Cocker Spaniel
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One of the most common subjects that people write to me about is Cocker Spaniel
grooming. People want step-by-step instructions on how to give a good Cocker haircut, and suggestions on what
equipment they need to do the job. I kept getting emails asking what electric clippers I recommend, and wondering
if there's a video they can buy that shows how to give a proper Cocker Spaniel hair cut. I finally got so
many of these dog grooming questions that I decided it was time to make my own DVD about how to groom Cockers!
In January of 2007 I spent about a month putting together our Cocker Spaniel grooming DVD. The original idea was that I would just put one of my dogs up on a grooming table and explain what I was doing as I went along. As I got in to it, the project evolved in to something quite a bit more complicated! In the end, I think I managed to come up with a video that is both educational and entertaining. It's certainly been a lot more popular than I expected, and people have been saying a lot of nice things about it!
Here's a brief synopsis of what you'll see on our Cocker grooming DVD:
(followed by information on how to order it)
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My wife, Kellyn, and I start the show off by giving a brief introduction. I figured it would be more entertaining to do this somewhere scenic... so we headed down to the beach with two of our dogs playing off leash at our sides. |
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Following the brief introduction at the beach, school is called in to session... with yours truly leading the class on the basic pieces of grooming equipment you need to do the job. For a classroom, we use our living room... where one of the students has this annoying tendency to doze off in the middle of class. (That would be Dodger.) One fun part about this little grooming lesson is that by using a technology called "thought bubbles" we can read all of Dodger's thoughts! |
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Now it's finally time to fire up the electric clippers and let the fur fly! I put Joanna up on the grooming table, and talk you through the process of trimming her with the electric clippers. I show you where to shave things short, where to not shave at all, and exactly how to make a natural looking transition from one to the other. Also, you see my little secret for how to keep a dog from sitting down when clipping around the tail. |
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I happen to think that this segment is the highlight of the DVD! Kellyn
and I pack up all of our grooming equipment and head down to Los Angeles to give a haircut to Pismo, one of
our pups from a recent litter. His owners had warned us that he didn't like to be groomed...
they said they had to wear oven mitts to keep from getting bit when they tried to brush him. So, I
thought he would be a good dog to demonstrate the techniques to be used when grooming a difficult pup.
With my grooming table set up in their back yard, see how Pismo learned that "resistance is futile"! I also had some fun with Pismo's owners. Watch a little sample of our interview, where the journalist in me digs deep to reveal Jennifer Grove's dirty little secret! (But you'll have to get the DVD to hear what the secret is...) |
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Next, we get a lesson on how to groom a show dog. Even though our
grooming DVD is aimed at people who want to groom their own pets, there are valuable lessons to be learned
from seeing how the show groomers do it. For this lesson, we bring in a pro... Julie
Hydro, a former professional dog groomer. She shows us some of the equipment and techniques that are
used in clipping show Cockers. Just seeing her clip around the feet is worth the cost of the DVD, and
she has a lot more than that to share. Heck, even I learned a few things from watching this segment of
the DVD! For a good chuckle, look carefully under the grooming table in the picture on the left! |
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Julie also shares her technique for grooming a pet Cocker. She does
what I call a "cut first, bathe second" technique... where you do a quick rough-cut of the coat before
giving the dog a bath, so that you aren't blow-drying a bunch of hair that you're just going to cut off
anyway. Watch a little sample of Julie at work. By the way, while you're watching these two segments taped in Julie's dog grooming room, check out the $650 worth of blow drying equipment she's got, and see if you think it's worth it... or whether you can just live with the blow dryer from your bathroom! |
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Finally, Kellyn gives us a demonstration of how to mix together
our
world-famous ear cleaning solution... including a neat little trick for pouring the boric acid without
making a big mess or creating a toxic spill! After Kellyn makes up a fresh batch of ear cleaner, I
bring out Dodger for a demonstration of how to properly apply it to the dog's ears. Following the ear cleaner information, I say a quick good-bye and then we roll the credits. Be sure not to turn off your TV until the end, though... because I have one fun little surprise up my sleeve for anyone that stays awake all the way to the end! |
The total running time of the grooming video is 1 hour and 54 minutes. For some reason, my DVD recording equipment wouldn't let me put more than one hour of video on a disc, so the grooming video will actually come to you on two DVDs.
Our Cocker grooming DVD is available now for a cost of $30, and that includes the cost of shipping, even to countries besides the USA. A European version (in the PAL video format) is also available.
