How Long To Clip & Groom A Maltese/shitzu

[cavNrott]

I've seen someone take two and a half hours to do a job and it's crap at the end anyway.

I'm not a groomer but Dru has accurately described my efforts at grooming my Cavaliers. I'm improving with experience though

[BC]

I've seen someone take two and a half hours to do a job and it's crap at the end anyway.

I'm not a groomer but Dru has accurately described my efforts at grooming my Cavaliers. I'm improving with experience though ;)

Practise make perfect though so you will get there one day.

[Clyde]

I've seen someone take two and a half hours to do a job and it's crap at the end anyway.

I'm not a groomer but Dru has accurately described my efforts at grooming my Cavaliers. I'm improving with experience though ;)

Sorry Anne. If it's any consolation, Cavs take me ages to groom aswell!

[Rascalmyshadow]

Showdog you don't even know me or know what my skills are. I have customers that have their dogs clipped every 8 weeks I also have customers that come twice a year. I am fast and I do a good job. Every dog gets a break between their bath/dry and their clip. No dog is rushed through.

I can do a standard poodle in a lamb clip with FFT in 1 1/2 hours- 2 hours including bath and dry.

I take a bit longer with puppies so they relax and get used to it. I used to also groom small dogs from home, the owners would leave them with me for an hour and they would spend the last 15 mins having a play with my dogs.

Before I injured my neck and shoulder I was doing 10 dogs a day bymyself working an 8 hour day, I'm quite sure that adds up to less than one hour per dog.

[Chocolate]

Showdog you don't even know me or know what my skills are. I have customers that have their dogs clipped every 8 weeks I also have customers that come twice a year. I am fast and I do a good job. Every dog gets a break between their bath/dry and their clip. No dog is rushed through.

I can do a standard poodle in a lamb clip with FFT in 1 1/2 hours- 2 hours including bath and dry.

I take a bit longer with puppies so they relax and get used to it. I used to also groom small dogs from home, the owners would leave them with me for an hour and they would spend the last 15 mins having a play with my dogs.

Before I injured my neck and shoulder I was doing 10 dogs a day bymyself working an 8 hour day, I'm quite sure that adds up to less than one hour per dog.

Can I ask how many years have you been grooming for and how have your skills progressed from the first 6 months. Did it use to take a lot longer in the beginning? Also how long does it take you to dry the dog, do you have a professional dryer?

[Rascalmyshadow]

Chocolate I have been grooming for 12.5 years at first it took me ages probably about the times other people on here have said. My second boss mostly trained me to clip and she taught me to do a lot of scissor work, I always thought there must be a better way so the dogs didn't have to be on the table so long.

I slowly taught myself how to make the most of my clippers instead of doing so much scissoring, now I use a lot of plastic blocking blades and have ended up being exceptionally good at shaping legs and heads without spending hours scissoring.

I have found this method is much better for the dogs and easier on myself.

I went back and did a little more training with my first boss a few years back (she is a show judge, groomer and poodle breeder) just to get a few more tips and she told me not many groomers perfect the art of clipping and waste a lot of time using scissors.

Are you learning to groom by any chance?

[Doggrooma]

Im with you NicoleL Ive been grooming for years now and I can from start to finish do a malt/ shih x similar in about 45 too.

Bath, perfect clip, all scissoring #10, under arms and groin area, and with leaving ears and tail to scissor up.

I dont know what clippers you guys are using but I will only use Double Ks as they are far better IMO, and faster.

And as for A straight clip off of a heavily matted dog, Thats even easier, I dont understand why some of you charge more. The worse the dog is the shorter it goes. If hes HAS to be taken down to a #10, in summer when im doing heaps of them and an Im travelling well I can do a full clip off with bath and scissoring in about 20 min. NEVER do I rush, People come to me because of my quality of work. I have people coming to pay me to fix their dog after another groomer has muffed it. I pride myself on my quality of work. I also work in a salon and have everything at my finger tips. A lager dog like a standard poodle takes me about 2 hrs, and to do a schnauzer as it would look entering the ring about 2hrs to, as more often than not they come in in an unbrushed for 3 months state.

[Poodle wrangler]

I thought a couple of responses to NicoleL suggested she was either exaggerating or too quick. Perhaps not meant that way, but came across that way.

I think Nicole's poodles look beautifully groomed.

I tried the snap-on combs, too (due to lack of skill in my case) and found they can make a huge difference.

[Rascalmyshadow]

doggrooma I'm glad you came along LOL I was starting to doubt myself and timed all the dogs I groomed today just to make sure I had my timing right.

Poodlewrangler I didn't mean to come acroos that way I was just trying to answer the OP's question honestly, I felt like a few people jumped on me just because my skills are different.

[Poodle wrangler]

..

