Grooming can make or break a dalmatian cavy on the show table. Good grooming can turn an ordinary Dal into a show stopping Dal if you are aware of a few tricks of the trade. Whilst we are by no means experts at grooming Dalmatians, we do try our hardest to ensure our Dals are presented at their best on the show table. Indeed we owe a lot of our grooming knowledge to our friends Matthew and Darin of Renaissance Cavies who have answered endless questions and acted as sounding boards on numerous occassions since we began on our quest of breeding Dalmatians.
This short discourse assumes you have selected the cavy you wish to show and discusses the aspects of grooming you should consider before tabling your animal.
An essential aspect of grooming all shorthair cavies is the process of deguarding in which the coarse guardhairs are removed from the coat. The guardhairs are the longer hairs which can be seen in the coat when small sections of the cavies coat are held between your index and middle fingers as shown in the pictures below.
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We use two methods to remove these guardhairs from the coat. The first involves using a fibreglass grooming brick which is available from horse and tack shops. One common brand name is "Slick and Easy". The brick is held so that an edge is in contact with the cavies coat - not the entire flat surface of the brick. The brick is dragged down the cavies coat using short strokes. This technique romoves loose hairs from the coat, and we believe it also removes some guard hairs. A picture of the brick we use is shown below. Note that this is actually half a brick - the full brick is a bit too big to use on cavies. To keep the edges sharp (which is essential to effectively remove the hair) simply drag the edge of the brick over a hard surface such as concrete.
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The next step is to manually go through the coat using your index and middle fingers (as in the guardhair pictures above) and pull the longer guardhairs from the coat. We repeat these processes over the course of one week prior to a show. Take care when using the grooming brick as too much use of the brick will thin your cavies coat too much. Also ensure you use it evenly over the coat. Focussing in one area will also lead to "thin" patches appearing in the coat.
Unfortunatley I am yet to see a cavy which doesn't require some assistance in showing off its spots. The bane of the Dalmatian cavy breeders life are running hairs - white hairs which run across the surface of the spots and so mask the spots and give them a paler or even roanier appearance.These running hairs can be seen in the picture below. Note the spots and then and white streaks which run over the top of them.
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Once noting the presence of these dreaded hairs, it is time to get the tweezers out and begin the arduous task of removing them. I know of no quick method to achieving this other than to pluck them out one by one. One word of advice though - it is good to ensure that you have at least begun the task of deguarding prior to beginning tweezering because otherwise you will find yourself wasting a lot of time plucking out guardhairs - which would be removed by the much faster technique of deguarding anyway.
In addition to removing running hairs from the spots, more oft than not you will find you will also need to tidy up a few stray white hairs on the cavy's face and/or feet. These white hairs are referred to as silvering of the face and feet. The same slow technique of tweezering applies to remove these hairs. In the pictures below you can see examples of these white hairs that are well worth the effort to remove to enhance the appeal of your dalmatian cavy. I would remove the few white hairs above the ear and eye in the head shot and remove all the white hairs around the toes in the foot shot.
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If time permits I also try and remove any stray black hairs that might be present in the cavy's blaze or elsewhere in the coat. We usually tweezer our cavies over the course of the week prior to a show. It is slow work, but quite rewarding as you begin to see the potential of your show cavy unleashed.
The day before the show we shampoo our cavies using a mild shampoo formulated for sensitive skins. The shampooing ritual takes place in our laundry tubs using water which is slightly warm. We follow this shampooing with a quick douse in a solution of Bluo (laundry whitening/brightening additive) followed by a Fido's pyrethrin based insecticidal dip.We treat all of our cavies with Frontline (a flea and tick treatment formulated for dogs and cats available from vets) on a regular basis. However, we also perform a pre-show dipping just to make sure!
On warm days (most of the time here in Townsville!) we then simply pat the cavies with a towel to remove excess water and then comb the coat to lay the hair straight. The cavies are then placed into a clean cage where they air dry. On cool days (or if we are late with our shampooing) we use a blow-dryer on the cavies - firstly fluffing up the coat to dry it underneath and then smoothing the coat with our hand and lowing in the direction of the lay of the coat. This ensures that the coat doesn't dry in any "unusual" orientations.
The deguarding and tweezering processes continue right up to the day of the show. We like to try and ensure there is only minimal grooming left to be done on the day of the show to save the cavy from any additional stress whilst at the show. However, don't forget to take your tweezers with you to the show because inevitably you will see a hair or two out of place and want to tidy these up before tabling your cavy.
The morning of the show, as we load our cavies into their carry cages, we trim their nails to ensure they have a good blunt surface to prevent the poor judge from suffering any unnecessary scratches.
We have a ready supply of "Wet Ones" (premoistened tissue) on hand at the show to clean feet and bottoms prior to the cavy being shown. These are also useful for cleaning up any "stains" to the coat before they occur.
Once we are sure that the cavy is spotless we apply the smallest amount of Vasoline to the cavy's ears and feet pads to enhance their colour and prevent them from looking dry. We then give the cavy a good smooth over using a velvet mitt which enhances shine and lays the coat. We take the velvet mitt with us to the show table and use it to smooth the cavies coat after handling it to present it for the judge.
When grooming your cavy, please, please don't confine it to the easily groomed places. Don't forget your cavy has legs and a tummy as well and so all of the grooming techniques discussed above applies equally to these regions! Good luck!
