They say never to work with animals, but that’s one piece of advice photographer Grace Chon is paying no mind to. She’s just released new images from Hairy, the adorable photo series which [illustrates] dogs before and after they’ve been groomed.
Speaking to My Modern Met, Chon said:
The dogs have been groomed in a Japanese Grooming Style, which does not follow the rules of traditional, breed-standard grooming. In fact, it only has one mission ― to bring out the dogs’ individual personalities and make them look as adorable as possible!
With extreme attention to detail and careful consideration of a pup’s best attributes, Japanese dog groomers and salons achieve the perfect transformations by forgetting the uniform looks and getting creative.
Athena, groomed by Donna Owens
Buddy, groomed by Koko Fukaya
Groomed at Healthy Spot in Los Angeles, each of the dogs were given cuts that accentuated their individual characteristics. All of the looks take around two hours to complete – largely due to the being created with hand scissoring.
And if the images aren’t heartwarming enough, Chon’s motivation for the series should do it. “With so much insanity happening in the world,” she says, “I love sharing happy content that gives people a second to pause and smile.”
This series has been published as a book titled Puppy Styled: Japanese Dog Grooming: Before & After, available on Amazon. To see more of Chon’s work on her website and Instagram.
All images Grace Chon, and used with permission. Lead image: Herman, groomed by Patricia Sugihara.
"Groomed at Healthy Spot in Los Angeles..."
Yeah, that was my wife doing (some of) the grooming. (Working under the captioned photographers) :-D
Poor things. Just trim the hair a bit for manageability. They look awful with those bizarre haircuts.