To order the grooming DVD, just click on the "Buy It Now" button below and follow the instructions to make your payment via credit card or Paypal. If you want the PAL version of the DVD, please be sure to make a special note of that in the "message" section of the order form.
| For payment by credit card or PayPal |
The grooming DVDs are shipped via first class mail via the United States Postal Service. I will send you a confirmation email within 24 hours of receiving your order, and typically ship the discs out on the next day after receiving the order... except on Sundays or holidays, when the post office is closed.
To addresses on the west coast of the USA, they typically arrive in a few days. For the rest of the USA and Canada, they usually arrive in 1-2 weeks. For locations outside of North America, they do go via air mail... but how quickly they get to you will totally depend on the postal service in your country. A good rule of thumb would be to figure on about two weeks or possibly a little more for those international orders.
While you're waiting for the grooming DVD to arrive... you might want to prepare by getting a few essential grooming tools. Here's what I recommend:
Essential Equipment
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| Having the right kind of electric clippers makes all the difference in the
world. Years ago, when I had my first Cocker of my very own, I had very little money so I bought the least
expensive pair of electric clippers I could buy. Big mistake! Those cheap dog grooming kits you see in the
discount stores are horrible. They don't cut well, and they don't last very long. The blades are not
replaceable, so once the blade gets a little old and rusty, you're totally out of luck.
If you want to have the easiest time trimming your dog, and you want to do a professional looking job, and you don't want to have to replace your clippers again in a few months... what you need to do is buy a quality pair of electric clippers in the first place. Based on my personal experiences grooming many Cocker Spaniels over the years, what I recommend is the model AGC-2 clippers by Andis. This is a high-quality electric clipper that you will not be disappointed with. It comes with a #10 blade, and is compatible with both Andis and Oster blades and snap-on combs. |
Another item that I consider a must-have for Cocker grooming is a grooming
table with a metal arm and a noose. The table puts the dog at a comfortable height for you to work on, and the
metal arm and noose help keep the dog under control so that you have both hands free to work with.
On my grooming DVD, you will see me take a dog whose owners could barely even brush without getting bit... and he will become a real pussycat once I use the metal arm and noose to get him under control. His owners expected that I would have a real problem getting him to sit still for grooming... but I had very few problems thanks to the grooming table and the noose. When you see it on the DVD, you will see why I consider a grooming table to be essential equipment for anyone planning to give their Cocker a haircut. |
| Keeping the clipper blades properly lubricated is absolutely vital. The
two metal pieces that make up the blades rub together metal on metal. This creates heat and eventually dulls the
blade over time. To keep the blades in the best possible condition for the longest possible time, you need to keep
them lubricated.
The clippers do come with lubricating oil to do this, but there's an additional product that is also very useful. It's called Cool Care, and it's an inexpensive spray-on lubricant that you apply to the blades every so often. It's quick and easy to use, and if you do it every ten or 15 minutes during your grooming session you will keep those blades working well. One can of Cool Care typically lasts me several years. |
One final thing you'll need is a good dog grooming brush. For Cockers, I
recommend a two-sided brush with soft bristles on one side and rounded metal pins on the other.
You use the soft side to get the dog used to being brushed, as well as for brushing off loose hairs from the coat. You use the metal pin side for the long hairs... such as on the ears and legs. |
The electric clippers, lubricant, grooming table, brush, and a nice sharp pair of scissors are all you really need to do basic Cocker grooming. After you've mastered the basics, though, you might want to expand your arsenal by adding some of these nifty grooming tools:
Helpful Extras
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| One of the most useful accessories is called a blade comb or a clip-on comb.
This is a piece of plastic that snaps on top of the blades, and prevents you from cutting off more than a certain amount
of hair. For example, if you clip on a 1/2 inch blade comb to your clippers... no matter what you do, at
least 1/2" of hair will remain when you are done. This is great for inexperienced groomers, as it keeps you from
making too big of a mistake with the clippers!
I like to use a 1/8" blade comb to assist in getting the length of the top knot correct. A 1" clip-on comb is handy for shaving the dog's legs without leaving them totally bare when you're done! |
Thinning shears are scissors that do not cut all of the hairs... they
only cut some of them. This allows you to thin out the coat by removing some hairs but leaving other long hairs
alone. This is especially useful when working on the top knot (the tuft of hair on top of a Cocker's head) or when
transitioning from an area of short hair to an area of long hairs.
