# Shaving Feet



## animalcraker (Nov 9, 2006)

I would like some recommendations on clipers and blades for grooming feet. My Cavalier has been retired for sometime now and both my Dachshund and Springer have very furry slippers. They all love to run around like crazy and get much better traction when they feet are trimed. But I really dislike having to use scissors to trim them, it's also annoying to try and get a clean smooth look to the tops of their feet since I trim their entire foot. I would much rather use a cliper to shave their feet, unfortunately my regular clipers are much too wide to use on their feet. So does anyone have any recommendations or tips to give them nice clean shaven poodle-ish feet.


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## Purplex15 (May 28, 2007)

go to a pro and have them teach you in person. it is very hard to do this well, and at first it will probably look worse than the scissors. it is easy to tear skin between the toes, or cause irritation. groomers do poodle feet with regular dog clippers, so im not sure why you clippers wont work. this is really something you should lesarn from a pro.


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## animalcraker (Nov 9, 2006)

My regular clipers are about 2 inches wide. They're the same ones that we use at the vet hospital. And it's always a pain in the butt to try and get them in between the dogs toes whenever we need to shave a foot. I've seen the smaller 1 inch wide clipers in a variety of dog catalogs that are always avertised as being easy to use trimming the feet. Would you not recomend one of those?


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## staffymom (Apr 16, 2010)

Many of the small trimmers were meant to do small dog feet and very small surface area. To try and completely clip a springer foot with one can take forever and be tricky. The blades on some of these clippers are also extremely short, meaning they can and will cause irritation to the foot. And it is very easy to nick nail beds and webbing with any clipper. Like stated before, talk to a groomer, this can be be one of the more difficult parts of the grooming process, esp.if any of your pups give you any struggle.


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

Are you wanting to give them poodle feet, or just very tidy short feet? Poodle feet are not going to be pretty on the flat feet of a cavalier...hehe..

I suggest you use a 40 blade to clean out betweent the pads, and get yourself a nice short pair (like 3-4 inches) of straight shears for the feet..use grooming shears, not thread or fabric shears and it will be much easier. I comb all the hair on top the feet up, then scissor it off. Then I cut around each toenail, right up to the pad. Once you do that and clean up all that other hair, their feet will be nice and tidy, but won't be bald like a poodle foot. Here is a link to a golden foot I have on youtube..same technique on your dogs too. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-oAxch_xfA


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## infiniti (Mar 19, 2010)

I just need my dog's pads trimmed out. Would I be better off having it done? The only clippers I have are human clippers ... like for beard trimming. LOL So, my blade guards are 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., not 40. 

Plus, my dog's not crazy about having her feet touched. I have to have her toenails done by someone else. They're black and I can't see the quick for one thing, and for another, she cries like I hit it even though I know I didn't (I cut them once, and I took like 1/16 of an inch off and I KNOW I didn't touch the quick!)


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## animalcraker (Nov 9, 2006)

Graco22 said:


> Are you wanting to give them poodle feet, or just very tidy short feet? Poodle feet are not going to be pretty on the flat feet of a cavalier...hehe..


My cavalier gets a "lion cut" once a year anyways, since he get anual ultrasounds now and they have to shave his chest down with a 40 blade. So he ends up lokking kind of funny for a few weeks anyways till it starts to grow out. Thanks for the vid, that exactly how I would do my shelties feet except I scissored the bottom and used thining shears for the top. It just takes longer I can't do them anywhere near as quickly as she does them on the vid. Since none of my dogs are showing at the moment I don't mind if they have silly looking bald feet for a few weeks. At least for my Springer and my Cavalier I want bald poodle feet, since they run around the most and their hair grows back the quickest. My dachshund might look a bitt silly with totaly bald feet though.

I found this vid on you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFRd5DggX5I. Is this a technique that you guys use? I think I could easily master that with a bit of practice and my guys are much better behaved than the one in the vid. Both my Cavalier and my Springer like to lay on their side and fall asleep when I'm grooming them, lol.


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

Hehe. I know that groomer in the poodle feet video. Well, if poodle feet is what you want, ( shudder..lol) then that is how you do it. I would not use any blade longer than a 10, or shorter than a 30 blade, and be prepared for them to be irritated the first time you do it, as they aren't used to being clipped short there. Its tedious, as you have to go between each toe. It helps to push the webbing up with your fingers while you shave, and only clip against the grain. Watch the blades don't get hot too. If you nick them (and chances are you will, as its very easy to do on clean feet) just use some syptic powder, to stop the bleeding. Have fun!


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## Purplex15 (May 28, 2007)

you know Graco, i sometimes wonder just how famous a groomer you are. just based on the little work i have seen from you, i can only hope to one day be as good at this as you.

other than that, follow gracos advice and you will be set cracker.


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

Purplex15 said:


> you know Graco, i sometimes wonder just how famous a groomer you are. just based on the little work i have seen from you, i can only hope to one day be as good at this as you.
> 
> other than that, follow gracos advice and you will be set cracker.


Aw, thanks Purplex. I am not famous..hehe. Someday I hope though! I almost made the top ten on Groom Team last year, and have earned Groom Team points at two shows so far this year (just won the open poodle class in Colorado! Whoo hoo!) but am far from famous. Just trying to learn and get better every day, and I love competing because I have found it to be the best way to learn profile and technique. That was a great compliment, thank you!


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## echo8287 (Jul 5, 2007)

I've been using one of these blades with an Andis 2 speed for several years now, it works real well for in between pads on the bottom of the feet>sorry about the long link it was the first one I found with a picture
http://www.google.com/products/cata...og_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDUQ8wIwAw#


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## poodleholic (Mar 15, 2007)

Here's a better video showing how to do Poodle feet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GItdyvwpfmg&feature=related


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