Monday Makeover #10.....Using My New Chunkers

I did it.

 I broke down and bought a pair of Chunkers at Intergroom.

Well, actually I bought two pairs.

One for me and one for my daughter.

I just couldn't pass the deal up.

It was the last day of Intergroom, and we were walking around looking at several different Chunkers at several different booths.

I have to admit, these were not my first choice.

The ones that I really liked were close to $400.

I had to walk away.

 While my daughter and I were looking at these, one of the gentlemen in the booth came over and said that he would make a deal for us if we were interested.

"What kind of deal?" I asked.

"I'll give you two for the price of one," he told us.

I didn't jump on it right away, because it was still a lot of money, but in the long run it was too good of a deal to pass up.....at least I think it was.

I have heard so much about these Chunkers.

I have watched Groomers in the ring use them.

They are the hot new tool right now.

Would they live up to my expectations?

This little one came in the other day.

The perfect dog to try out my new Chunkers on.

The owners want her to look natural, but at the same time they wanted her neatened up all over.

They did not want a lot off.

She had a pretty good amount of undercoat in her.

I had run out of my Best Shot Shampoo.

So, I used my 'go to' 'The Stuff' to help get all of that undercoat out.

I added one capful of concentrated 'The Stuff' to a gallon of a shampoo mixture that I made up for this dog.

It was a mixture of Oatmeal shampoo, Brite White shampoo and 'The Stuff'.

The HV dryer did not remove all of the undercoat, but it loosened it up nicely.

I used my hand dryer and mat brush to remove the rest of the undercoat.

I also used my CoatKing to thin out the rear and hips.

The CoatKing's are a series of blades that cut and thin out the coat.

Make sure that you know what you are running these blades over when using it.

Be very careful going down the back feathering not to smack the blades into the top of the dogs hock.

Also make sure that your figures are out of the way when using this tool.

I also used the Coat King to thin out the shoulders, neck and chest.

Once you think that you have all of the undercoat removed, you should be able to take your comb and easily glide it through the entire coat.

Time to use the Chunkers.

This picture shows which parts of the dog that I will be using the Chunkers on, and what parts I will be using my scissors.

Remember, the owners only wanted her neatened up and to still look natural.

I scissored to clean up right around the rectum.

(the hair in front of the rectum is hanging down from the tail)

The Chunkers were used on the rear feathering to shape it up by taking off all of the stray, wild hair.

( Sorry, it is very hard to see on this picture exactly what I am talking about here, but I will try to explain)

When I neaten up a dog with a coat like this one, I like to take my thinning shears (for this dog I used the Chunkers) and quickly go all over the coat taking off all of the long, wild hairs.

If you look closely at the picture,  above the purple line is the hair that I cut off.

I do not cut into the coat.

I am skimming over the thickest part of the coat and only scissoring off the wild hairs.

I am not worried about a straight, even top-line.

 I still want it to look natural and neat, but not cut into.

 I also used the Chunkers to neaten up all around the neck and shoulders.

So, do I like my new Chunkers?

I am not sure yet.

They did not cut as nicely as I would have liked.

Would the $400 Chunkers have cut better?

Unfortunately, you don't know until you buy them, bring them home, and use them, to see if you are truly going to like them.

I am certainly not going to buy a $400 pair of Chunkers without making darn sure that I LOVE using them first.

I so wish that there was a nice, clean furry dog at every scissor booth so that we could actually cut on the dogs to see if we like these expensive scissors and thinning shears before we buy them.

Just holding a shear in your hand and scissoring the air is not going to tell you how it feels to truly cut with them.

I am just not sure about these Chunkers.

At least I didn't pay full price for them. :/

I'll try them again on another dog.

✂ Happy Grooming, MFF ✂