# grooming tips for a newbie



## macgyver (Jan 14, 2009)

We have a labradoodle and I would like to start grooming her myself. I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a tutorial or some advice on how to get started. Also any recommendations on equipment would be greatly appreciated. Since we only have the one dog and she has only required grooming once every 5-6 weeks I don't think I really need any professional grade equipment and would like to keep the cost reasonable. Thanks.


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## Acadia (Aug 6, 2008)

Here are some links I found: 

http://www.discoveringlabradoodles.com/labradoodle/Labradoodle-Grooming.htm

http://www.labradoodle-breeder.com/faq_labradoodles_groom.html

http://www.aprinalabradoodles.com/grooming.php

You could also look online for different books that give grooming tips (such as Labradoodles--Complete Pet Owner's Manual) as well as other tips.


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

You will need professional grade equipment I am afraid. The clippers and blades marketed toward pet owners rarely work long enough to clip a dog once, much less clip ever 6 weeks for the life of the dog. You would be wise to invest in quality tools and equipment once, rather than the cheap ones over and over and over. 

You will need a slicker brush and greyhound style comb. Nail trimmers, hemostats for pulling hair from her ear canal, ear cleaner, shampoos and conditioners, a brushing spray (any detangling/dematting type spray for pets, my fave is Crown Royal #2, but there are SO many out there). You will need a quality clipper like the Andis AGC 2 speed, a variety of blades and attachments, depending on what length you would like her to be. You will definitly need a 40 or 30 blade for pads, a #10 for sanitary areas and armpits, and at a minimum a body blade, from a 7F (short) to the longest blade, a 3. If you want longer than a 3 blade (which is maybe half an inch or so, give or take depending on the dog's coat) you will need attachements that fit over a 30 or 40 blade. You will need a pair of shears (you can get many decent shears for around $50). That would be the minimum. To make life much easier on you (and her) for grooming, a grooming table, arm and loop, and a high velocity dryer, which will make your brush out and clipping much easier and less time consuming. 

Or you could have her professionally groomed every 6 weeks, and just brush and comb her in between to keep her maintained and matt free.  Doodles can be alot of work, depending on their coats..if they have the wiry, terrier wispy looking coats, its not so bad..if they have curly, dense coat..it can be tons of work to maintain, much less clip. I am sure others can offer their thoughts.


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## Love's_Sophie (Sep 23, 2007)

Graco22 said:


> You will need professional grade equipment I am afraid. The clippers and blades marketed toward pet owners rarely work long enough to clip a dog once, much less clip ever 6 weeks for the life of the dog. You would be wise to invest in quality tools and equipment once, rather than the cheap ones over and over and over.
> 
> You will need a slicker brush and greyhound style comb. Nail trimmers, hemostats for pulling hair from her ear canal, ear cleaner, shampoos and conditioners, a brushing spray (any detangling/dematting type spray for pets, my fave is Crown Royal #2, but there are SO many out there). You will need a quality clipper like the Andis AGC 2 speed, a variety of blades and attachments, depending on what length you would like her to be. You will definitly need a 40 or 30 blade for pads, a #10 for sanitary areas and armpits, and at a minimum a body blade, from a 7F (short) to the longest blade, a 3. If you want longer than a 3 blade (which is maybe half an inch or so, give or take depending on the dog's coat) you will need attachements that fit over a 30 or 40 blade. You will need a pair of shears (you can get many decent shears for around $50). That would be the minimum. To make life much easier on you (and her) for grooming, a grooming table, arm and loop, and a high velocity dryer, which will make your brush out and clipping much easier and less time consuming.
> 
> Or you could have her professionally groomed every 6 weeks, and just brush and comb her in between to keep her maintained and matt free.  Doodles can be alot of work, depending on their coats..if they have the wiry, terrier wispy looking coats, its not so bad..if they have curly, dense coat..it can be tons of work to maintain, much less clip. I am sure others can offer their thoughts.



Graco's covered everything really well, I would just like to add that the longest clipper blades that are out there, are the 5\8 HT and the 3\4 HT...I LOVE these two blades, and save alot of time on some 'longer cut' dogs, by being able to utilize these; they are much easier to use than the Snap On combs too, as these will go through some matting, where the snap on's usually have a tough time going through matting, and often snap the whole set up off the clipper if you try too hard.


