Grooming?

[PJ's Mom]

I was wondering if any of you groom your own long-haired dog. Is it hard to do? Can you buy some kind of book or tape to show you how to do it?

I'm tired of spending $50 - $60 a month to have Peej groomed, having it not turn out right, and knowing that I could probably make him look the way I want him to look for a lot less money. I'm concerned that because he has that thick undercoat, that I'll make him look silly. :rolleyes:

Any advice you could give me would be helpful. Thanks. :)

[Tollers-n-Dobes]

There are books you can get to show you how to properly groom a certain breed of dog. My grandma has had Cocker spaniels for a long time now and she only has one at the moment (named Sassy) anyway she bought a book that has alot of different breeds in it and it shows you how to groom them really nicely, she was tired of having to pay the groomer too. Now she does Sassy herself and she looks great. The first couple of times she did it Sassy looked kind of silly but after a couple of times you figure out what you're doing and the dog loks excellent.

[cali]

we groom all our dogs ourselves, and I still groom shadow, but my mom tought me how to cut dogs hair, and as far as I know she only knows how from experiance, she used to breed and raise shelties, and had a puli once. she also does all the uman haircutting in my familiy lol and all my friends want her to cut their hair too because she actually listens to what you want done, and and does it perfectly every time :p I am not as good as she is yet, but I am pretty darn good at it for a 16 year old :p lol we dont use any books or anything, we lok at the dog, we think what would llook nice on that dog, we look at what that dog often does, and we suit that haircut to accomidate that.. for example Happy often runs into bushes and stuff so I keep her pants cut short, and her tail hair trimmed, I also keep the hair around her feet trimmed to prvent mud, and snow ball in her feet. with shadow, I cut her hair shorter then normal yesterday because she is not brished as often as she should be, she her pans are clipped short, the hair on her ears get trimmed short, and her ears shaped, and I trim the hair around her paws because they gather snowballs, and to much hair makes her look like she has 3 times as many toes lol then for the rest of her hair I just thin it out a bit. Blair, the back of his coat cords, he has no brow, and he gets hot very easily, so his head is trimmed shorter, his back end is kept clipped short, his front end a tiny bit longer than the back but not much, we also trim the hair on his back to hide his roach back.

[Tollers-n-Dobes]

I groom Tango myself but she just needs to be trimmed, I'm assuming you like to cut his hair really short and leave the bottom long from the pictures I've seen f him though. With Tango I don't use a book at all, I just trim her feathering on her legs, tail and chest. Her ears get kind of scraggly looking so I usually trim them too:) I always make sure to keep the fur on all of my dogs feet nice and short so that in the winter they don't get ice balls in them and it just looks better. If I leave Tango's feet hair long she get's the nickname of grinch toes from the neighbours because her hair sticks out about an inch from her actual toe and it looks like the Grinches fingers apparently, that's what the neighbours said anyway:rolleyes: Like Shayna said, having longer fur in the toes makes them look like they have more toes than what they actually have.

[bckrazy]

yeah, there are tons of books on it. Gonzo gets groomed 2 times a year by our groomer, just because of the heat and shedding... its ridiculously hot here and with a double-coated very active dog he gets really overheated. I think you could maybe get him done 1 or 2 times a year, and just keep it up yourself. Nice dog clippers only cost about $50, we got them and sometimes just trim Gonzo in the summer ^__^ just make sure you start with the longest guard and shave in the direction of hair growth. With a book, and maybe ask your groomer for tips, I'm sure you can do an awesome job on Peej. Our groomers are *really* great, and basically gave me all the advice you need to know about home grooming.

anyway, I'm sure Peej would look adorable without the shave, just as long as you brush him daily and keep his fur reasonably trimmed. good luck with everything :D

[wolf_Q]

If you are really serious about this, I would recommend buying a nice pair of clippers, not cheap ones. Cheap ones are not worth the money IMO, especially since you have a cocker and they have thick fur. I would recommend getting one that has removable blades. If you get the ones with just one blade that doesn't come off to cut the fur longer you have to use the snap-on combs, which do not compare to using a longer blade. They often will not go through thick coats either and don't cut nearly as even in my opinion.

This is the pair that I have... http://www.petedge.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=1172&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=12&iSubCat=36&iSubSubCat=66&iProductID=1172
They've been in use for at least 3 years now...I bought them off a groomer who was quitting about 1 1/2 years ago. I've had to have a few things replaced, but they still work fine.

A girl I work with has this book, and I've looked through it several times http://www.petedge.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=630&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=12&iSubCat=22&iSubSubCat=23&iProductID=630
It has nice illustrations and it's easy to understand. It will tell you what blade #'s to use for what. I'm sure you could find one specific to cocker spaniels though.

Grooming is not as easy as it may look!

[micki76]

Originally posted by wolf_Q
Grooming is not as easy as it may look!

Ain't that the truth!

I have to tell you that I groomed for years and Cockers were my least favorite to groom. Not that there's anything wrong with the breed, just that I always had a hard time getting them right. They always looked choppy, not matter what I did. They're probably the hardest breed to groom for me, because of the texture of their hair. If you boo boo, it's hard to cover up or do anything about. No way to hide chop marks on their shaved backs. :o

[PJ's Mom]

That means I can drop by with Peej sometime tomorrow, right? :D



Originally posted by micki76
I have to tell you that I groomed for years and Cockers were my least favorite to groom. Not that there's anything wrong with the breed, just that I always had a hard time getting them right. They always looked choppy, not matter what I did. They're probably the hardest breed to groom for me, because of the texture of their hair. If you boo boo, it's hard to cover up or do anything about. No way to hide chop marks on their shaved backs. :o

[micki76]

Originally posted by PJ's Mom
That means I can drop by with Peej sometime tomorrow, right? :D

Well, of course you can, but I ain't cutting his hair! :p

[PJ's Mom]

Darn. :( :D