette & Tweety and 5 Years of Styles!

A FANTASTIC and Glamorous Groom can change the entire look of a dog.    Cosette and Tweety have gone through many good and BAD grooms through the years.    We thought we’d share a visual to some different hair cuts they’ve sported over the years.   Similar to humans, a GREAT CUT will grow out very pretty!

From Left to Right shows Cosette's different styles through the last 5 years
From Left to Right shows Cosette’s different styles through the last 5 years

Cosette is my first Maltese and she is what started my Maltese Obsession.     Which style for COSETTE do your LOVE???

Tweety is the family grandparents maltese.   Grandma had knee surgery and so Tweety visits with us often.     Does Tweety the Sweety look best with MORE SEOUL or MORE CALI???

Tweety went from my mother's groomers hands to mine ~~ quite a few changes
Tweety went from my mother’s groomers hands to mine ~~ quite a few changes

 

Tweety Ears Flying

Thanks for visiting & Happy Grooming!

MOH

Tweety September 2014

 

 

Maltese Obsession Spring to Fall 2014

I spent months on the couch with my love buttons comforting me, but causing my legs to fall asleep
I spent months on the couch with my love buttons comforting me, but causing my legs to fall asleep. No baths for months at a time, but they were still so loving!
Maltese Obsession
Maltese Obsession

September 2013 ~~ Exactly a year ago my health was attacked. I broke my foot, followed by a pretty horrible first experience with shingles.   This happened AFTER a VERY long struggle to recover from asthma, bronchitis,  pneumonia and severe debilitating allergies. I spent my 50th birthday on the couch, CRYING,  with my fur babies sleeping on my legs, as I pondered falling into a very deep depression.

In God’s way, He wanted me to just be still and find PEACE and JOY and REST from many years of work, ministry and a hectic busy lifestyle.   My heart is very thankful.

During the months of my illness, my family ate lots of take-out and processed foods and the hubby and family fed the dogs kibble and processed wet packets of food during this time. I am an avid cook and this take-out food for months at a time played its toll on our entire household.    This processed food didn’t sit well with the humans.   The processed dog food caused tearing and staining in the dogs’ faces.

In Spring of 2014, as I felt adequately recovered from this long duration of ailments ~~ I decided to BLOG and VLOG my routine of grooming the dogs to have a source for my family to refer to in order to care for our dogs.  We shot our first ‘FAMILY & Friends’ targeted video after I received a video camera on Mother’s Day this past May.

What was intended for just family and close friends, has turned into MalteseObsession.com

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Our Grooming, Glamorizing and Styling routine does help us Clean UP OUR ACT! Notice the tear stains on the left in Spring.

Early Spring had me going ‘back on track’ with cooking for everyone, cleaning the house and bringing the Maltese back to their GLAMOROUS GLORIOUS MALTESE  and fresh smelling beauties that they are meant to be.    The MALTESE OBSESSION team shares our routines and regimes that we have either learned from groomers and breeders ~~ or tricks and shortcuts that we came up with over the years.

Our grooming and styling regimes are a fusion of Korean, American, groomers, breeders and pet owners.    Full grooming at home is not necessarily for everyone as it can be dangerous if the tools and solvents are not used safely.    Please consult with your personal VETERINARIANS and PRO-GROOMERS for questions and concerns that relate specifically to your fur babies.    Much of what we share is not necessarily THE WAY, but just OUR Personal Choice for Pet MALTESE and other drop coated pets that we serve at MO.  

Tweety Fall 2014
Tweety is a Sweety ~~ We both don’t enjoy brushing our hair ~~ so MOST DAYS we just let our long hair just BE!

We send out a heartfelt “thank you” to all the friends that we have made!    THANK YOU VERY MUCH to all the emails, messages and very encouraging feedback that we have received from so many MALTESE OBSESSED friends.

If you enjoy our videos and blogs, please SUBSCRIBE and leave us friendly comments, so that we can feel encouraged to continue this costly and crazy hobby of BLOGGING and VLOGGING.

Here are some images of how we brought our babies back up to their intended Glamorous Beauty over the last 6 months.

 

Tweety with her famous adorable head tilting! Tweety does require a pretty regular routine to keep her eye area clean as she tends to tear despite the foods and lifestyle changes we make.

