I took a course for work recently...the lady had us groom, clip and then bath the dogs...

I was always told to never clip a dirty dog....as it dulls the blades of the clipper faster and if you should accidentally scratch the skin it could cause infection.

I always ..brush out the coat....wash the dog and dry throughly..then dog the clipping and a quick dunk and dry after that... I know it is a long way to go about doing the job.....but if it gets the job done right....

How do you prepare a dog for clipping?

I don't do much clipping of my own dogs..but sometimes a dog comes into the centre and needs a good going over..
I only do a hygiene job on one of my long coats because she love to run her belly in the muck and as a result gets rashy underneath..

Cheers

I worked in a groomer's when i left school (14 years ago) and i know we definately bathed the dogs before they were clipped. (I was the one washing :-() but it may have changed as it was a long time ago. Cant see why though.

Clipping a dog before bathing is done because if you bathe a dog that has matts the drying process will take longer and also the matts tend to tighten up after bathing and drying.Also if the dog has a very long or thick coat that has to be removed it will be harder to wash .Some of the dirt that may be in the coat , if the coat is really bad may get missed  ( like in the middle of a matt ) and the dog will need to get bathed again after clipping, So therefor to make it easier on both dog and groomer ,  IMO it is best to clip before bathing then tidy up and finnish off after.

A carefull groomer will make sure that the dog is not cut during clipping.The clipper blades although,  can be sprayed during clipping with a disantfectant solution to prevent  any infection if the dog is accidentaly nicked.

As for dulling the blades this will happen eventually anyway even if a dog is clipped when clean ,so it just means the blades will have to be sharpened more often

I've always clip before bathing, saves time drying also, the dog would'nt be properly clean if bathed when matted!

> the dog would'nt be properly clean if bathed when matted!

I guess it is different if you are doing commercial grooming but for my own dogs I would always bath first and prolong the life of my clippers as I would not generally have any matts to deal with.  Again with the luxury of doing it at home I tend to do the bath the day before so drying time is not a problem either.

I groom them out with a slicker brush and any terrible matts are cut out or you use a dematter, bcos if you dont when the hair dries it pulls the matt closer to the skin and can cause sores etc. And they are harder to groom out when dry if you dont groom out beforehand. But you only have matts with lazy owners who dont bother the 5 mins to groom out there dog to save it the pain!

My own only have the odd small matt....but they are brushed out etc before hand as they are double coated. At work one of the girls bathed a double coat before she brushed it out and you should have seen the state of the coat after that....all clumpy and matted....you could only feel them as the top coat hid most of them.

I was just wanting to know what other people did....because I was ALWAYS told never clip a dirty dog...

thanks for the answers..
:-)

Not brushed, not combed, not bathed before.  Clipped then bathed and when you have dried the dog this brings up areas that need clipping again slightly.  This was how I was taught to do it 15 years ago.  Though my breed you never brush or comb them anyway :)

I would say it depends on how short the dog is going to be clipped-we often do a "rough clip" on the dog before the bath especially if its matted and its going to be a clip-off or its particularly hairy-there's no point spending ages bathing and drying the dog if most of the coat is being clipped off anyway.I think its very unlikely you would scratch the skin if clipping before the bath-and even if you did the skin would be cleansed anyway in the bath-it does seem like strange advice you were given freewayz.
But we always do the bulk of the clipping and all the scissoring after the bath and you always need to go over any clipping you have done before the bath as you'll always get more off once the coat is clean and fluffed up.

We also usually clip off the very badly matted dogs straight after the bath when they're wet as it comes off so much easier and you use a slightly longer blade.

I do exactly the same as you helenmd, no point washing a coat thats going to get clipped off, but the last bit puzzled me. you mean you actually clip the dog with electric clippers when the coat is wet??? Is this wise and safe?!
Not critisizing, just curious as I've never done this, ever in 35 years of grooming. I've never even heard of it before.

Anndee, "wet clipping" was something I was told about by another groomer and it really does make things so much easier if the dog's matted solid.The weight of the water pulls the mats away from the dog's skin and means you can use a longer blade than you would normally-say a 5f or 4f where otherwise a 7f would be struggling to go through.The blade stays cool and strangely enough doesn't clog up with hair like you'd expect.2 of us work on the dog to get it done quicker and we have a heater placed nearby and we always use a circuit breaker so its safe.The dogs are just towel dryed so they're not soaking first.Its only where there's solid mats that we do this but believe me it really works.

