Does anyone groom their own dog?

[Judy Judy Judy]

I have a cockapoo and I usually get him cut just like a poodle since he looks like one but I have been thinking of just grooming him myself, a basic cut for him is about 50.00 and every two months it's really starting to add up.

I thought I might just bite the bullet and pay for some professional clippers and start clipping him myself the only thing I'm a little weary of is doing his feet, has anyone had any good luck with grooming their dog at home?

Any good tips that you could share, what kind of clippers did you buy, I've been pricing some Andis clippers, but don't really know.

TIA

 

[damo]

I clip my cocker spaniels. Purchase a good clippers set. It is well worth it. The dog may look a little funny the first few times you clip but you will get the hang of it and their hair grows so quickly. I use sissors for the paws. There are some good cocker spaniel instruction sites out there for clips so I am sure you can find one that you like.

 

[Pop Daddy]

yep, cut off all his hair when he starts to look like "cousin it"

 

[doxdogy]

The best thing to use the paw area is thinning shears. The scissors that have the little teeth. Another thing I found that helps is a barber's razor. It works really good at thinning out the fur.

http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/PROD/scissors-barber-individual/BBK55

 

[teacups]

I have a mini schnauzer and I bought the $14 hair clippers (for humans) at Walmart. They work fine. I trim him myself and might take him in to get straightened up (and all that anal glad yuck) by a pro about 2 times a year. I save about $50 a month. Dont forget to trim the nails and deal with the inside of the ears hair.

 

[Judy Judy Judy]

I just wish that my dog wasn't so anxious whenever someone touches his feet...I hope I can do this...

 

[damo]

That is very common. Give lots and lots of treats for this part. I read somewhere that having someone else give your dog peanut butter on a spoon while you groom the feet works well. We just do the paws at different times because our dog doesn't like it either. If it takes a day to get the paws done, it is no big deal.

 

[Jockaroo]

Hubby and I groom our Scotties. We have the Andis model AG clippers. They are professional quality and well worth it. We use blades 5 or 7 (depending on the time of year) and 10. We have a few other blades we never use. The larger the number, the shorter it leaves the hair. We also bought some very expensive barber shears and the grooming table. We originally started doing this with our rescue Scottie because we think she was abused at a groomers. After the first few clippings, she really looked nice--much better than the dogs coming out the the PetSmarts. We knew her flaws and how to camouflage them; many groomers use the same cut for all dogs of a breed regardless of body shape. Our little girl passed away a few months ago, but we still have our equipment and will groom our new dog when it warms up.

Nails and anal glands are done at the vet. Scots have black nails and it is too easy to injure them.

We got the best advice on how to groom from Scottish Terrier Rescue people. We just sent emails and got lots of help. You might want to check with poodle and cocker spaniel rescues for advice. Just approach this with an "I can do it!" attitude and the understanding that hair does grow back. Oh, and watch the ears, you don't want to nick them. And you might want a pair of blunt tip scissors to trim around the nose and eyes.

 

[PooohBear]

Hubby and I groom our Scotties. We have the Andis model AG clippers. They are professional quality and well worth it. We use blades 5 or 7 (depending on the time of year) and 10. We have a few other blades we never use. The larger the number, the shorter it leaves the hair. We also bought some very expensive barber shears and the grooming table. We originally started doing this with our rescue Scottie because we think she was abused at a groomers. After the first few clippings, she really looked nice--much better than the dogs coming out the the PetSmarts. We knew her flaws and how to camouflage them; many groomers use the same cut for all dogs of a breed regardless of body shape. Our little girl passed away a few months ago, but we still have our equipment and will groom our new dog when it warms up.

Nails and anal glands are done at the vet. Scots have black nails and it is too easy to injure them.

We got the best advice on how to groom from Scottish Terrier Rescue people. We just sent emails and got lots of help. You might want to check with poodle and cocker spaniel rescues for advice. Just approach this with an "I can do it!" attitude and the understanding that hair does grow back. Oh, and watch the ears, you don't want to nick them. And you might want a pair of blunt tip scissors to trim around the nose and eyes.

I use the same clippers and they work great !

I also second the idea of getting the nails clipped elsewhere, most places only charge about 7 bucks

 

[MOMTOMOOTOO]

I give my dog the bath and keep him fresh myself, but I have petsmart do the nails. I never make an appt, I just pop in while shopping and it's not busy. They charge me 6.00. I still get him a good scrubbing about 2x a year.

 

[Judy Judy Judy]

Hubby and I groom our Scotties. We have the Andis model AG clippers. They are professional quality and well worth it. We use blades 5 or 7 (depending on the time of year) and 10. We have a few other blades we never use. The larger the number, the shorter it leaves the hair. We also bought some very expensive barber shears and the grooming table. We originally started doing this with our rescue Scottie because we think she was abused at a groomers. After the first few clippings, she really looked nice--much better than the dogs coming out the the PetSmarts. We knew her flaws and how to camouflage them; many groomers use the same cut for all dogs of a breed regardless of body shape. Our little girl passed away a few months ago, but we still have our equipment and will groom our new dog when it warms up.

Nails and anal glands are done at the vet. Scots have black nails and it is too easy to injure them.