 

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Cheerful Cosy Cosette had a pretty bad bout of tear staining after we trimmed her eye hairs. It has since much improved with daily cleaning and keeping her face dry.
Tweety’s top knot and ears are trimmed every couple months, but they’ve grown out some. We have also reshaped her muzzle to be MORE SEOUL!

Twisty Tilting Tweety

Dolce the Diva!
Dolce is the DIVA QUEEN!! ~~~ we use her DIVA FUR to experiment with lots of new hair products!

Thank you so much friends!   We send out prayers for JOY & Good Health to You and YOURS!

MOH & the MO PACK ^_^

Dolce September 2014

Eye Envy Review and Tutorial ~~ Tear Stains

We recently attended Superzoo and picked up a starter kit for Eye Envy.   In the video we show you how we MIGHT use Eye Envy.   We however are uncertain as to whether we would use the product or not as we are not positive about the safety of it’s ingredients.    After looking at this trial kit, we find that FOR NOW we will stick to what we know to work well enough for our maltese dogs.    Our presumption is that one must use AT LEAST 2-3 TRIAL kits to see results on tear stains, however this is just our guess.    Many people have found this product helpful and if you are one of those people, feel free to let our readers know by commenting under the COMMENTS section of our Youtube video.

 

We find that even just daily cleaning with warm water will help keep the face and eye area cleaner then if the face is NEVER cleaned.   Korean fusion Seoulcal groomOur regime/routine for cleaning the eye area of our dogs include the following:

1) Cleaning daily with warm water

2) Washing weekly with Spa Lavish Facial scrub in the bath

3) Daily cleaning with either (a) a diluted solution of the Spa Lavish Facial scrub and/or (b) cleaning eye area with contact solution that contains boric acid

4) Drying the eye hairs with kleenex or a SOFT microfiber towel

4) Drying out the eye area with a touch of corn starch applied with either a q-tip or a eye shadow brush.

 

Tweety had some dental issues, plus the short hair around the eyes didn't help matters.    Tweety has always had some level of staining from when she was a puppy!
Tweety had some dental issues, plus the short hair around the eyes didn’t help matters. Tweety has always had some level of staining from when she was a puppy!

 

 

 

 

 

CARE IS TAKEN to never allow any solution or powder to get into the eyes.

Tear stains can be caused by many different issues and there is normally a need to do a ‘process of elimination’ to determine what the actual cause of tear stains is.   In our home we have identified several causes for occasional seasons of INTENSE tear staining:

1) Allergies

2) Eye hairs that were cut and are poking the eyes causing irritation

3) Dental issues

4) Illness has caused excess tearing on occasion ~~ if your dog exhibits excessive and smelly tearing ~~ PLEASE CONSULT YOUR VET

5) Actual crying when the family was away on holiday and the dogs cried for us

6) The kibbles we have tried  and certain store bought foods caused staining

7) Blocked tear ducts (although having the tear ducts flushed doesn’t always solve the problem)

The dogs ENTIRE face has come back stained from excessive crying during a non-anaesthetic dental.   I was down with multiple health issues, whereby I was unable to bathe the dogs for several months at a time.   The all teared up pretty badly from lack of regular bathing, and the family was also feeding them kibble at the time, as I was unable to cook for them.    These all contributed to some severe staining in all of our dogs.    Once I got back up on my feet, we had to go to work on cleaning them up with regular face washes and home cooked food.

 

Sheer vanity caused me to CUT a tiny strand of unsightly hair on Cosette.    She had NEVER experienced tear staining, but did have one very THIN strand of hair that held some coloring.

Cosette as a puppy NEVER had any eye staining
Cosette as a puppy NEVER had any eye staining
Cosette a few years old with very clean eyes and just ONE THIN strand of stained hair
Cosette a few years old with very clean eyes and just ONE THIN strand of stained hair
The AWEFUL day when Vanity caused me to CUT the few stained hairs at the inner corner of her eyes
The AWEFUL day when Vanity caused me to CUT the few stained hairs at the inner corner of her eyes

Here are three pictures that depict her BEFORE cutting hairs =======> leading to TERRIBLE TEAR STAINS ======> and after MANY MONTHS of growing out ====== clean again.    She has some faint coloring that has grown to the tips, but her face is much cleaner and the short hairs have finally grown past the length of poking her in the eyes.

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Cosette == what did these fews cut hairs do????? === they poked her in the eyes and caused terrible staining on a dog that NEVER stained
Cosette with the hairs finally grown out
We cleaned with Spa Lavish and Contact Solution w/Boric Acid as an ingredient. We DRIED DRIED DRIED the eye area and sometimes applied corn starch! Cosette is clean again!

