MASTERCLASS

Havanese

NICKY WALLACE & JESS BARDEN

PARIS + JED

Same breed, two enormous coats, two groomers and two completely different transformations.

Nicky and Jess work side by side on Havanese Jed and Paris, taking them from full natural coats into two very different pet styles. Jess gives Paris an Asian-inspired groom with a short #4F body, dramatic flared legs and a short oval muzzle, while Nicky takes Jed into a softer teddy bear style using a 22mm attachment comb and column legs.

Both dogs keep their long ears, tails and top knots at their owners’ request, making this a great look at how a style can be adapted around the coat the client wants to keep.

Part 1 | Two Havanese, two very different plans

Jess gets the biggest transformation underway first, taking Paris’s full body coat down with a #4F. She sets the rear line to show off Paris’s angulation, clears the chest and shoulders and establishes where those big flared legs will eventually meet the tiny body.

Over on Jed, Nicky has a lot more length to play with. Before clipping, she plaits a little piece of his old coat for his owners to keep, then begins taking down the bulk with a 22mm attachment comb. Unlike Paris, Jed will stay at a much more consistent length through his body and legs, giving Nicky the foundation for his teddy bear finish.

Part 2 | Paris gets her flares

With the bulk of Paris’s body coat gone, Jess goes back over the #4F work before starting those statement legs.

The flare begins right at the foot. Jess sets the bottom line, then works from shorter at the foot out towards the longer coat above, gradually building the bell shape rather than trying to carve it out in one go. And with this straight Havanese coat, there is a lot of combing, checking and combing again before the shape begins to appear.

Part 3 | Jed’s teddy bear legs

Same breed, completely different scissors. Nicky takes over with Jed to show the contrast between Paris’s flares and the straighter column legs of a teddy bear groom.

Jed’s legs are mostly scissored rather than relying on the attachment comb for the finished shape. Nicky works gradually around each foot and straight up through the leg, keeping her lines parallel and bringing the legs back towards the length of his body. It’s also a useful reminder that “teddy bear” doesn’t have to be a rigid formula. The finished groom still has to accommodate what the owner wants left, changed or combined with another style.

Part 4 | Finishing Paris’s flare legs

Back to Paris, where Jess refines the rear leg and flank before completing the front flare.

Position matters here. Jess wants Paris standing square so she can judge the shape properly, then uses curved scissors and blenders to build the leg from the ground up. The result is that lovely Asian-inspired contrast: a very short body sitting above big, beautifully shaped legs.

Part 5 | Paris gets her new face

With Jed getting some final body blending in the background, Jess starts Paris’s head.

The long top knot and ears are staying, but underneath them Paris gets a completely different face. Jess clips the neck short and begins building an oval muzzle, working with a straight coat that doesn’t naturally give her much volume through the upper muzzle. Instead, she creates the lift through the lower portion of the face, shortening and blending until that previously long, droopy outline becomes much perkier and more puppy-like.

Part 6 | Jed’s teddy bear head

Jed’s head is deliberately softer and fuller than Paris’s. Nicky takes the clip right up towards the occiput while preserving the coat that flows into his top knot and ears, then begins shaping the muzzle with curves and blenders.

Because this is his first transformation from that huge natural coat, Nicky treats his head as a bit of a blank canvas. She works from side to side, rounding and lifting the muzzle, checking him from the front and adjusting the shape to Jed’s individual face rather than trying to impose a predetermined head on him. His top knot is then retied into a little fountain over the finished head.

Part 7 | Paris & Jed: the transformation

And finally, we get to see them together.

Paris finishes with her short body, flared legs, oval muzzle and completely natural ears and tail, while Jed has the longer, more even teddy bear finish with column legs, a rounder head and his long ears and top knot left in place.

Nicky and Jess use the finished dogs to compare the two styles and, importantly, the amount of interpretation within them. Asian-inspired styling gives Paris that exaggerated contrast between tiny body and big legs, while Jed’s teddy bear groom is much more even throughout. Neither has been followed as an inflexible recipe; both have been adapted to the dogs and what their owners wanted to keep.