Metal Comb
You will need a metal comb for your dog. This you will need to buy from a pet shop / supply store as you need a fairly strong tooth on the comb and you won't find those in human hair stores. Places like Big W and Kmart also tend to sell them as well. The comb pictured has two different spacings for teeth. The larger spacing is good for knots in their initial combing, but the most commonly used side is the smaller spacing. The smaller spacing should have a gap of between 1mm to just over 1mm (if you like a ruler up, you might just see both lines inside the gap but no more) |
Pin Brush
A pin brush is used for brushing through the dog's feathering. You can use a human hair brush for this (one that you would use on long hair) if you have an old brush and are not looking to buy another one specifically for your dog. You will notice whether the bristles are strong enough, but for the most part, most of them should be ok. Knots will still need to be removed with a comb. |
Dematting Comb / Dematting Rake / Matt Breaker
These are excellent for knots! You simply place these inside/under the knot and pull it through the knot (some times you need to move it back and forth a little) and it will break the knot up. Be careful, they're very sharp! When removing the hair, always remove from the back side of the tool and not the front. The front are like blades and do cut and it hurts! |
Slicker Brush
The slicker brush is a finishing brush and great for removing the fine loose hairs on your dog. It is not designed for removing knots but it is a great tool to use at the end of your grooming session. A slicker brush has very fine pins and lots of them. You can get them with a little white ball on the tip (some dogs prefer that) or without it. You will likely find that more come without the white tip than those with it. The pins will usually be slightly bent at the end which is what gives the brush it's strength. |
Before using clippers or scissors, your dog needs to be dry.
Start with a #10 blade and clip the muzzle. Top, sides and underneath. (as shown in blue) Be sure to go with the hair. You stop clipping in between your dog's eyes. This is known as the "stop" (as shown in red). The stop should be kept nice and short and clean, but be careful not to go too high or you'll remove your dog's eyebrows! Make sure that you do pay attention whilst you're clipping near their eyes. |
Then move onto the ears. A Cocker has it's ears clipped 1/3 of the way down the "leathers". The leathers are the actual ear, so if you find how long your dog's ear is without counting the feathering, you want to to clip 1/3 of that distance. You need to do this all the way around the ear so the sides and underneath.
On a non show dog, I would recommend clipping a little further underneath as this really does help with air circulation and help to keep ear infections away. From here you clip under the ear on the side of the neck also. Just a little bit. It gets blended later. |
The feet are not the easiest part on the dog to do. Often my dogs will stand still for three of the feet and on the fourth feet, they've had enough, so it does take a lot of patience.
A Cocker Spaniel should have "cat like" feet. This means instead of flat feet like your hand placed palms down, fingers out that a breed such as a greyhound has, "cat like" feet is more like your hand in a fist (palm side down). They should be nice and tight and together. It is important to make sure when doing their feet, that you trim out the hair from underneath the pad so that the pad itself is free to gain traction on the ground. |