People involved in the Cocker show world sometimes use thinning shears for the majority of the cutting... because they don't leave lines or patterns in the coat. A haircut using thinning shears tends to look very natural. You can spend anywhere from $10 to over $100 on thinning shears... depending on the quality of the shears. If you want to try some inexpensive ones to see if you even like using thinning shears, the ones listed here are very affordable. Practice with them, and see if you can develop a nice technique. Then, if you become a big thinning shear enthusiast, you can graduate to a nicer pair later. |
| Scissors with curved blades are very useful for trimming around a dog's feet,
and also for clipping around the shape of the head.
Scissors with a straight blade make a straight cut that sometimes looks very rigid and un-natural. The curved blades help make things look a little more natural. |
A slicker brush is useful for removing mats from your dog's fur, and I also
really love them for brushing out the ears.
While a pin brush has rounded ends on the pins, to keep the pins from hurting the dog's skin as the pins scrape against it, a slicker brush does not. So, be gentle when you use a slicker brush on your dog! |
| There are many different types of nail trimmers on the market, but here's
the type that I recommend:
I've used a lot of different styles of nail trimmers, but these heavy-duty clippers have worked the best for me. |
Here's my favorite shampoo for Cocker Spaniels. It's an antiseptic
skin shampoo, so it's great for their skin. It also does a great job of getting the white fur white again on parti
color Cockers.
I also like the way it smells! I always use it on our puppies before the new owners come to visit, and they often comment on how good the puppy smells. |
On the second disc of my 2-disc grooming DVD, I feature a special guest groomer... my friend (and one of my mentors), Julie Hydro. Julie used to be a professional dog groomer and she also is very experienced in giving show dogs a proper hair cut. In Julie's segment of the DVD, she demonstrates a couple of professional grooming tools... for the person that insists on having the very best equipment! A few of the items that Julie recommends are:
Julie's Favorite Grooming Tools
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| The Mars Coat King is a handy little tool for thinning out the hair on a dog's
back without leaving behind clipper marks or scissor lines. It's easy to use, and does a great job at subtly
thinning the coat in a way that leaves it looking natural.
On our grooming DVD, Julie gives a demo of how to use the Mars Coat King. |
While Julie uses thinning shears or a Mars Coat King to shorten the hair on
the back of a show dog, she uses electric clippers when grooming a pet. For trimming the dog's back, Julie recommends taking
the #10 blade off of your clippers and replacing it with a #7FC.
The difference between using a #10 blade and a #7FC on your dog's back is subtle... but those looking for the best results will appreciate it. |
| One trick Julie uses to get a nice top knot on a pet Cocker is to use a #4FC blade, and to cut "with the grain"... in other words, in the direction the hair lays, not against it. | Julie actually likes two different kinds of slicker brushes, depending on
what she's trying to do. For removing mats while blow drying the dog, Julie likes the small slicker brush by Four
Paws.
For general brushing, Julie recommends a particular slicker brush called "Frank's Slicker Brush". |
| While I'm pretty much happy with any ol' pair of scissors for grooming, Julie
has a much more refined appreciation for the good stuff. Her favorite scissors are the "Dubl Duck Mercedes".
What makes these scissors so special is that they have a serrated blade that grabs the hairs and keeps them from slipping as you cut. |
After having been a professional dog groomer, Julie doesn't fool around when it
comes to blow dryers. She uses a very powerful canister dryer with two motors. It's a bit pricey... but it does a better job than just using your regular ol' bathroom blow dryer!
Another "big ticket item" in her arsenal is a large, powerful stand dryer. This allows you to have both hands free for brushing the dog while the blower operates on a stand next to your grooming table. After seeing Julie use her stand dryer, I decided to buy one, too. I have to say that a stand dryer is TOTALLY worth all the money! It is way more powerful than a regular hair dryer, it's great to have both hands free to position and brush the dog. |
| Julie and I actually have a bit of a disagreement regarding pin brushes.
I think you should use a brush with rounded ends on the pins, because with rounded ends the pins won't hurt the dog's skin. Julie
disagrees, saying "a pin brush for a long coated dog should never have those balls on the end". The type
of pin brush I recommend was listed earlier on this page... here's the one Julie suggests: |
A way to get some of the benefits of a stand dryer while still using a canister dryer is to use a dryer holder on a flexible arm attached to your grooming table. |
| Julie likes to use thinning shears a lot, and says that the cheap ones don't work very well. She says you'll get what you pay for. Her favorite shears are the 44/20 stainless steel shears. | In the grooming video, Julie demonstrates a neat way to thin the coat on the dog's back, using a #40 blade by itself, not attached to the electric clippers. Be careful if you use this blade attached to your electric clippers, though. It cuts ALL the hair, in what is known as a "surgical cut". |
Have a question
about any of these Cocker Spaniel products?
My email address is: jimzim@charter.net
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