A few questions today, regarding Bella's coat.

So when we first got Bella as a pup we used to keep her coat longish, and it was all straight and stuff. Now she is curly... I am wondering whether this is just because of her maturing (shes three now) or maybe it is because we started clipping her? We started clipping her a few years back when we moved down to Townsville, because it seemed like she was too hot. She was clipped every month, but now I am keeping her long because we live in a much cooler climate, and its just starting to cool down alot now.

I was just reading a thread about double coats, and I'm wondering whether Bella might have one... How can you tell? It doesnt feel any different at all all the way through, just feels very soft, apart from the part over her withers, where it feels coarser. (Hmm... are they called withers on dogs, or just shoulders?)

The hair on her face... We used to tie the hair on top of her head up into a topknot (Kinda. We didn't fold it like they do with the show dogs), but when we clipped her last (must be about a month or less ago now) we clipped it off. Now seeing as Im planning on keeping her long throughout the winter, I want to start tying it up again. Im not sure on how much hair to tie up. Do I pull up all of the hair on top of her head, or just the bit above her eyes? The fur around her eyes... well, I wasn't sure what to do with that, so I just kept trimming it, but since I stopped clipping her I haven't trimmed anything. So basically I'm quite surprised she isn't running into walls and such with the amount of hair she has in front of her eyes:


What should I do about all that hair? Its not actually touching her eyeballs, she hasn't got any redness or discharge etc.

In front of her tail, today I noticed the skin is dry and flaky, with a little bit of redness. I brush her everyday with a slicker-type brush, and I have a comb that I brush around her face with. I don't do anything to her ears though, apart from brush the hair. Should I be wiping out her ears?

Should I be clipping her paws? I check them everyday during grooming time, but I never actually clip them on their own, because I don't want them to look like a mess. I clipped them when I clipped her whole body, but the looked terrible. I brush them regularly aswell. The hair on her feet is the same length as the hair on her body.

Basically, I want to know how to groom her so that she looks nice... Whoa, that sounded prissy. You know what I mean. I want her to look good, other than just having her hair in her eyes and all fluffy. I would like her to have her topknot up, and her coat looking good. Its pretty shiny now though.

Sorry for the long post!

So, any help guys?

Im still at work, and I only know this because we have a groomer at the vet, and she's telling me what to write.

For the head, comb the hair back and cut any hair between her ears. Then part the hair in the middle and comb it down on each side, then cut a line between the eyes and ears on each side(if that makes sense).
Shave the erea between the eyes but don't shave the muzzle.
'Scissor hair' her ears in a mushroom cap.(I hope you know what that means, cause I don't)
Part the hair in the middle on her muzzle and cut so its in line with her jaw, so theres no fur 'hanging off' her muzzle.

For her tail, pull it out straight, comb the hair down andtrim the hair so its like a birds wing.

For her paws, just trim the bottom and the edges.

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She just told me to give you this website.
Could have done that in the first place!
Maltese Dog and Puppy Short-Cut

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LOL. Thanks!