Anutta Blog

Life With Poodles

Grooming equipment needed to groom your own poodle.

by | Jan 15, 2015 | Uncategorized | 5 comments

QUESTION from Heather, one of our Std Poodle owners: “I’m considering grooming Afton and Sasha myself. What are the basic tools that you recommend for a beginner? Do you have any tips on the process? I’ve been watching some YouTube videos, but value your opinion and advice.”
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 I’ve helped many people over the years learn to do some basic upkeep on their dogs.  If you are seeking to save money, this is a good option, but it will cost you a lot of time and energy.  The monetary savings will add up much quicker if you have more than one Std Poodle, but it will cost you twice as much (or more) in time.  Please note and I am going to state this loudly, YOUR DOG NEEDS TO GO TO THE GROOMER AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR!  “But Becky, I have been grooming my own dogs for years, I don’t see why this is needed.”  Someday during your dog’s life you might become sick, or somehow unable to groom your dog.  Maybe you are pregnant with twins and placed on bed rest, as I was.  Maybe you develop a disease which causes pain in your joints, making it extremely hard to groom your own dog.  Maybe you want your dog looking professionally groomed once a year for the holidays.  All those reasons and more are why you should expose your dog to being groomed by someone other than yourself at least once a year, more often when they are young.  Having a professional train the puppy will give them the experiences they need to be lifetime good grooming clients.  Yearly trips will remind them it isn’t something to freak out about.   There is nothing easy about grooming a Std Poodle.  It takes time, energy, and hours of your day.  Many pet owners break up the grooming into several days, it is that time intensive unless you know what you are doing and have the tools needed to speed up the process.  You have to decide how much your time is worth and how much time you are going to put into this to make your dog look good.  Professional groomers earn their money 10 times over, but if you have the time, desire, and ability to learn new things then I will do my best to help.
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If you are undaunted by all this, keep reading.  Below are two links that provide detailed list of tools most of us use to groom our dogs.
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Both Ridgewood and Bijou Poodles have great web sites with tons of grooming information.I’m guessing you looked over that list and fell over thinking “Really?  I need ALL THAT??”  No, not to start.  For home grooming here is what I would suggest you get first and why.


1.  Andis 2 speed clippers.  I’ve had mine for 20 years and they have never skipped a beat.  Two speeds because sometimes you need high to get through harsh poodle coat.  I have not used a corded Wahl with blades, but I have heard they are good.  I have stuck with Andis because I can run down to Petco in a pinch and pick up a blade as needed.  Almost everyone carries their blades along with Oster clippers and blades.  I’ve used Andis and Oster clippers and I perfer Andis because the blades get hot before the housing on the clippers themselves.  The Oster would give me more time with a single blade, but once the clippers themselves got hot, the unit couldn’t perform fast enough to cut my dogs coat.  Maybe there was something wrong with my clippers, but both mine and my sisters Andis have never gotten hot, even running for an hour.  The blades get hot on the Andis pretty quick, but you can change the blade and put the hot blade on an ice pack, using your other blade while that one cools.  Which brings me to number two.

2.  Blades:  If I had to pick I would get two #5 full cut (FC)  blades for body cuts and a #15 blade for the face.  The clippers generally come with a #10 blade, but the #15 cuts a touch shorter.  Use the 10 on the feet and the 15 on the face.  Never buy a skip tooth blade as a novice.  You will just slice your dog open.  I am not joking… full tooth/cut or nothing.
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3.  Blade wash and oil.  Most new clipper sets come with the oil, but you will need to buy the wash.  Taking care of your blades will save you money.  Wash and oil them right when you get it out of the box to remove any manufacturing residue.  Then wash them and oil them after each use.  Keep them away from moisture.  If you use ice packs to cool them, make sure the ice pack is not wet, keep a rag or something on it to keep the blade dry.  Wet plus metal = rust = useless blade = $40-60 dollars wasted unless you know a good blade sharpener.
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4.  Brushes:  Regular slicker, soft slicker, pin brush, and comb.  Regular slickers are for longer coats, de-matting, etc.  You can scratch a dog with these, so you must learn to use them right.  Soft slickers are for short coats, blow drying coat, fluffing already brushed out tangle free hair.  Pin brush is for brushing between baths, keeping the coat mat free, and dealing with longer coat in general.  Pick a pin brush without ‘balls’ on the tips if you value coat thickness and length.  Those balls pull out the dogs hair and cause more damage than good.  Comb is needed for ‘comb overs’ to scissor the top knot, tail, and any poms you are growing on the body / legs.  Get a metal comb, preferably anti static.  I think both links above listed brands and types of combs, brushes, etc.  Read it over and pick a few things you want.  If I were going to be stuck on a deserted island with my poodles and could only take two of these, it would be the regular slicker and the comb and I would use a human pin type hairbrush for maintenance brushing for all of us.

