Anyone got a long hair dog and groom them yourself?

I used to clip our Aussie in the summer. I did not have a vaccuum attachment, just did it on the deck and used a shop vac to clean up.

The keys are to have good clippers with sharp blades, and to be patient. Don't force it. Cut a little, pet a little, take your time until the dog gets used to it.

I groom our small dog in a dry tub and scoop the hair into the trash when I'm done. Considering opening my own mobile grooming service called Good Enough Grooming. Our motto "It's not great, but it's good enough."

We use this one for our two standard poodles. Works great and pays for itself after one grooming.

My wife just uses a pair of human hair clippers.

Sure, the dog looks fricked up after, but her hair is definitely shorter.

I’ve cut our doodles for years. Our groomer got cancer and kicked out one of our dogs for being too difficult to groom. It’s a pain but not impossible if you set aside half a day and have low expectations.

I purchased a mid-grade andis. Similar to this: LINK

quote:

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ceramic blades

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Highly recommend as the metal ones get hot really fast.

Also recommend buying at least two blades so you can switch them out as they overheat (so you don’t burn the dog). Cooling spray is also very highly recommended.

I use #10 (and sometimes #5) blades which is a buzz cut. I do this because I only want to have to cut them three times a year and they cut through the undercoat/mats fairly easily. However, our dog has free access (dog door) to our unfinished basement (#10 probably too short for a purely outside dog during winter).