Most groomers see a fair number of wire-coated breeds on their tables. A few examples are Airedale Terriers, Scottish Terriers, West Highland White Terriers, Cairn Terriers, and Schnauzers. These and many more are familiar breeds that require regular grooming.
It can sometimes feel a little confusing when you are perusing a grooming supply catalog for clipper blades. For instance, some blades from size 7 to 3 ¾ have teeth that, instead of all being the same length, alternate every other tooth from long to shorter. These are known as "skip tooth"blades, and I don't mean to date myself, but those were all that were available when I was a new groomer. I had been grooming for a while before being introduced to "F" or "FC," or finish-cut blades.
Most groomers try their hardest to make every dog they work on look the best it possibly can. But sometimes, we must be happy with a groom that is merely "good enough." Here are some examples of these times.
As a new groomer, I had one favorite type of slicker brush. I used it on everything from tiny toy breeds to giant hairy breeds. It worked just fine, but with time and experience, I realized there were other options that might make my job easier. As tools go, slicker brushes are not expensive, so purchasing a variety of styles can be done without breaking the bank.
It may happen with a dog you have safely handled many times before, or it may be a new-to-you grooming client on the table, but suddenly, the pet tries to bite. I believe that most dog-to-groomer bites happen because the dog is uncomfortable. It may be that the dog is frightened by some part of the process or (more likely) because some area of its body is painful
Pet groomers depend on various tools to practice their craft correctly, and good quality shears are a must-have. Because shears are something we depend on, we should know the proper terms of their parts and how to best take care of them.
Dogs can lose their visual acuity from many of the same woes that humans suffer. Cataracts, retinal problems, diabetes, and glaucoma can all cause dogs to lose some or all of their vision. Groomers can take some simple steps to help dogs with low or no vision to be more comfortable and confident during their spa sessions.
Grooming customers are familiar with dogs undergoing a heavy shed of their winter fur in the spring, but some are surprised when pets also shed their coats in the fall. The shortening days trigger dogs to let their summer coat go to make room for heavier winter coats to grow in. If you have some appointment space to spare this fall, market a seasonal shedding treatment to your customers to help fill those time slots.
Look through most groomers' toolboxes, and you will find that they use regular shears and thinning, blending, and chunking (or texturizing) shears. Each of these tools performs differently and is used to achieve unique results.
“Do you get bitten often?” people often ask me when they learn what my profession is. The truth is that I have not had many bite injuries in the four decades I’ve spent grooming, but I have had other grooming-related injuries. The most frequent is being scratched. Cats are the obvious source of some of my more memorable scratches because smacking out with a paw is a time-honored defense mechanism for felines, but the worst scratches I’ve endured have been from dogs.