We got the best advice on how to groom from Scottish Terrier Rescue people. We just sent emails and got lots of help. You might want to check with poodle and cocker spaniel rescues for advice. Just approach this with an "I can do it!" attitude and the understanding that hair does grow back. Oh, and watch the ears, you don't want to nick them. And you might want a pair of blunt tip scissors to trim around the nose and eyes.

Thank you for this post, I'm going to buy these clippers, do you have the ones with single or double motor? Also I'm going to have a vet do the nails because my dog also has black nails and I just don't know how far to cut.

 

[SamRoc]

We bathe and cut our dog, but not his nails. I have the vet do that. Recently on our drive down to Florida, our yorkie Bundles stepped on an ant mound. We had to give him a really quick haircut at a gas station right on Route 95 in georgia. His belly was covered with ants. My sister was walking him at the time and felt awful. But even though the haircut was short, it looks really cute on him, and its fine that its that short here in Florida.

 

[Cantw8]

Groom him??? How could I improve on this perfection

 

[Piecey]

Sometimes.

I put on a swimsuit and get in the bathtub with Rink while DH holds him still and I trim his fur.

We do this maybe 1-2 times in between groomings, in the summer only. It's too expensive to get him trimmed as often as he needs it since he loves hanging out and rolling around outside in the summer. Winter, I leave his fur longer!

 

[Judy Judy Judy]

Groom him??? How could I improve on this perfection

Well hehe it's not a matter of perfection but more of a money saving issue. My dh was laid off as of January, and my pay is a joke so we really need to cut corners and in the long run buying your own clippers and grooming yourselve saves a bundle.

 

[bebelle]

With two dogs--we have had to start clipping them ourselves. The professionals do a much better job but they still look cute!

 

[Skatermom23]

I tired but I just can't get the right cut on my yorkie. I like to keep it fairly short with a "puppy cut." My compromise is that I bath her weekly and do her nails once a month. Then every 7-8 weeks I take her in and just get a haircut. It runs me about $20 dollars each time. I am very picky on what I want done...puppy cut on the body, tiny trim around the head and the tips of the ears shaved down. I love my groomer!

 

[Judy Judy Judy]

I tired but I just can't get the right cut on my yorkie. I like to keep it fairly short with a "puppy cut." My compromise is that I bath her weekly and do her nails once a month. Then every 7-8 weeks I take her in and just get a haircut. It runs me about $20 dollars each time. I am very picky on what I want done...puppy cut on the body, tiny trim around the head and the tips of the ears shaved down. I love my groomer!

Your very lucky, my groomer charges 12.00 for just nail trim and 30.00 for a puppy cut...that's about average around here.

 

[Skatermom23]

Your very lucky, my groomer charges 12.00 for just nail trim and 30.00 for a puppy cut...that's about average around here.

If I have the groomer bath her and do her nails, plus the cut, it is $35. I figure I save $15 by washing her myself (it doesn't take long to bath and dry a 4 pound dog!) and do her nails. She fights me on her nails. It requires my DH holding her while I do the cutting! It is rather the sight, the two of us against this little dog!

 

[Jsme]

I am furious with the person who groomed my poodles!!!! We had to change grooms because our lady moved her shop and it is now a 30 minute drive away from us. She is only opened M-F from 7:30 a to 5:00p. Due to her hours we can not make it to her shop and get to work on time of leave work and make it before she closes. She was so good and our dogs did not mind going to her. She was $35 for everything with a puppy cut or $45 for a close cut.

I took my poodles to the vet that has a groom near our house. She did them in August and then again last Wednesday. Both times they had been washed and clipped/trimmed up by us and were not matted. I actually bath them weekly and if I see they need a trim I use scissors to trim them at the time of their baths. That way they did not get out of hand. I used straight conditioner on their ears and then used a leave in conditioner afterwards.

DH took and picked up the babies on Wednesday. I walked in the door and I looked at my babies and almost cried. Little LuLu literally has had her fur cut off. No ears and no cotton ball tail. She looks so pitiful. Luck still has his cotton ball and his ears but the hair/fur on his ears has been trimmed to the end of his ears.

I called the groom on Thursday and asked her for the reason why she had cut all the hair off of Lu and she said because she was matted. Now I can see what she means on her ears because when I wash her if I do not use conditioner and a leave in conditioner they tangle but do not mat. As for her cotton ball poof it was small already and there was no matts in it when she left my house. I explained this to her and she said well I am sticking by they were all matted. She even had the nerve to say she had discussed this with my husband. My husband said the only thing she said was she had taken her to the vet to look at because she had cuts on her back. She did say now that the fur is off of her the cut will heal. The cut is actually where a large dog attacked her and had bite her on the back. It was very small and I had already cut the hair from around this area and was applying medicine from the vet on the area.

I really have no idea what to do now. I will never take them back to that groom. I can not take them to our old groom. I am currently asking around to see if anyone can recommend someone close by.

In the meantime we are thinking about doing it ourselves. With the way Lu looks I could have saved myself $75 by doing it myself. I could have done what was done to her myself.

I took her to a store yesterday and everyone thought she was a puppy since she no longer has fur on her ears or her tail. They had no clue she was a poodle and 7 years old!

How many others would be upset over this? Or am I being crazy.

NoteH asked for them to be groomed as they were the last time. The last time they came home with some furon their bodies, theirs ears fur intact and the poof tail.