In order to achieve the “Lamb” clip on your Poodle, use a No. 5 (for summer) or a No. 4 (for winter) Oster blade for a longer finish.

• Clip from the base of the dog’s head, just beneath the ears, down the top and underneath the neck, following the direction of hair growth.
• Lift the leg and clip under the arm and along the chest to the groin.

• Clip the neck to just above shoulder level, down the back to the tail, and just above the hip. Then clip along and downward over the rib cage to the groin.
• Clip underneath the body – the stomach and the groin — carefully taking hair from around the genitals. Always hold the delicate parts as you groom, to ensure safety.
• Brush through the remaining hair, trousers, topknot and tail, removing all tangles with a slicker brush and a wide-toothed comb. Where necessary, to prevent causing the dog too much discomfort, use a mat-breaker. Anti-tangle conditioner can help too.
• Bathe the Poodle in a suitable natural, enhancing shampoo (such as tea tree and lavender), or a protein coat-strengthening formula with consideration to color and condition of the coat.
• Use a quality conditioner, such as sculpture finish, to aid scissoring.
• Blow the coat dry, brushing all the time in sections from the bottom of the leg upward with a pin brush or slicker.
• Check the dog’s nails , ears and teeth.
• Tidy all clipped areas where required by going over these parts with the same depth of blade as before.
• Hem the leg hair by neatening and blending the edge of the hair at the bottom of the leg, just above the toes.
• Scissor the legs, going with the contours of the body, or by using a silhouette line.
To do this contour edge, or to snip the hair, hold the scissors at a slight angle, pointing upward, and continue the line from bottom to top. Then take the next line and blend into the first line. Do not cut crossways (apart from when hemming across the toes). Trim with the scissors pointing downward or upward, at a slight angle but never crossways (apart from when hemming). Finally, skim across the hair to blend in any stray hairs. Note: some groomers work (scissor) down from the body to the foot — it makes no difference if they get the correct neat finish.
• Holding the dog’s muzzle, comb the head hair forward and scissor a topknot across the eye upward.
  Comb the hair to the left and trim across the top of the ears and the back of the neck, then repeat on the right side.
• Trim over the top, taking care to leave a nice topknot, but be sure that the dog can see clearly.
• For the tail, hold the pompom in one hand at the end of the dock (further up if the dock is short). Then cut straight across. Allow the hair to fall, and comb outwards. Hold up the tail at the tip and comb the hair outward, then scissor to a round appearance or, in
t he case of a long tail, it may be more effective to trim into a brush, rather like that of a retriever.