this guy is only 7 months old. I would have started him out early with a dryer. I am looking for low noise. Its hard with all the new ones on the market that I cant see as I live in a rural area... With my other collies, I had a metro 1500 I think. Wasnt loud but didnt do much either. It took a longgggggg time with the back brushing to get my collies dried.