New to clipping fur - help?

[Fleera]

I just bought some Andis clippers today for my Cocker/Cavalier mix. His fur is starting to mat even though I'm brushing him so I wanted to start clipping him.

I was doing great at first with the back and sides using the 1/2 inch comb attached to the #10 blade. Then near the neck and upper leg areas the attachment would appear to catch a small tuft of fur instead of sliding past it to get it to the blade. This was not a good thing, as he would feel the pulling and panic before I could grab the fur to stop the pulling or turn off the blade, etc. He did fine since I was constantly feeding treats to make it a better experience. However, I don't want to continue until I figure out how to stop the pulling from happening.

The "bad place" on the clipper appears to be the edge, or side, of the plastic comb where it joins the metal of the blade and at the top.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Oh, secondarily, the cooling spray for the blade stinks and I know I shouldn't be breathing the stuff so I had the bathroom fan on. Do you spray yours outside? Do you spray it while it's attached to the clipper unit (unplugged)?

Thank you for any advice you'd like to share.

 

[lizzybeth727]

Don't know why no one's responded to this question.

I'm not a groomer, but I guess my advice is better than nothing! First I think that a #10 blade is too small for the back and sides. Maybe if you go with a blade that will leave the fur a little longer, it won't get caught so much.

And I've never seen a groomer step outside to spray their blades, so I'm assuming they just hold their breaths and block the spray from getting to their dogs.

 

[Fleera]

Thanks for the response! I too was wondering if using a longer blade without a comb attached might work alright. Do you know if blades tend to pull also, assumingly just not until they are dull or dirty?

 

[MafiaPrincess]

Not a groomer, but I have cockers, one of which I show not that that helps you much I use a 10 on face, tail and neck. I use a 7 when I am lazy on their backs rather than hand stripping them. Once shaved down again I maintain them with a stripping knife..

I have a crappy pair of andis clippers with comb attachments I learned to groom with. I felt safer with the combs.. But looking back the quality of the cut seemed to always be worse.

Longer the blade (smaller the number) the greater the potential I was told by my breeder to slip up and harm a dog accidentally... so just take care, and don't go too too long when learning.

A sharp blade on a non matted dry dog should cut like butter with a hot knife. I've never had pulling issues except when I hit a wet spot on an ear and cut my boy. I still feel terrible, he's fine about it though, thank god.

 

[Fleera]

Okay, I'll just try to go slow while I learn. I am scared stupid about cutting him so I'll keep my #10 and maybe use a #7 for the longer hair as the lowest number blade. I'll also have to look into the stripping knife since I know I would go crazy trying to hand strip my boy. I was just hoping to keep his fur longer since we still are having snow off and on around here.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

I strip for the ring.. Not because it's fun... I do my non show girl simply for practice. IF you don't need it, you can play with it, but don't feel it's necessary.

Above all, remember it's fur, and it will grow back. Everyone has to start somewhere. Go slow, and remember to breathe

 

[Saintgirl]

His fur is starting to mat even though I'm brushing him so I wanted to start clipping him.

I'm betting that when you are finding the comb is catching that you are hitting matts at this point, aren't you? All matting must be brushed out before you use the combs. If you don't the comb will catch on the matting and pull it. The benefit of keeping the fur short is to prevent matting, but once you have it unless you take the time to remove the matt you have to use a short enough blade that it can slide under the matting. This cannot happen when you are using a comb. So I recommend using a slicker brush to help you remove the matting, unless you need to use a dematter if the matts are bad enough. Once the matts are removed the clippers with the comb will move through the fur.

 

[IcyHound]

Is he freshly bathed and blown out? You can air dry but even going over with your hair dryer will help lift the hair and make it easier to groom.

 

[Fleera]

I'm betting that when you are finding the comb is catching that you are hitting matts at this point, aren't you? All matting must be brushed out before you use the combs. If you don't the comb will catch on the matting and pull it.

I've only seen small but tight matts on his belly so far. I have been slowly working on those with the slicker brush but am still having trouble, but would rather not cut them out. So, where the clipper is catching is mostly near his neck and shoulders where I have not found any matts. I wouldn't try clipping anything that was matted since I'm such a novice. He was bathed and brushed prior to clipping, but not blown dry, just towel and air dried. Are dematters found in petsmart, etc.?

Edit to add (I should mention that his coat quality is poor, as in it is very cottony)

 

[IcyHound]

The clippers and blade are new, correct?
Cottony coats can be hard. And I personally hate combs. I prefer to use a scissor for length and just the blade to get the short areas short. Combs just seem to make a mess sometimes.

 

[MysticRealm]

Even tiny knots that you may not even see can catch a comb like that. Trust my I groom several dogs a day and I can seem to run the brush perfectly smoothly through the dog's leg hair then try to go over it with the blade and it will catch I go back and run my brush through and find a tiny knot that's close enough to the skin to cause it to catch.
Combs are fantastic for pet grooming (I would charge a whole lot more for hand scissoring everything and people just don't want to pay that here) but the dog must be 100% brushed out for them to work.

 

[Fleera]

Even tiny knots that you may not even see can catch a comb like that. Trust my I groom several dogs a day and I can seem to run the brush perfectly smoothly through the dog's leg hair then try to go over it with the blade and it will catch I go back and run my brush through and find a tiny knot that's close enough to the skin to cause it to catch.
Combs are fantastic for pet grooming (I would charge a whole lot more for hand scissoring everything and people just don't want to pay that here) but the dog must be 100% brushed out for them to work.

Okay, that's interesting, maybe those teeny things are just out to get me, 'cause like you're saying, I can run a slicker brush though and then seconds later try the clippers on the same spot and it would catch.

 

[MysticRealm]

nonono, don't just use a slicker brush, you need to use a metal fine tooth comb to comb the coat out, otherwise you will never get it brushed out enough to run the comb(clippers) through. You should be able to very smoothly run a fine tooth comb through the coat first, then fluff up the coat with the comb, then clip that off, fluff it up again, clip it off then move on to the next session.

 

[angelzeus]

if the dog has mats or knots the blade maybe getting stuck on those try top remove all knots before clipping

 

[Fleera]

nonono, don't just use a slicker brush, you need to use a metal fine tooth comb to comb the coat out, otherwise you will never get it brushed out enough to run the comb(clippers) through. You should be able to very smoothly run a fine tooth comb through the coat first, then fluff up the coat with the comb, then clip that off, fluff it up again, clip it off then move on to the next session.

Aha!!! I haven't used a fine toothed comb. I'll buy one tomorrow! THANKS!!!

 

[MysticRealm]

By the way, wanted to say that I use a 40 blade under my combs, most pros use a 30 or 40 under their combs, but you may have stretched the comb too much now to go back (it will pop off too easy). I am not sure what the affects would be on the groom as I was taught and have always used a 40.