What You Need to Groom Your Poodle

Even if you intend to leave the poodle haircuts to a professional groomer (which is usually a good idea unless you have been trained to clip poodle fur), you'll still have to do a fair amount of grooming at home to keep your poodle looking its best. To provide the best poodle grooming care, you'll want to pick out quality grooming items. This article lists a few of the necessities.

Good Quality Clipper and Blades

You don't want to pinch pennies on a clipper for your poodle. The blades on cheap clippers become dull, making it difficult to groom your dog and possibly putting your poodle at risk for cuts and clipper burns. Premium clippers will probably cost you between $150 and $200, but they're worth every penny of it. Take good care of your clippers, replacing the blades when needed (blades cost approximately $25 to $40), and oiling and greasing the clippers regularly.

Scissors

Grooming scissors can help you even up rough spots on your poodle's fur between professional groomings. Again, this is not a good place to skimp. Get high quality curved scissors, and keep the blades sharp.

Brushes and Combs

The type of brushes and combs you'll need depend on what type of clip you've decided best suits your poodle. Most poodle owners seem to prefer a metal brush, but ask a professional groomer for recommendations. Your poodle should be brushed and combed daily to remove the dirt, mats, and tangles from its fur.

Nail Clippers and "Quick Stop"

Most groomers recommend clipping your poodle's nails a little each week. It is important not to clip them too much, however, or you may cut into a blood vessel. Although the bleeding is easy to stop with ointments and sprays sold in most pet stores, cutting into a blood vessel causes the poodle pain and makes it that much less likely to cooperate with future groomings and nail trimmings.

Long Shower Hose

If you're bathing your poodle in the tub, you'll need a long shower hose to thoroughly rinse off all the shampoo. Groomers state that not adequately rinsing the shampoo is one of the biggest grooming mistakes pet owners make.

Hair Dryer

After a bath, you can dry your poodle off with a hand-held hair dryer. Give the poodle a chance to get used to the noise of the hair dryer before you actually use it to dry the poodle's fur.

Although it's not wise to skip professional grooming for your poodle, there is still a great deal of poodle fur care you can do at home. The next article looks at expert grooming tips for your poodle.

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