Advanced Guide to clipping your pet
A closer look at clipping:
Choosing The Right Clipper
The clipper you choose to use will primarily depend on your dog's coat type. Light duty clippers are generally only appropriate for puppies, or for light trimming (touch ups on sanitary areas, face and ears) on adult dogs with thin and light coats. Medium duty clippers are still not best practice when it comes to purchasing a clipper for full body grooming. Medium clippers may allow you to do touch ups and trimming on dogs with a light to medium thickness coat. Really if you're looking at taking on full body clipping, your starting point should be heavy duty clippers. These clippers will allow you to trim and complete full body grooming on most coat types. Difficult coats like double coats, wool, fleece, particularly knotted or matted coats will likely require a super duty clipper. In summary, super duty clippers can basically get through anything. Including large animals. Another consideration when deciding what clipper to use is your dog's temperament. Dogs with an anxious temperament, or who are particularly anxious around grooming, may be better suited to a quieter Clipper.
Working With The Right Blades
Here's a little list of some of the most common blades: #10, #7FC, #7/#7 Skip Tooth, #5FC, #5 Skip Tooth, #3 ¾FC, #5/8FC. To make sense of blade numbers, you need to think in reverse order; so the lower the blade number the longer the cut. A solid, safe blade for a short haircut is a #5FC. It's short enough to get underneath mats, but long enough that you'll be able to achieve a soft, fuzzy look. Unless you have experience it is recommended you avoid Skip Tooth blades. These blades alternate between long and short teeth and it is therefore all too easy for skin to become stuck and damaged. If you have a more experienced hand and are using a Skip Tooth blade, always pull the skin smooth and taut, never use on any areas with delicate skin (groin or flank), or on elderly dogs and never run the blade parallel to loose skin. Finish Cut or FC blades are safer in the hands of beginners because their teeth are all the same length. The only exception to this is the #7FC blade which has teeth that are spread further apart- putting the skin at risk of getting caught between the teeth.
Blade Quality
To ensure a smooth and safe clip, you will want to ensure that your blades are sharp. The first step to maintaining a sharp blade, is proper coat preparation. Attempting to clip through dirt, dander and dead hair will blunt your blade much quicker. You can also work with a few blades, so you aren't using one to the point of being blunt, or consider having your blades professionally sharpened.
Coat Prep
Brush Well. With a slicker brush, followed by a comb through with a stainless steel comb. Attempt to work through as many of the knots and mats as you can at this point. If you leave mats in of the wash, they'll actually become tighter once wet.
Wash Thoroughly. With dog-specific shampoo followed by dog-specific conditioner. Rinse thoroughly with warm water.
Dry Completely. With absorbent towels first, followed by a hair dryer on low heat at an adequate distance from your dog.
Brush Well (Again). This will ensure you've removed as much loose hair as possible before you begin to clip. This will keep your blade as sharp as possible for as long as possible and set you up for a smooth clip.
Without completing the steps above carefully and thoroughly, a clipper (no matter what clipper) is going to really struggle moving through the coat. Clipping is really the tip of the iceberg- with 90% of a groom occurring 'beneath the surface'.
For a more comprehensive look at coat prep, take a look at Ultimate Guide to Coat Prep.
How-To
Always oil your blade first. Oil is a multi-tasking wonder product! Lubricating your blade will mean less friction, less heat and a higher performing blade. It will also mean your blades will last longer.
The tip of the blade should be held down against the skin and the body of the clipper should be held up on an angle. The shorter the blade, the larger the angle should be. Where needed, you can use your other to pull the skin tight to prevent any loose skin from becoming caught.
Move slowly across the coat. This is safer and will result in neater finish.
For a natural looking cut, clip in the direction of the coat. Start at the back of the neck, moving down the back and then down the legs. You'll need to concentrate on the direction of the coat as it will change and if you don't change with it you'll end up with lines.
For dogs with particularly thick hair, where you're after a smooth finish, you can actually go directly against the coat. This technique may be especially useful for wire coats (like terriers). For this technique, start toward the bottom of your dog's hind legs, move over the bottom, over the back and up the neck. This could be a great alternative to try if you've attempted clipping with the direction of the coat and are ending up with a choppy clip.
For a natural finish that will compliment the shape of your dog, clip the head with a blade that is two sizes longer than the blade used for the body. So if you used a #5 for the body for example, you would use a #3 for the head.
A good rule of thumb for sensitive areas like sanitary areas, the armpits or around the eyes is to use a #10 blade.
To prevent a build up of hairs impacting your clip, intermittently clear out your blade and clipper. You can do this simply with an old toothbrush. If you have an attachment comb clipped on, you'll need to take this off to clear the blade.
Go in more detail of the procedure and order of prep work.
Note: You don't have to go into tremendous detail when it comes to the prep work as you will flesh that out more in the topic "Ultimate guide to coat prep and why its important"
Refer to this video COMPLETE DOG GROOMING LESSON how to GROOM a DOG from START to FINISH - YouTube
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