Grooming myself
 

Can anyone recommend a good quiet clipper to use on my baby? She is 4.5 lbs.
The groomer injured my other dog so I now groom at home. I use scissors but I want to get a nice puppy cute and it's too time consuming for both us with scissors. Any suggestions?

I am curious about this too

For Bella she doent like her rump messed with and her lady wiskers but it must be done so for her rump I put my hand between her back legs and hold her belly with my hand and if i need to i lift her a wee bit off the mat and brush gently so if I come across a tangle it wont pull and cause her to hurt. It seems if they can get sure that it wont pull and hurt they get better about it , it does take time, lots of time. If I do pull or hurt her I stop and say im sorry and kiss her.

I will add that Bellas hair is silky and does not tangle much at all and we have never had a mat. I do groom her every day and bath ever week to week and a half.

Now the lady wisker area if it is all stuck together it will wet and clean if first and then the comb goes through it much better .
I dont hold her chin she really doesnt like that and I get that I wouldnt either so I hold her head .

I think the biggest thing is to keep it from being painful and as fun as you can make it . I give a treat at the begining and one at the end.

I never took Gracie to a professional groomer until she was almost 6 months old but her grooming started day one! If you wait until your pup is old enough to go to a groomer before they have grooming experience you are asking for trouble and your groomer will not be happy either.

If you start combing your puppy from the first day you have it you will find that eventually you will have a well behaved pup that likes being combed. Their coats don't really need combing when they are young but they do need to learn how to accept the comb and the handling it takes to have a properly groomed dog.

Giving a weekly bath with a pet shampoo that does not contain sulfate or other chemicals will also help your pup learn the ropes of grooming. It is far easier to teach a young pup these things than to try to introduce and older pup to being handled and groomed. It may seem like a struggle at first but doing the combing at least twice daily and bathing at least once weekly will set up a routine that lasts for a lifetime. (always make it fun and end with a treat)

Yup brush everyday even if its a little but you are just gtting them use to it. Brush there teeth also. Little at a time

I'm so sorry - I should clarify - first, I meant a nice puppy cut. I see in my post I said "nice puppy cute"...my yorkie is 7.5 years old - she is very used to the groomer, she has been to the groomer many times, but I bathe her weekly and lately I have stopped using groomers because my other dog, a 5 year old pompoo, was badly injured by the groomer. It has been 2 years and he still limps. He had torn ligaments. Since then, I groom both of my doggies at home.

I was hoping someone could recommend a good clipper that is good for a very tiny dog. I'll also be using it on the pompoo. :)

For now, I just use hair scissors and very cautiously trim.

Same with SirTeddykins. Lots of patience and treats! Zoey's bit more stubborn. Sometimes, I have to hold Zoey's muzzle gently so she wouldn't bite the flea comb or turn her head. After couple strokes, I'd let her rest a bit and offer a treat. It's been working well so far.

Many members here groom at home for maybe reasons. (I'm one of them.) If you decide to go to a groomer, just make sure you research them first. Perhaps get some recommendations from friends that use groomers.

There are a lot of good groomers out there but some of the horror stories I've read/heard makes me paranoid. lol

I hope I am a fast learner, but I bought a grooming table, clippers, brushes and all the other stuff recommended on YT. At the very least, I can now keep my sideburns trimmed! I even offered to trim my wife's hair (We won't go there...)

I dunno which is the best. But my wife uses an Andis and has a Wahl. But clippers are nice. She uses those but but still uses scissors. She has her cosmetology licensees but doesn't do it for a living anymore. But they both make noise not to bad.

I use Andis Easy Style clippers and taught myself how to cut my pup. They cost $20 at my local Sally's. I took time to get him used to them first by turning them on and putting them close to him and petting and loving on him. He was still a bit scared when I first used them though, but at least he wasn't a complete basket case. My Yorkie is only 5 lbs too so it is a bit awkward to use them in some spots. I do my finish up work, leg and face trimming with scissors. I also use a mustache trimmer for the bottoms of his feet and between his toes.

I watched and read quite a bit about cuttings and trimmings before I got the courage to try it myself. But finally jumped in with the outlook that the hair grows back if I do too badly. Each cut turned out great though. Ultimately I wanted to have a nice summer cut because we have so many burrs here. I played a little bit with his facial hair too.

It was hard to find videos or tutorials to teach myself. But this is one that I studied and is the cut that we use now. I love it compared to the grooming process we used to go through before any trims. He is a breeze to bath and dry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibd7ey7sujA

Just a FYI: Jellybean is just over six months old now. He is small and has had about 4 or 5 cuts now. Seems like I need to touch up his cut every other week. As fast as his hair grows, he could use it every week, but I give him a break. Also, because I didn't want to lose his puppy colors so quickly, his first couple of cuts were step down cuts where I cut a little more off each time. We now are on full summer cut which looks similar to a Schnauzer cut with variations to the face.

Hope this is helpful to you and I wish you the best of luck.

I just watched that youtube video....:eek: that was painful to watch. Is this how groomers usually groom dogs? Maybe it's because this is my first grooming video, but I kept thinking that she was going to injure the dog.

P.S. I do understand that some groomers need to handle dogs that are not good clients, but the dog in this video was pretty good.

I didn't watch the video...was she rough w/ the doggie?

Personally, I don't bring my dogs to a groomer bc I just can't deal w/ leaving them in that vulnerable situation ("vulnerable" in my eyes, that is)...it freaks me out way too much. I also do NOT like those box-dryers they use either, I think they can scare the living crap out of dogs.

That said, I do think that some people here have found awesome groomers whom they truly trust, and that's wonderful.

I would take them after their shots are completed. Grooming at home can be fun too though! What type of cut do you want?

Sunni is my first Yorkie, but having had Shih Tzu's for over 25 yrs, I'm used to daily grooming needs. I haven't taken the new puppy, Sunni to the groomer yet..she just had her last set of shots a week ago, but its not necessary yet. I do know that as soon as I got her I started to pet her all over..opening her mouth, handling her feet..checking under her tail and in her ears, just so she would get used to being handled. A few weeks in, I started using a soft brush on her but she is still teething and was all over my hands and biting at the brush..lol, so I got another brush with a plastic handle so when she was biting on one, I just pick up the other. Takes longer, but she's easy as can be now and actually loves being brushed. Its soothing if you don't get stressed out:)

I feel like she was a little rough. Even some groomers complained about how she handled the dog in the youtube reviews. But then again, I'm reviewing this from an inexperienced viewer.