5.  Scissors.  Buy a pair of good of 8.5 inch shears (scissors).  Geibs is a good brand and they have some nice entry (entree) level shear that will not break the bank.  10 inches is probably to long for most people to handle starting out and really not needed unless you are a professional.  I rarely use my 10 inch shears.  Around 8 inches will get the job done and save you a ton of time dealing with a Standard Poodle’s hair.  Using human size scissors on a Std Poodle is just painful.  I’m not going to put a link to anything because in a year’s time that link will be broken.  Just search for Geibs canine shears and see what you can find.  Entry level should run $70-80, a nice mid range Geibs Gator will be about $120-150.  You might think $80 dollars is a lot for a pair of scissors, but let me tell you these things save time and keep your hand from falling off.  They are balanced and will last a lifetime.  They come in curved and straight.  Just get the straight.  The curved has limited uses for beginners.

6.  Nail care:  I’d suggest a cordless small Dremel from the hardware store with the sandpaper heads.  Don’t go off and buy one of those ‘pet’ versions.  Just get a normal Dremel, it will cost about $30 and be useful for more than just your dogs nails.  It is safer and easier than cutting nails, especially if your dogs nails are black.  If you bought your puppy from me… likely they are black as I rarely have light colored dogs or pups.  If you want to trim them with a cutter, go watch some videos on YouTube and learn what you are doing.  Personally, I would suggest taking them to the vet and letting them trim their nails a couple times a month if you do not want to grind them.  It will save you pain and suffering and cost you about $15.  You could also ask your favorite groomer to do this as well on a drop in basis.  It is to complicated to explain how to do it without causing a bleed and making your dog hate the process.
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7.  Ear care I covered in a previous blog post.  Do a search on this blog.  I’ll put a link up later.  🙂
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OPTIONAL TOOLS
1.  Grooming table.  You can use your coffee table or the picnic table outside with a nonslip bath mat, but really a real grooming table is a back saver and keeps the dog contained to a small space.  The dogs have good traction so they aren’t slipping while you are picking up feet to shave them and they can’t back up while you are working on them.  They all like to creep backward as you work, so this stops from happening.  You can get a grooming arm, which has a loop on it to keep the dogs head steady and you can even use a leash to hold up their rear so they don’t sit.  Just a word of caution: NEVER leave the dog in the noose and walk away.  I don’t care how well trained your dog is, just do not do it.  Something could scare even the best trained dog, and cause them to panic, fall off, and hang themselves.  Take the loop off them, and tell them to stay if you want to work on not leaving the table.  If they jump off, they have not risked life or limb.  You can get a cheap starter table that will work for many years for about $100.  Get 36 inch x 24 inch for the table size.
2.  Wahl Moser Arco Cordless Clippers are my favorite thing on the planet, but they have limited use which is why they are not listed above.  These little guys are almost silent, light weight, and carry a charge that can last though an entire litter of pups face, feet, and butts!  They come with an adjustable blade that will clip short to bald in length (#9, #10, #15, #30, #40).  This is the only blade it uses and few places will sharpen this blade.  It is considered ‘use and toss’ and must be replaced unless you find a nice person who will sharpen them for you.  However, if you take care of this blade you should not need to replace it for a year or more.  It is good value for what it does.  I use this exclusively for my dogs faces, feet, belly area, and tails / butt area.  Keeps everything super short and clean.  This is a true pro touch to a home groom job.  If you are someone who is looking for a way to keep your dog looking spiffy between pro-grooms every few months, this would be the single most important purchase you can make.  Just make sure you only use this on a freshly bathed and dried coat.  It will save the blade.  Seriously, I love this thing.  It runs about $140

3.  More Blades:  To round out your collection, I would get a single 7 full cut blade for the summer body cuts, then you can use the 5 blade on the legs and make the dog look like it came fresh from the groomer.  I also like my 4 blade, which is a touch longer than the 5 blade.
4.  Dryers.  My most used dryer is my forced air Metro Commander 2-Speed.  I’ve had this same drier for 20 years and it has never needed a single repair.  This drier does not heat the air flowing though it.  What it does is blow super hard and forces the moisture off the dog.  It is not the fastest dryer, but it is great at taking 90% of the wet off the dog in a matter of minutes.  It can give you a really good professional look and not break the bank, plus this drier will not pop your breaker as it doesn’t use a heating element.  Using this paired with a basic human hairdryer to finish off the coat will speed up grooming and give you a great looking poodle.  They cost about $150.  If you want to save your back and have money to burn you can get a stand dryer.  A decent heated stand dryer will be $300-500.  Unless you are growing show coat, I don’t suggest investing in this.  If you keep your poodle fairly short, you can blow off the wet with the forced air dryer then touch them up with the human dryer and be done.
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The next blog post (likely next week, we are going to be busy this weekend with our 4 day holiday!) will give details about the order I groom in.  Bathing, brushing, clipping, scissoring, etc and why I do those things in a specific order.   If you want specific help with items and for me to do a search for something, please post in the comments below or drop me an email.  I do not want to post links in this blog, because in a year’s time the links will probably be broken.
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~Becky