Elevate Your Grooming
A Creative "Cow" Inspired by Lisa Frank

by Blake Hernandez

by Blake Hernandezzz

Before Picture of dog before grooming
Bright colors, tie-dye, and even Lisa Frank art are timeless styles that bring smiles to people’s faces, no matter their age. And the options are endless for creating a unique color palette or animal print all your own! This particular creative groom is for shorter haircuts, so it could easily be done on all sorts of coat types with white or light natural color. 
Figures 1 and 2 trimming the coat and rear

Figure 1 To start, take the coat in tight with a #2 guard comb to get rid of all the excess hair that you won’t be coloring so you aren’t wasting dye. However, you also want to leave just enough on the areas you’re going to keep white so you can trim away mistakes during the final cut.

Figure 2 You can take the rear in super tight with a #4 guard comb, as cows really aren’t very angulated.

Figures 3 and 4 showing leg fur being trimmed
Figure 3 The legs can be left a little longer so they appear stuffy, but not so long that it is hard to get crisp dye lines. 
Figure 4 Here is the finished rough trim before the dye is applied.
Figures 5 and 6 showing color application to various parts of the fur
Figure 5 To start the dye process, begin by applying a color and then surrounding that color with the next in the color wheel, keeping the shapes very abstract.
Figure 6 Continue that application process with all of the colors, otherwise you will end up with cruddy brown color where opposite colors meet.
Figures 7 and 8 showing what parts of the fur are left white or colored black
Figure 7 The areas I left white are the muzzle, ears, chest and two “horns” on his head secured with rubber bands. You’ll let this first round of dye process for 30 minutes and then rinse.
Figure 8 Next you’ll use a two-part black dye to give the dog hooves. 
Figures 9 and 10 showing the cow pattern come to life
Figure 9 Then using the black dye, you’ll make a cow pattern on the body. Place the spots randomly or anywhere your previous dye work is unsatisfactory.
Figure 10 Let the black dye process for 20 minutes and then rinse.
Figures 11 and 12 showing the cow tail and muzzle

Figure 11 Start from the beginning and even out your trim all over, going short on the body, leaving stuffy legs and creating a lion/cow tail.

Figure 12 To finish, create an Asian Fusion muzzle with a small curved scissor in order to set off that cute expression and go short on the ears. For the horns, I used hairspray and wrapped the hair around my pinky to give them the curved look.

finished groomed dog that resembles a colorful cow
Creative dyes aren’t for everyone. This groom took over twice as long as normal to get a cute finish, but I could charge four times as much and have less client stress in a day. For some people, it’s the perfect way to spice up their work schedule and create a colorful work of walking art.
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