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## macgyver (Jan 14, 2009)

Graco22 said:


> You will need professional grade equipment I am afraid. The clippers and blades marketed toward pet owners rarely work long enough to clip a dog once, much less clip ever 6 weeks for the life of the dog. You would be wise to invest in quality tools and equipment once, rather than the cheap ones over and over and over.
> 
> You will need a slicker brush and greyhound style comb. Nail trimmers, hemostats for pulling hair from her ear canal, ear cleaner, shampoos and conditioners, a brushing spray (any detangling/dematting type spray for pets, my fave is Crown Royal #2, but there are SO many out there). You will need a quality clipper like the Andis AGC 2 speed, a variety of blades and attachments, depending on what length you would like her to be. You will definitly need a 40 or 30 blade for pads, a #10 for sanitary areas and armpits, and at a minimum a body blade, from a 7F (short) to the longest blade, a 3. If you want longer than a 3 blade (which is maybe half an inch or so, give or take depending on the dog's coat) you will need attachements that fit over a 30 or 40 blade. You will need a pair of shears (you can get many decent shears for around $50). That would be the minimum. To make life much easier on you (and her) for grooming, a grooming table, arm and loop, and a high velocity dryer, which will make your brush out and clipping much easier and less time consuming.
> 
> Or you could have her professionally groomed every 6 weeks, and just brush and comb her in between to keep her maintained and matt free.  Doodles can be alot of work, depending on their coats..if they have the wiry, terrier wispy looking coats, its not so bad..if they have curly, dense coat..it can be tons of work to maintain, much less clip. I am sure others can offer their thoughts.


Thanks..I think. I realize I can bring her to a groomer and that's what we've done for the past 7 years, but its gotten much too expensive around here. We've been spending $600-700/year for grooming and we need to cut costs. I was hoping to get some practicle advice on how to do this on our own. I realize that all the things you are saying are probably true if you want the best possible set up for this job, but is there some minimum set of equipment we can get by with and then perhaps add to that as we get more experience if we need to? Our doodle has a relatively short wiry coat on most of her body.


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## FawkesMom (Jan 14, 2009)

Here's an alternate option, I don't know if it will work for you.

There is a grooming place near me called Dharma Dog. (I don't know how big a chain it is but maybe there is something like it near you) Anyways, they have an option where you can use their equipment to groom your dog yourself. I've done this a few times when I've taken my dog to the dog park and he comes back so filthy and full of mud that I don't even want him to enter my apartment until he has had a bath. It saves a lot of money, the place near me charges $17 and that includes access to shampoos and other such products.

Good luck


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## macgyver (Jan 14, 2009)

FawkesMom said:


> Here's an alternate option, I don't know if it will work for you.
> 
> There is a grooming place near me called Dharma Dog. (I don't know how big a chain it is but maybe there is something like it near you) Anyways, they have an option where you can use their equipment to groom your dog yourself. I've done this a few times when I've taken my dog to the dog park and he comes back so filthy and full of mud that I don't even want him to enter my apartment until he has had a bath. It saves a lot of money, the place near me charges $17 and that includes access to shampoos and other such products.
> 
> Good luck


That sounds like a great idea. A quick search in the Long Island area where we live didn't come up with any similar business but I'll keep looking. Thanks.

If I were to go with Gracos recommendations does anyone have a good recommendation where to purchase these items? Thanks again


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

Fawkesmom's suggestions sounds great, but I think she is referring to a self wash? Do they have clippers and such for you to trim your pet, or just wash and dry? I didn't think about a self wash, but that is a great idea, as you could wash her there and then take her home and groom her. 

