Clippers!
The do not have the combs-but since I have already found out that we are going to burn up many of these I think we will have extras! |
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| Bethany,
I recommend you revisit the "economics and practicalities" of using economy clippers for trimming your Bobtail. While you have found a very inexpensive source most of these types of clippers operate far too fast (strokes per minute) for effective clipping and at very high temperatures, both on the blades and for the motor itself. The result is often an uneven cut and the potential for burns, both to the dog's skin and your hand. And just how good is the blade? Is it truly sharp enough not to pull and tear at the coat/skin. As with scissors and good knives a good sharp/resharpenable edge costs! The old adage "good cutting edges are not cheap, cheap cutting edges are not good" is probably very applicable here. Good "dog clippers" with quality resharpenable/changable blades can be had on sale for about $100.00, sometimes less at supply house clearances. While this represents about 20 pair of economy clippers what is the value of comfort to you and your dog, the value of an even cut and the inconvenience of the clipper failing in the middle of a trimming and you not having a back-up/replacement immediately available? As I posted in a "dog dryer" thread a few weeks ago my family first used common "human hair" dryers when drying our dogs after a bath as they were cheap and "sort of" did the job. The false economy of these was quickly revealled when they lasted only a few months and had to be repeatedly replaced. While the "up-front" cost of our Oster dryers was enormous they have "paid for themselves" many times over in simple terms of alternate dryer costs and through the intangibles of reliability, quality of results and peace of mind that our dogs weren't suffering hair damage or overheating, etc. A few thoughts for you to consider come future clipper replacements. Cheers Carl |
| Carl,
I am expecting delivery of my first OES towards the end of next month and have been reading this forum for about the last 6-8 weeks. I like all newbies have been trying to decide what food, shampoo, grooming tools, etc. to buy. Can you make a suggestion on a 'good' set of clippers to use? I've moved the Oster Golden A-5 to the top of my list, but haven't decided whether to get the single speed of the 2-speed? Thanks in advance, Mike |
| I'm looking, too and I've read good opinions about Andis too, I don't think anyone here has mentioned that brand. I've read that they don't pull the hair as much as other brands.
Any thoughts? Jil |
| Mike,
Congrats on your new Bobtail Baby!! Have you been to visit him/her yet or won't you get to do that until about 6 weeks? Every breeder has differing "rules" about visits before the pup goes to his/her forever home. Before making any recommendations on grooming tools etc I really need to know your intentions regarding how you plan to keep your pup. Will he be a show dog or pet only? Will you keep him in full coat or keep him clipped in a "puppy cut? Will he be groomed at home or will you send him out periodically and only do the "touch-ups" at home? etc. I'd be happy to offer comments but you need to set the baseline first. The Oster A-5 family of clippers have pretty much been the "defacto" standard for the dog clipping industry for a very long time. Ours is over 20 years old although I have to admit it sees little use compared to a professional grooming shop. I've never really seen a great need for the dual speed model but I've never really had the option either. The biggest points to consider are motor size and current draw, blade interchangeability, ease off blade change, blade availability and comb availability. Apparently Andis clipper blades are interchageable with Oster so that speakes well for their versatility. Anyway let me know a bit more about your plans and I'll offer further commentary then. Cheers Carl |
| We haven't seen the puppy yet, with the exception of 1 week old pictures.
He will be a pet with a puppy cut done at home with possibly an occasional visit to the groomer. There is a ton of info on different foods (some of it conflicting) which actually makes it more difficult to decide. To crate train him or not? I work at home and will be here 24/7 with an occasional trip out that may take 1-4 hours. Decisions, Decisions <grin>. Mike |
| Being a groomer, I can offer a suggestion on clippers. I use Laube clippers and find them to be the best if taken care of properly. Clean blades and cool them often. Lubricate often also. The other types are fine but they don't seem to have the cutting power of Laube.
I'm curious though. What do you use the clipper for on an old english? I realize that when they are matted you have to strip them, but that is only when absolutely necessary. I would use only scissors maybe a #10 blade on the underbelly only. I work on pet quality animals as a rule so I know little about show quality grooming. I would do a puppy cut by scissoring or using a guide with the clippers(this way causes lines in the coat though) May |
| May- When you do a puppy cut on an OES- how long do you normally take it down to? I love the 2-3" look- (Like how Jill's Belle looks now) can that be done by hand with shears or a clipper/guide by the amateur at home?
Karen  |
| Karen:
Usually if the cut is more than 1 1/2 " long a scissor cut is done. It's hard to control the guide (my opinion) when it's more than a 1 1/2". Using a comb and scissors on the hair, lift up the hair in the comb to the measurement you want and cut. Keep doing this all around the body then down the leg. With practice you can do quite well. I have used larger clip-on guides and then used the technique I discribed as well after. Hope this helps answer your question. I used to do this on my dogs even before I was a professional groomer. Let me know if this helps. May |
| Thanks! That makes sense. I don't have a sheepie yet, but want to maintain that length coat when I do. I appreciate the info.
Karen |
| Thanks everyone for the great info.
Mike |
| I just bought clippers. YIKES! US $175 for the real good ones (Oster), but only $90 for the Andis. Guess which ones I got.
