Tuesdays Tip #61: Before The Furminator

Once upon a time there was no tool called 'The Furminator'.

I was there...in that 'once upon a time'.

I groomed for years without a Furminator.

My bank account wishes that I came up with the idea for the Furminator.

After all, how many times, while using a simple blade to do the same thing that the Furminator does, did I think to myself; "I wish there was an easier way to hold this blade."

That thought had to have crossed my mind at least a few times, especially when my hand would cramp up while using the blade to card on a large job.

I was very excited when The Furminator tool came onto the grooming seen.

I saw the first one used at Groom Expo.

Then I saw what they were charging for it.....:(

I didn't get one the first year they came out.

After all, I could do the same thing holding a simple blade.

I did eventually break down and buy one, mainly for the fact that my hand does not cramp up using it.

I do know that there are groomers out there that refuse to buy The Furminator because they refuse to pay what they feel is too high a price for it.

So I am going to give a tip on what I used to do to card a dog before 'The Furminator' was invented.

First, for anyone who is wondering; what is carding?

Carding a coat is to remove  the undercoat, mainly on short and medium coated dogs.

You can use a simple #10 or #15 blade.

 Hold the blade with the back of the blade facing you.

Place the teeth on the coat at a 45 to 90 degree angle.

I hold it at an angle that is comfortable in my hand.

With a gentle pressure, run the teeth of the blade with the growth of the coat.

 The teeth will run over top of the top coat and pull out the undercoat.

This method also works really great on cats with short to medium length coats.

The dog in this picture is a Beagle.

Running a slicker over this dog gets little to no coat out, where as using the blade to card removes a lot of the shedding coat.

I also like using the carding method on some Spaniels, Goldens and Cockers that have that very soft, fuzzy, ugly hair that grows on some of them.

The Spaniel in this picture has some of that soft fuzzy hair on her legs.

 I could just scissor it tight to the leg, but the fuzzy texture of the hair will still show.

I want it to look more natural and like the rest of her hair.

I take a few gentle swipes over the area with the fuzzy hair.

I use just enough pressure to get all of the way down to the skin, but not scrape the skin.

The teeth of the blade works great to grab that fine fuzzy hair.

Now the fine fuzzy hair is gone and the natural coat lays more nicely.

There are also carding knives available to groomers.

I don't use them, because I have never found any left handed ones.

Plus, those little knives tend to cramp up my hands.

The clipper blade works just fine for me. 

Hope this tip helps.  :)