Dog Grooming Equipment

Your dog grooming bath will be your biggest equipment expense. The school’s Hydraulic Baths were bought straight from China on Alibaba. As we were buying tables from there too, it was more cost effective to do this and deal with the import licence. It might not be worth it for one bath though. Make sure you shop around and check out Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace for second hand ones.

Micro fibre towels are an excellent choice for drying off your dog. They work like a Chamis Leather and can be wrung out again to keep absorbing the water. They are also quick to wash and dry. You can get these from groomer suppliers, but the best value ones I have found are at Crufts. I take an old ladies shopping trolly and fill it up at the end of a hectic day’s shopping.

It is advisable to get one of these to help look after your back. We don’t have the electric ones because the wire could be a trip hazard or chewed through by a dog. If you can think around these hazards, you might choose these. We have recently purchased 3 brand new tables from Ebay for £200 each. Do check around. Just because something is expensive, it doesn’t mean it is better.

We have 3 types of dryers. Small blasters for the bulk of our work, Stand dryers for heads and fluff drying and Big Blasters for large and/or double coated dogs.

We mainly use the Heiniger Saphir cordless clippers. Cordless are expensive but you don’t need to dance around a wire or risk them getting knocked onto the floor if a dog walks into the lead.

We use the Heiniger Style Mini Trimmer for clipping out pads. If your budget is limited to start with, you can also use Arcos for this until you have saved enough to buy them. If you think they aren’t working, it could be because the blade has stuck. Spray them with clipper spray and give them a wiggle and they should work.

This is an essential bit of kit in my experience. It is a 5 in 1 clipper which can be used for hygiene, pads, tight matts and even clipping off a heavily pelted coat. Arcos need to be bought here but you can buy cheap 5 in 1 blades off AliExpress that fit.
If you think they aren’t working, it could be because the blade has stuck. Spray them with clipper spray and give them a wiggle and they should work. It could also be because you have dropped them, so take the battery out and pull the two connecting switches out (I use a Fondue Stick). It is worth investing in some switch cleaning spray to clean the connecting points inside the Arcos and on the charger.

Get plenty of these. Blades go blunt fairly quickly so you will always need a back up whilst the other goes for sharpening. We recommend 7F, 5F, 3F (sometimes called a 3 ¾ F) and a 15 to use under your comb attachments. Blades are universal and fit any brand of clippers. I recommend buying these from AliExpress or Shein. You can buy blades there for roughly the same amount of money as getting one sharpened here, so you can stock up.

We use the Whal coloured ones. They fix onto your 15 blade easily. You can buy other comb attachments. Some brands are magnetic so they are easy to attach but if you have accidentally left a tangle in the dog’s coat during your prep, the comb attachment will snag and come off. This means you might leave a dreaded go fast stripe on the dog! Some brands aren’t colour coded but have the same comb attachment number as the Whal.

It is important to keep your blades lubricated to ensure their effectiveness and longevity. You can use oil where the cutting blade touches the comb, but our preferred method is the 4 in 1 Clipper Spray which you can just easily spray onto the back of the blade. It also cools and disinfects.

This is a difficult one because scissors are very much a personal decision. The thumb ring should rest on the top of your thumb and you should be able to move them around into difficult angles with ease. We recommend that when making an expensive purchase that you go to Crufts or one of the grooming competitions at Stoneleigh’s Kennel Club Building. Suppliers will be there and you can get to hold and feel the scissors before buying.
The scissors we have in the school are a mixture of Sirius, Black Pearls and a range from Ali Express. AliExpress is great place to purchase things straight from China but it can be a bit hit and miss. However, as they are so cheap it is easy to shrug off a bad item.
Our scissors and chunkers are 8 ½”

These are safety scissors for using around the eyes. Ideal for wriggly dogs.

To get the perfect finish on a dog you might need to use scissor spray. If you spray it on a brushed out, Poodle or other wool coat and then comb it though it stops the coat getting any tangles due to static before you scissor. If you use it on a flatter coat e.g. a Schnauzer’s legs it gets rid of static and helps the fur to stand up whilst you scissor.

You need 3 sizes. A puppy/ cat size, medium size and large size. You could consider getting a Dremel, but we have found that these take a long time and therefore not great when a dog doesn’t like having their paw held.

It is inevitable that you will make a dog’s claw bleed even though you don’t want to. If they don’t like having their paw held or have extremely long quicks, it will happen. Trimmex is a coagulant that will stop the bleed quickly. It does say on the packet that it is good for minor cuts, but please don’t use it on the skin as it really stings. In this case good old fashioned pressure works the best.

Great for teasing out smaller matts. We get ours from Christies. We have tried to get them from AliExpress but they weren’t very good.

You need coarse brushes for your thick, curly coated dogs and soft ones for a much less dense coat. We like the Jelly range available from Christies Direct.

Get a long comb with different size breaks in it. The comb is your friend and will help you achieve an awesome groom when you fluff up with it.

The shampoos we currently use at the school are Wildwash and Peanut and Pickle. Our favourite Wildwash shampoos are the Hydrating and Puppy/ Sensitive Shampoo. We also get our conditioner from here. Our go to Peanut and Pickle shampoo is their Lavender one, but we also get other fragrances in too depending on our fancy. You will also need a good flea shampoo but make sure you get permission from the owner before using it. If they have put a spot on recently you could run the risk of overdosing them.

Great for stripping out undercoat on Double coated dogs. Ours are a mixture of Mars Coat Kings and Groomers online own brand.

Great for de-shedding shorter coated dogs. You can get cheap versions of them, but the original brands are the best.

If you want to offer hand stripping (not everyone does!) then these are essential. A 10 blade is also useful for carding the coat.

You might have a dog in that is a little bit sore in some areas. We have found Leucillin, Wildwash paw balm and Sudocrem are great for these areas

Super stinky ears will be a thing of the past with these. We use Whal Ear Cleaner and clean ours with baby wipes. If they are super matted and/ or hairy you will need to try and pluck. Ear powder will give you grip and help soothe. Make sure you get non locking forceps.

We get through lots of these. Their use is endless.

We love picking ticks off and then squishing them. You can’t leave the head in the dog because it might become infected. Get a tick twister to twist them out and happy squishing.

Here is list of dog grooming suppliers that we use and we can get you discount with some. This not an exhaustive list. If you are buying expensive dog grooming equipment, it is always advisable to search the internet for bargains. If you are not sure about something, show it to us and will we advise you.

All of our servicing and sharpening is done by