You are going to spend $300-$500 on equipment to groom her, so that will be a savings for you, especially over the years. www.petedge.com has the most reasonable equipment, and they have ALOT to choose from. You can find cheaper clippers, cheap blades, etc...Their line of Master Grooming Tools equipment is very reasonably priced, though for me as a professional groomer, find that brand not to hold up to what I need it to, you may do fine with it. If nothing else, invest in a good professional clipper..the blades and other tools you can cheat with. A good clipper is going to be just over $100 in general. Andis Super 2 speeds and variations, Wahl Km2's, etc. I don't like Oster myself, and think they are too pricey for what they deliver, and I hate those air vents blowing the cut hairs in my face..lol 

You could also try ebay, and some of the groomer forums, such as Groomers.net. They have a "swapnshop" thread, where there is always great used stuff for sale at a reasonable price.


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## macgyver (Jan 14, 2009)

Thanks. That looks like a good source. I found the Andis 2 speed on ebay for $89 so maybe I'll get that and then buy the blades and the rest from petedge following Gracos recommendations. We have a large sink and a table in the basement that I think I can use for now to do this so I think I'll forgo the dedicated grooming table for the time being.


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## FawkesMom (Jan 14, 2009)

Hmmm, on further inspection, the place near me looks like it provides everything but clippers. I hadn't thought about it because my dog never needs to be clipped, he just needs that sheddy poofy undercoat brushed out. They do, however, provide stuff like ear and eye wipes, specialty shampoos for hot spots and itchy skin. They also provide brushes and rakes. Well, maybe if you find a place like that you can use it for some things and then just clip at home...


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## macgyver (Jan 14, 2009)

Just one more question if you don't mind in regards to the hemostats. Do you just pull the hair out?  That sounds like it must be painful.


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

macgyver said:


> Just one more question if you don't mind in regards to the hemostats. Do you just pull the hair out?  That sounds like it must be painful.


Yes, you need to pull the hair out of the ear canal. Some doodles don't have much, if any in there, and then you don't have to worry about it. But some will have hair, and many will have profuse amounts of it. The hair needs to be removed to open up the ear canal to air, to lessen the chances of the canal being damp and a breeding ground for yeast and bacterial infections. 

Many groomers will use ear powder (a powder that helps the hemostats grip the hair) but I never use it. I pull a few hairs at a time, to lessen the ouch factor. Some dogs act like they don't feel anything, and some dogs REALLY don't like it..I prefer to go slow, and pull a few hairs at a time. Be sure to only pull the hairs that are actually growing from down in the ear canal, not the ear leather, or the outside of the ear canal. 

There are many videos on youtube about grooming, and you may find a search there very worth your time. I am sure you can find just about anything grooming related on there, and you don't need to just find doodle videos. Techniques are pretty much the same for every breed as far as how to hold the clippers, ear hair pulling, etc. Glad you found some good clippers cheap on ebay.


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## macgyver (Jan 14, 2009)

After looking at a few youtube grooming videos as some of you suggested I have another question that maybe someone could answer for me.

Many of the groomers in the videos used a #40 blade for virtually every part of the dog, but put different "combs" on the blade depending on whether they were doing the back or the underside instead of switching blades. Can someone coment on this approach. Are there advantages or disadvantages to this method versus using different blades for each area? Thanks again.


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

macgyver said:


> After looking at a few youtube grooming videos as some of you suggested I have another question that maybe someone could answer for me.
> 
> Many of the groomers in the videos used a #40 blade for virtually every part of the dog, but put different "combs" on the blade depending on whether they were doing the back or the underside instead of switching blades. Can someone coment on this approach. Are there advantages or disadvantages to this method versus using different blades for each area? Thanks again.



The reason you see the 40 blade and "combs" or attachments being used is because those leave longer lengths than the blades do. The longest blade is a 5/8 or a 3 (or 3/34 depending on the manufacturer) but they tend to need scissoring over it afterwards, as they can look uneven and choppy on some coats. I am not a fan of those blades, I prefer to use an attachment. The result is smoother, and you can go longer in length. There are new attachments out there that are WAY better than the old plastic ones. They are Wahl Stainless Steel, and you CANNOT use a 40 blade under them as they will break the teeth right off..you have to use a 30 blade instead. In order to get an attachment thru the coat though, there cannot be any tangles or knots...completely clean, combed and tangle free, whereas a blade will go thru some tangles, and even a minor matt. You would still want to use a 40 blade in the pads, and a 10 in the privates. An attachment would not be short enough or a safe option in my opinion.


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