 

 

 

 

 

Geib Buttercut Kiss SHOW Special Shears ~ Blenders and Chunkers

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Tweety
Tweety

 

I recently attended the SUPERZOO Groomers Supershow in Las Vegas and had a fantastic time.   There was so much to see and the Grooming Supershow captivated most of my time and attention.

I did post updates on the Maltese Obsession Facebook page, but found myself with little time to blog all of the wonderful information that I learned.   After I returned from Las Vegas, I realized that I NEEDED to have purchased some new shears to review.    I have received so many questions on finding more affordable BLENDERS AND CHUNKER SHEARS, that would work equally well to do Tweety’s Korean cut in particular.

DSC_0117My personal perspective for home maltese pet grooming is that you can achieve a lot with a good safe clipper like the Wahl Bravura, or any good clipper that has stainless steel comb attachments.   My personal opinion on shears for home grooming is that most straight shears will work for a basic ‘home’ trim, but if you want to achieve a better more professionally groomed look for your maltese you MUST invest in a ‘FUNCTIONAL’ pair of BLENDING shears.

DSC_0025My GTG ~ SHEARS are

  1. Good curved shears
  2. Great Chunkers ~~~ less teeth and T-shaped teeth ~~ VERY AGRESSIVE cut, but more forgiving then a pair of striaghts
  3. Great Blenders  ~~ more teeth and I prefer the TEETH TO BE CURVED gripping teeth that grab and hold hair for the CLEAN CUT

I have other favorite GTG-Shears like my tiny curved Pixi’s and my tiny Pixi texturizers that do very minute detail work, but I don’t absolutely NEED them to do a lovely groom on my dogs or dogs that I may be grooming.

 

GEIB KISS SILVER Shears
Left Kiss Silver, Middle Kiss Silver Blue, Right Kiss Silver PINKA GREAT 

The great deal is that you can pick ANY 3 Shears from the KISS SILVER line for $99 for the 3 shears.    You can pick ANY 3 shears from the KISS GOLD line for $149.     They also have a line of very affordable shears called the ENTREE LINE.

I picked the center KISS SILVER BLUE 3 shears for $120 + shipping

  • 9.5″ Curved == purchased individually is $59.99
  • 21 teeth CHUNKERS 6 1/2″ == purchased individually is $59.99
  • 42 teeth Blenders  == purchased individually is $59.99

NOTE the BLUE row has the pinky handle to use them REVERSABLE === this is handy when using the CURVED SHEARS to round out the feet or to shape the long PALAZZO Trouser legs.   A reversible blender is also cool when shaping a Korean style face (^.^)

The row on the left Kiss Silver Silver had a funny shaped thumb hole whereby my clunky thumb would NOT stay in nice, so that was a FAIL for my hands.   The Kiss Silver PINK were nice too and i may need that set to have around as well.

GEIB ENTREE Shears -- Cobalt Handles
GEIB ENTREE Shears — Cobalt Handles

 

AWESOME deal that was presented at the SUPERZOO was some entry level shears that GEIB was promoting.   There are a couple good lines of entry level shears that were surprisingly EQUALLY sharp and responsive as my beloved CC shears.   I don’t know how long the edges will hold up and whether the action on the joints will maintain it’s smooth responsiveness, but a quick Tweety Korean groom proved them FANTASTIC for home grooming purposes.

GEIB ENTREE and ENTREE BLUE TITAN are also nice entry level shears that are pretty affordable and the ENTREE has a few very inexpensive shears in their line up.

The nice thing about GEIB is that they have been in business for many years and similar to CC Shears, they come with a Lifetime Warranty.   The box of shears came with a warranty as well as a return address sticker to mail the shears back for sharpening at the Buttercut Sharpening location.   There is a fee for sharpening the shears, but it is nice to have that option to send them back to the manufacturer and have them professionally sharped for their nominal fee.

 

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Please keep in mind that the GEIB KISS and ENTREE line of shears is their entry level groomer shears.   Every pro-groomer and home groomer will have different personal preferences in what shears work best for individual hands and techniques.   This particular set of shears was reviewed as an option to those asking for more affordable YET FUNCTIONAL blenders and chunked shears.

Thanks for visiting and please come back to visit.    Happy Grooming,

MOH

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