Poodlewrangler I didn't mean to come acroos that way I was just trying to answer the OP's question honestly, I felt like a few people jumped on me just because my skills are different.

Nah, I meant you weren't the only one to read it and think you were being jumped on .

All due respect to people who do things their own way and you never know exactly how things are meant when they're on the net.

DOL would be a boring place if everyone agreed.

[Chocolate]

Chocolate I have been grooming for 12.5 years at first it took me ages probably about the times other people on here have said. My second boss mostly trained me to clip and she taught me to do a lot of scissor work, I always thought there must be a better way so the dogs didn't have to be on the table so long.

I slowly taught myself how to make the most of my clippers instead of doing so much scissoring, now I use a lot of plastic blocking blades and have ended up being exceptionally good at shaping legs and heads without spending hours scissoring.

I have found this method is much better for the dogs and easier on myself.

I went back and did a little more training with my first boss a few years back (she is a show judge, groomer and poodle breeder) just to get a few more tips and she told me not many groomers perfect the art of clipping and waste a lot of time using scissors.

Are you learning to groom by any chance?

I did a course about a year ago and have done some clipping during this time but just a few times a month so I think I still have a lot to learn. We were not taught to #10 under the arms so that is one good tip as the armpits are always so matted and take ages to comb out. When you refer to using a blocking blade do you mean a plastic comb attachment? So you would you recommend rather than scissoring the head that the clipper be used with a comb attachement? Can I ask what tools you use to dematt and brush the coat out with to begin with as I have found it can take a long time just to get the coat totally matt free?

[Chocolate]

Im with you NicoleL Ive been grooming for years now and I can from start to finish do a malt/ shih x similar in about 45 too.

Bath, perfect clip, all scissoring #10, under arms and groin area, and with leaving ears and tail to scissor up.

I dont know what clippers you guys are using but I will only use Double Ks as they are far better IMO, and faster.

And as for A straight clip off of a heavily matted dog, Thats even easier, I dont understand why some of you charge more. The worse the dog is the shorter it goes. If hes HAS to be taken down to a #10, in summer when im doing heaps of them and an Im travelling well I can do a full clip off with bath and scissoring in about 20 min. NEVER do I rush, People come to me because of my quality of work. I have people coming to pay me to fix their dog after another groomer has muffed it. I pride myself on my quality of work. I also work in a salon and have everything at my finger tips. A lager dog like a standard poodle takes me about 2 hrs, and to do a schnauzer as it would look entering the ring about 2hrs to, as more often than not they come in in an unbrushed for 3 months state.

The clipper I am using is a Wahl. I'll have to look up the Double K. I found that trying to clip through matts seems to blunt the blade, is my clipper not powerful enough? How often would you recommend getting blades sharpened or should I just buy new ones? If you can do a dog in 20 minutes what sort of dryer do you have to get it dry in that time as I find it takes me a good half hour to dry the dog?

[Doggrooma]

Chocolate, when i said About the #10 Clip and bath thats just a towel dry, Ive always let them naturally dry cos there aint much left to dry anyway. #10 clip offs are done before a bath. The hair that close isnt dirty.But as for a dryer I use a Liberty Twin motor force dryer. I always rough clip before a bath as it cuts down drying time. The initial outlay of the double k's is expensive, and they take some getting used to as they are cable driven, not just a HOT little motor. If you have a good sharener you'll get heaps of use from your blades, I only get mine done every few months. Also comes down to care of them. As for getting out the mats, why? If they cant be bothered brushing the dog why would you try attempt a long clip. I leave that priveledge to owners that actually brush their pets. If they come in matted they get a (Shear magic) #5(whisker shorther and goes under more mats than oster and Wahl) or a #7 or worst case #10.

I too NicoleL learnt the long Scissor this that and the other, then I learnt how to really make the most of my clippers. Never looked back!

The best way to better yourself is on your own, but take in what others say.

Edited October 5, 2007 by Doggrooma

[Vehs]

heh, I'm not even going to touch the time question after the PMs I got last time! :smurf:

but

Does it take anyone longer than one/half hours? Also lets say the dog has pretty bad matts all over and is a real figit bum, hiding everypart of it's body from you that you're trying to work on - would this take twice as long and so would you charge twice as much accordingly? Also any feedback on why little dogs detest having their front legs clipped?

My shop works on a flat fee for dog sizes and doesn't take the condition or the behaviour of the dog into account (if I had my own place I would, and I would charge by time taken) some contract groomers might charge double if it took them twice as long as they thought it would.

Also be aware if you are booking your dog into a shop while it may only take the groomer x ( ) amount of time, the dog maybe their a lot longer.

