Grooming Dalmatians
A well groomed dalmatian when presented to be judged is very important to show them off at their best. After all, presentation is going to reflect your determination to win.
Grooming Body Spots
What to aim for are clean well defined spots of even size. To achieve this it is much easier if the cavy has good spotting to start with. Coloured hairs around the spots and thru the white body are called runners, by removing these the spotting can be made more defined. Remember to groom the white body also so that the spots dont have a sunken look about them.
Grooming the Head Demarcation area
The head is the first place a judge notices when they are place in front for judging. It is important that they see a well balanced and clean head. The demarcation line runs from behind the ears and under the jaw line. This is where the head colour stops and the white body starts. It should look like a line of the 2 contrast colours . Removing any white hairs on the cheeks and jaw line, along with removing coloured hairs from the white also will give a cleaner line.
Grooming the Blaze
The blaze is what sets the dalmatians head for balance. The blaze must stop between the ears, so remove any white hairs that run through into the body and past the demarcation line. Remembering to becareful not to leave a bold spot by over grooming. If the blaze has coloured hairs in side of the white remove them by using tweezers. This allows you to only take out the hairs that need to be removed and not removing any from the blaze itself. Groom the blaze both sides to look even as possible.
Grooming the Feet
Grooming the feet is not nice for the cavy as many will protest. When the feet have a lot of white hair on them that is called silvering, not to be confused with roaning. Young dalmatians can be born with silvered feet and some can loose it as they age. The more solid coloured the feet, the better.