Cathy Moon
Well-known member
I finally have 3 clean dogs. Usually I take India and Chocolate to the groomer because she clips them in addition to bathing them, plus she is a cavalier show breeder so she makes them look really nice. Unfortunately she hasn't been able to groom them recently, so I decided to try to do them myself.
Chocolate's coat grows really long and gets out of control, so last weekend I spent a lot of time researching clippers, and I decided to buy a professional one because of the poor ratings the home clippers get. I narrowed my choice down to the Oster A5 or the Wahl Switchblade, and we drove out to a Tack shop to look at them. I bought the Wahl, then we bought the universal clip on combs at PetSmart. I bought special spray to cool and lubricate the blades too.
Last weekend I clipped Chocolate, and she came out looking very nice! I clipped her back, shoulders, neck, chest, middle strip down tummy, and her stifles. I just blended her sides to her back (hard to explain) and took a bit off the top of her head like the groomer does. I also bought a professional trimmer and did her face a teensy bit, because I had noticed her groomer did that. First I trimmed her 1/2 inch, then saw it wasn't enough, so I used the 1/4 inch comb and that was much better.
I bathed her and put plenty of conditioner on her - her coat is a bit wooly - rinsed her well and gave her a good blow dry with my little metro doghouse dryer. Then I hand trimmed her body and leg fringes and her feet with my rounded tip dog scissors.
Mind you, this took hours with lots of breaks! Then I washed Geordie and dried him - he's so easy because he needs no trimming. I was too pooped to do India last weekend.
This morning I clipped India the same as I did Chocolate, then bathed her and blew her dry. Luckily she doesn't require any additional timming, except I'm going to use thinning shears on her front leg fringes; otherwise she looks like a little cowboy in chaps!
I was looking for a stripping comb last weekend and couldn't find one anywhere, so I bought a Furminator, which has a blade so much like a stripping comb. I used it on the undersides of Chocolate's and India's ears to pull out dead hair. And I'm using it carefully to pull out the dead hair that matts underneath/behind their ears.
As soon as I clean myself up (I'm a bit wet and covered in dog hair) I'm going to try to snap a few photos of my clean doglets! If I can get them to wake up!
Chocolate's coat grows really long and gets out of control, so last weekend I spent a lot of time researching clippers, and I decided to buy a professional one because of the poor ratings the home clippers get. I narrowed my choice down to the Oster A5 or the Wahl Switchblade, and we drove out to a Tack shop to look at them. I bought the Wahl, then we bought the universal clip on combs at PetSmart. I bought special spray to cool and lubricate the blades too.
Last weekend I clipped Chocolate, and she came out looking very nice! I clipped her back, shoulders, neck, chest, middle strip down tummy, and her stifles. I just blended her sides to her back (hard to explain) and took a bit off the top of her head like the groomer does. I also bought a professional trimmer and did her face a teensy bit, because I had noticed her groomer did that. First I trimmed her 1/2 inch, then saw it wasn't enough, so I used the 1/4 inch comb and that was much better.
I bathed her and put plenty of conditioner on her - her coat is a bit wooly - rinsed her well and gave her a good blow dry with my little metro doghouse dryer. Then I hand trimmed her body and leg fringes and her feet with my rounded tip dog scissors.
Mind you, this took hours with lots of breaks! Then I washed Geordie and dried him - he's so easy because he needs no trimming. I was too pooped to do India last weekend.
This morning I clipped India the same as I did Chocolate, then bathed her and blew her dry. Luckily she doesn't require any additional timming, except I'm going to use thinning shears on her front leg fringes; otherwise she looks like a little cowboy in chaps!
I was looking for a stripping comb last weekend and couldn't find one anywhere, so I bought a Furminator, which has a blade so much like a stripping comb. I used it on the undersides of Chocolate's and India's ears to pull out dead hair. And I'm using it carefully to pull out the dead hair that matts underneath/behind their ears.
As soon as I clean myself up (I'm a bit wet and covered in dog hair) I'm going to try to snap a few photos of my clean doglets! If I can get them to wake up!