I think little dogs just aren't used to having the legs handled as much, also some people can pick the legs up in the wrong manner so it is uncomfortable for the dog. It's a bit of a contradiction as you'd think many little dogs would get picked up and cuddled more than bigger dogs and thus be used to a lot of handling where as bigger dogs might just get a stroke down the back, but I can't think of a bigger dog that has hated having their legs done

[BC]

I think little dogs just aren't used to having the legs handled as much, also some people can pick the legs up in the wrong manner so it is uncomfortable for the dog. It's a bit of a contradiction as you'd think many little dogs would get picked up and cuddled more than bigger dogs and thus be used to a lot of handling where as bigger dogs might just get a stroke down the back, but I can't think of a bigger dog that has hated having their legs done

I know what you mean. I have rarely had a problem with larger dogs legs, but the littlies can get a bit funny.

In saying that, most of the ones I have problems with are just left outside to their own devises, and as they're matted and dirty their owners dont have much interaction with them as they smell So they have not had much handling at all, let alone their feet and legs. This is just what I have found.

The little ones that are well cared for and gromoed regularly I dont have that much of a problem with at all, unless they have had a prior injury or pain etc (that I have later found out from the owner). They will then kick up a bit of a stink.

[GoldiesRgr8Poodles2]

Actually grooming time from start to finish for us is between 45 and an hour depending on coat length. We preclip the very long or matted but the others go straight to the bath. But total time at my salon is about 2 hours because we dont cage them and let them all run around and play together with supervision. They LOVE it! And so do the owners and if the owners dont then there dogs are put in another area so they cant play.

We charge a flat rate $45 for a small dog and the only time we charge more is if there are a lot of knots and the owner expects us to brush them out. I had a m/s that I charged $60 for because its ears were badlyknotted and around its head and neck and took nearly an hour just to brush them out. We are very gentle and the dog was so patient didnt even squirm.

We under no circumstances brush out fully matted or felted dogs! I have 3 felts that im keeping to show my lazy clients what will happen if they dont wake up and its working. All winter people ahve still kept their appts so it wouldnt happen come spring. Makes it a lot easier for us now.

I learnt how to clip by a woman who relied totally on clippers and only scissored feet. I self taught haw to hand scissor and especially to do poodle and bichon looks. The combined the two. I love being able to do both on a dog and get it totally smooth in half the time and the fact Im taking on so many new clients by recomendation of other I have to be dong somthing right.

Im with NicoleL and Doggrooma. I do the same clean armpit and groins unless told not too. and usually can in about 45 to and hour.

[Baby Dragon]

Sorry to hijack, but can one of you professional groomers please tell me what i should be using to lubricate or clean my clippers and blades with?

I have Andis clippers with Oster blades and I have no idea how to care for them.

They will be used about every six weeks or so on one dog.

Thanks heaps

[Clyde]

Blossom some good info here http://www.freewebs.com/clipperbladesharpening/index.htm

Just navigate through. Colin is always happy to answer questions too. I use him for all my clipper needs after another DOL'er recommended him, and he's fab.

[percyk]

i suggest if u ever get one of those matty kind dogs u start brushing them with a baby brush right from day one and get them used to scissor noises round their noses and eyes and bellies...sometimes u have to be very persistent if the pups are nervous ..the knots and matts on their bellies can get really sore

soooo many of these little hairy ones get dumped..not cos theyre super aggressive ( even tho they can be snarly/ barky as well ) but because the owners have let it go...the fur becomes so matted that its nigh impossible to get thru without a shave...owners cant bear the cost nor the embarrassment of letting their dog get into that state...ive seen this happen with people who should know better but the finehair gets soo knotty soooooo quickly that u have to be a real lover of grooming to stay on top of this

funnily enough ( or not so funnily ) their seems to be a bit of a correlation btw the hair matting and socialisation ...dogs that are kept in top condition are often the ones taken out by their proud owners and the scruffy ones get left in the bac kyards to get scruffier and develop those phobias that little dogs can get about big dogs, children etc...

so keep the matts under control with brushing and watch the four armpit areas..that way u save the groomer time if its only the clipping and shaping that needs to be done

[Angelina]

Wow, that was the most informative thread. Thank you everyone.

i have 3 dogs, I take to get groomed, mine are generally done every 10-12 weeks, and they are really needing it by then. I brush and trim a bit in between.

I must say, last time, the shitzu and maltese cross, had some terrible matts (I was embarressed), but my groomer told me she had seem a lot worse.

I work in the city, and drop my dogs in in the morning on the way to work and pick them up in the afternoon.

Do many people do this?

I would love to know how to groom mine myself, but I tried to once, and I made a real mess of it. I just love the way they look after the groomers.

You all sound very talented to me.

By the way, a question. When I lived in Melbourne, I used to go to a salon and they used to do between my shitzu's nose between the eyes, it was almost shaved. You could feel the skin, it was really smooth.

The groomer up here doesn't do that, just a question, do many people do this? I quite liked it. (I probably haven't explained it very well)