About Lori Expertise No veterinary, or legal questions please.
Experience I have owned and operated an upscale dog grooming salon for 16 years. I do everything from scheduling, advertising, grooming and styling, handle employees, etc.
I have handled puppies, old dogs, mistreated dogs, dogs with owners who wanted unique styles, matted and neglected dogs and their owners. I am very aware of what will and what will not make you money and what will and will not be worth your time, and how to handle sticky situations with owners,and with dogs
Education/Credentials Graduate of MCJVSCTC grooming school. Apprenticed with breeder of show poodles.
Expert: Lori Date: 9/27/2006 Subject: Best clipper and blades for American cocker spaniel
Question Hi Lori,
What clipper and blades would you recommend to use on American cocker spaniel.
Thanks,
Oxana.
Answer Hello,
You can actually do then entire clip with a #10 blade, if you want to.
The #10 will be needed to do all of the hygenic areas, lip line, muzzle, under the front legs and stomach and genital areas, under the tail.
If your cocker has a nice thick coat and you want it short, you can use the #10 and go with the hair and clip the back. In our salon, though, we prefer a #9, or even a #7F if the dog has white hair. These blades leave alittle more hair which will keep the dog from getting sunburned.
We also use a #40 on the bottoms of the feet, and around the inside of the ear openings. You can use your #10 blade if you are wanting to save money, but it won't do quite as nice of a job as quickly as the #40.
Since a full cocker coat leaves the legs and skirting long, you do not need a blade for that, but if you are cutting the hair on the legs, you can get a #2 clip on blade attachment and put over your #10 (we use a 40 or 30 for under clip on blades) or you can get anything from a #4 to A #7 for a sporting type clip of the legs.
Some people will clip the legs with their #10, but it looks awfully short and naked.
One thing to remember is if you do all of this work with a #10, the blade will get hot and you will need to let it cool, unless you have more than one blade. So I recommend you spend alittle extra money and get an extra 10, or get one of the other blades I recommended.
If you need help with a particular length in a certain area, let me know what area you are wanting to check the blade length of
Good luck, it is a BIG job to do a cocker,,,,Lori
