cloudnine wrote:
You can get a good pair of clippers (oster A-5's w/ a 10 blade) for around a hundred bucks.

A good slicker brush will cost you less than ten bucks.

Blades are around Twenty bucks and I'd recommend a 5 and a 7 for body.

Decent scissors you can get for twenty bucks. You dont need to spend a fortune on scissors especially since you are only grooming one dog.

Even when I owned my own grooming shop, I did not own anything ridiculously extravagant. I was trained to groom by someone who shows Bichons, so I do know how to scissor...well...and I dont need a hundred dollar pair of scissors to do it.

I agree that using scissors on your dog, without knowledge, especially if matted, is DANGER and a good way to have to go to the vet for stitches.

I think you did a pretty decent "home job" on your Shih.

CN

ETA, oh my, didnt know you did that all w/ scissors....eek! Glad you didnt cut him!

It kind of started out slowly. I was trimming the bottoms of his feet. He was lounging on his back on my lap while I was doing it, and I noticed a little bit of curly tangling in his "pubes" (lol). It gets matted really easily there... he slides around on his belly, and I'm sure he licks himself (guh) so I decided to comb it out before it got any worse. Then I got the idea to just trim it a bit, to make it less mattable. I also trimmed the insides of his back thighs (whatever you call that on a dog...). Then I trimmed his armpits, because he also gets matted there. Then I did the rest of his stomach... I just took small chunks and cut them about an inch away from the skin (which is why he's all different lengths). I thought it looked pretty good, so I decided to do the rest of him. I got down on the floor so he wouldn't be so floppy (he was snoozing the whole time). I didn't touch his ears or his tail, or his face, although I shortened the hair on his cheeks and the back/top of his head. He didn't really have any matting, I've been brushing him a lot lately. Honestly, there weren't any close calls.... but I guess it's like letting your kid ride without a helmet. Just because you get away with it sometimes doesn't mean you always will... and I would feel terrible if I ever cut him. Even if I just tug on his hair he gives me this appalled, soulful look with his big dark eyes... he's pretty much my favourite thing in the world.

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