The Andis clipper unit is much heavier than a "home set", but has the same general size and appearance. The blades appear to be VERY high quality, and it came with 4 combs up to 3/8", along with the usual #10 blade. Overall, I'm happy with the Andis unit; but I bought this to do a shave, and the #10 blades won't go through the mats -- they are just such a mess of undercoat & oil. I'm guessing that the teeth of the #10 are too fine to allow forward progress through such a mess. I've resorted to hacking away at them (carefully) with very sharp scissors (poor puppy!!) and a lot of self-butt-kicking for letting her get to this condition in the first place. I finally got her coat taken down to the point where I can clip. It only took 6 hours, but she already feels much, much better; and I only feel slightly less guilty. Now I get to finish her up today with that #10. I've been going with the hair grain direction ... I can't bring myself to cut opposite for some reason. I had hoped to be able to use the 3/8" comb, but the scissor hack marks are still visible, so I guess I'll use progressively smaller combs until I get something that works. What # blades do the pros use to get through horribly matted undercoats? A coarser blade? Like a #5? Whatever they are, I now have a few months to get a set, I guess ... and I know somebody out there has the answer
Thanks, (and resolving never to let my poor pup get like this again) --Jim-- |
| Dear Jim:
I groom in a professional shop in CT. We use a Laube Clipper because the Andis are not as powerful to work at those matts. A #10 blade should cut through a matt like butter. If the matts are extreme, you could use a #30, but thats going to make it bald. The higher you go in a number of a blade the closer it shaves. When I have to shave down a dog, I like to use a #4 or #5. Often I use a #7, but in a badly matted dog I have to use a #10. Bathing afterward puffs up what hair they have left, but you have to find the blade that evens in all out. If you start with a #7, you might get away with using #5 after to even it out. The clip-on combs are for dematted and combed-through hair only, that has length. May |
| Thanks, May. It's always good to get a professional viewpoint, thanks for being here!!
As you can see here, either I've reassembled this unit wrong (I lubed it prior to using it), or there's no way on earth that #10 is going to go through a mat. (Is is "mat" or "matt"??) 
There's a full 1/4" between the outer blade (the stationary one) and the inner blade (the one that the motor moves back and forth) -- I marked that space with the blue dots on the right. The distance between the tines on a #10 is only 1/16" (1.5 mm) ... that's not much space for a really horrendous mat(t). That's what I've been seeing ... no matter how fast that motor goes, the density of the mat isn't allowing the tines (and hence, the inner blade) to touch the material. Being the amateur I am, I'd tend to think that a wider space between the tines would help get through mats. Or maybe the edges of the two blades need to be closer together? I can't see -- for the life of me -- how a faster/stronger motor is going to be able to reach the material any better. Set me straight? Thanks, --Jim-- |
jtison wrote: What # blades do the pros use to get through horribly matted undercoats? A coarser blade? Like a #5? Whatever they are, I now have a few months to get a set, I guess ... and I know somebody out there has the answer Well I'm no Pro, but I use a number 5 "skip tooth" blade for getting through mats. #5 leaves 1/4", and the skip tooth allows the mats to get to the blades.
Here's a great page filled with pictures of blades. Click here to see OSTER blades (I don't know how their pricing is, last time I bought a blade it was about $10 at Cherrybrook, now they look like they're in the $20's) http://www.cherrybrook.com Great thing is, you have time on your side to find the best prices. |
| Mike,
When we got our OES thru a rescue group, she was about 8 months old and crate trained. I had never crate trained any of my other dogs before, so I wasn't to keen on keeping Sam in her crate. However, I am really glad I did. I am home most of the time, so when I do go out, she goes "to her room". She also sleeps in there at night. That part was hard, even though she was crate trained, she was not potty crate trained and having to get up at 3 am to let her out was not fun. She is getting better about sleeping thru the night now that she is getting older. If you go back to some of the older posts in the behavior index, you'll probably will agree about crate training. These dogs are smart and crafty!!! Luckily, Sam only likes to chew on one chair and she also steals shoes. She doesn't chew the shoes, she hides them outside.  She also has relandscaped the backyard, so we have to keep on checking on her when she is outside! She hasn't attempted the garbage can (yet)...... |
| I work with matts all the time, and yes, a skip tooth makes it easier to get through a matt. But you must be talking about a small matt, because the matting I see is on the skin. You have to get a blade under the matt to remove it. A #10 blade does this with ease. In the case of a small matt the 4 or 5 blade in a skip tooth will do it. Also, the skip 7 blade is good. But the length between the cutting edge and the teeth determine the length it cuts from the skin. Therefore if the matt is close to the skin, you must remove it with the blade that cuts closest to the skin. Usually, if a blade is not cutting, it's the wrong size or the clipper cannot handle it. (I spell matt that way out of habit, I don't know if it's correct)
Just from experience the trouble you are having seems to me to be either the blade not working right or the clippers. I remember when I was just starting, I had a heck of a time getting used to holding the clippers just right to allow them to cut. This also might be the problem. Let the blade do the work, not the force of your hand on the clipper. Hope this helps. May |
| I have a clipper question too. If I get a #3 blade to cut hair 1/2" evenly all over coat, should I also be using a plastic comb guide? If so, should I get that also at a 1/2" or should I get it longer? I'm not confident that I can give an even puppy cut with scissors so I'm thinking this may be the best way to go for me. |
| When you are useing a plasic snap-on guide, you always use the #30 blade under it. It needs this power of the 30 blade to cut nice and even. The attachment determines the length of the hair left. The #3 blade will give you a nice short version of a puppy cut by itself.
May |
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