I Have perhaps missed a small matt and have clipped it of when the dog is still wet but if you have a badly matted dog i.e. a bichon there is no way you could do this as the water would not penetrate the matts.

> I Have perhaps missed a small matt and have clipped it of when the dog is still wet but if you have a badly matted dog i.e. a bichon there is no way you could do this as the water would not penetrate the matts.

If we have a very dirty dog thats matted solid we will give it a shampoo first then wet clip it then another shampoo.

I always do a rough clip before bathing just to get most of the hair off, no point wasting shampoo, time and effort bathing and drying hair that's about to be thrown away. Yes the blades might wear a little faster, but I clean and oil them afterwards and send them off for sharpening regularly.

> If we have a very dirty dog thats matted solid we will give it a shampoo first then wet clip it then another shampoo.

But as I said the water would not get down in to the matt therefor it would still be close to the skin.So better to "rough clip " as mentioned then wash then you can get rid of any matts that are left and also tidy up the dog with a final clip.

>> But as I said the water would not get down in to the matt therefor it would still be close to the skin.So better to "rough clip " as mentioned then wash then you can get rid of any matts that are left and also tidy up the dog with a final clip.

Blimey,you really have had some badly matted dogs haven't you-I've never done one where the water wouldn't penetrate at all.Oh well-it works for us.

>Though my breed you never brush or comb them anyway :-)

Hi, I'm interested to know, are these your SWDs? If so how do you groom them. I have Bichons which tangle and matt and thought the SWDs coat looked similar. I'd love to own one, I especially like the brown coloured ones and not having to brush and comb make them even more appealing.
liz

Swimming helps their coats to cord.  When they do need cording you use your fingers only.

I have a miniature poodle, to clip him i will give him a quick brush over first and get some of the hair out his ears, bathe him and brush his teeth, dry him continually grooming, trim some more hair out his ears, clip, brush again and trim any of the missed bits. It takes AGES!!! but like you say - to do a job properly :-)  I only take small amounts of hair from his ears as he finds it the most uncomfortable which is why i try to stagger it, its too much to remove all the hair in one go.

I clip my boys feet, face and hygene area before bathing (it will dull my blades eventually and I will get them sharpened).  Drying the feet are the worst part for me as they are so, well, footery :-) best to do as much with them before washing as possible. JME.

> Blimey,you really have had some badly matted dogs haven't you-I've never done one where the water wouldn't penetrate at all.Oh well-it works for us.

Well why are you asking about clipping before grooming if the method you have at the moment is working ?
and yes I do sometimes have dogs that are really dirty and matted ,like dogs owners who have bichons and live on a farm !!! and do not groom enough or at all ( even though I have explained to them the importance of grooming )

I had a 7mth Bichon in the other day, took me 2 hours to get its matted coat off, told the owners they would have to brush it every day, or it would have to be clipped off again, there reply, "didnt think you had to brush this breed", why  dont they research the breed or the breeder tell them!! :-((

I had a 9 month bichon in last month, took 3 hours to brush her! I rang the owners to see if they'd bring back her back another time for the bath & trim but they were keen to get the whole job done. They were adamant she should not be clipped off too. I booked her back in 6 weeks time, we'll see if she comes and what she looks like!

Oh my goodness! Those poor bichons!  People must think they look like cottone balls 24/7, don't think that you have to put some work into them.

>> Well why are you asking about clipping before grooming if the method you have at the moment is working ?

??? I wasn't-merely replying to the OP.

> why  dont they research the breed or the breeder tell them!! :-((

I have a customer who has a Bichon and they live on a farm, as I mentioned before and they have just realised !! that they made the wrong choice of breed. The dog is a happy wee thing but he gets in such a mess and they bath him but do not dry or brush him out after. He therefor has to be clipped back most of the time.

I also had a Bichion in today and the owner had been away and the dog was left with her husband who did not do any grooming at all for the 7 weeks she was away. when she took the dog in to me she had tried to brush it out but underneath was still badly matted. I also took about 3 + hours to get the dog done.

I agree with you that people should look in to what breed they are getting and the amount of grooming etc that is needed but all they see is a fluffy puppy I also think that even if the breeder explained to them how much attention the coat needed, It would not stop them taking a pup.