ASCA - AKC - OFA - CERF Australian Shepherds

Trimming the Dock

To translate this page use this link, TRANSLATE, then put the URL of this page in the area provided (http://) and choose the language you would like.

Trimming the dock on your Aussie will keep it clean and make them look neater. Because there are several types of coat on Aussies I am using two examples of dogs. The red tri has more length of hair with a fuller slightly wavy coat. The black tri in these photos has a short straight coat.

The dock should be trimmed with thinning shears.

When you grasp the dock with your hand you can feel where the tail bone is. With this you can see that I have made a tail for the dog with the way I am holding the hair in the lower photo.

This is what I will use to trim the dock.

Holding your thinning shears so you come up at the tail area, trim the long hair. It takes several cuts to trim this hair. Take a little at a time until you get the length you want.

You can see the difference in length of hair on the dock when you look at this photo compared to the first photo. If your dog has allot of pants you can strip some off with a stripping tool.

This dog has less hair to take off, I still grasp the dock
in the same way.

With thinning shears I can shape the dock to a natural look. If I were to use straight shears it would be a blunt straight line. Take a little off at a time. You do have to work at it with thinning shears but you will have a nicer look in the end.