Essential Dog Grooming Tools For Your Cocker Spaniel
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"What Specific Dog Grooming Tools Are Best For My Cocker Spaniel?"
Quality dog grooming tools are essential for grooming your Cocker Spaniel and for giving him that professionally-groomed look.
However, if you plan to show your Cocker Spaniel, it's better if his coat is hand stripped and trimmed by a groomer well-versed in the Cocker Spaniel requirement for grooming.
Before choosing your groomer, we strongly recommend you check that they have adequate experience of grooming English Cocker Spaniels for showing purposes, and that they are experienced enough to hand strip your Cocker Spaniel's coat.
This is very important for showing purposes!
If your Cocker is your family pet, and you have no intention to show him, then, armed with a good selection of dog grooming tools and the determination to get it right, you should be able to keep your dog looking as attractive as those in the show ring!
Brushing and grooming your dog is the easy part; it's the trimming and cutting that may prove a little tricky for the novice - however, practice really does makes perfect.
If you don't plan to show your Cocker Spaniel, you could very easily learn to do the basics yourself.
Rather than jumping straight into it, you may like to consider taking your Cocker Spaniel to a professional dog grooming parlour for the first time.
Stay with your dog and watch each step and make plenty of mental notes. Don't be afraid to ask questions.
Your breeder will probably be more than happy to show you what to do.
Next time you may feel comfortable and confident enough to attempt it yourself!
There are a variety of dog grooming tools available on the market.
The items you are likely to need for grooming your Cocker Spaniel are listed below:
Brushes may have widely or closely spaced bristles and, in general, can be used on any coat.
However, the bristle brush may not be strong enough to penetrate deep into the long coat when grooming your Cocker Spaniel, but if used along the back of your dog, it will create a beautiful shine.
A metal pin brush is an ideal dog grooming tool for the Cocker Spaniel. The pins on this brush will penetrate deeply into the longer coat and will help to remove any dead hair and undercoat.
We recommend you use a metal pin brush with rubber tips to avoid accidently scratching your dog with the metal tips as a result of over-enthusiastic brushing.
The rubber tips will also help to improve your dog's blood circulation below the skin.
Probably the most popular item of dog grooming tools is the slicker brush.
Slicker brushes have very thin metal wire tines which are slightly hooked over at the ends. The tines are set into a foam or rubber base to allow them to give, should too much pressure be exerted on the brush when grooming your Cocker Spaniel.
Slicker brushes are great for helping to untangle knots and matting, for removing dead hair, and if used regularly, help to reduce shedding. They can also be used for smoothing the coat after grooming with a pin brush.
The slicker brush can be used on any coat; however, they work better on longer-haired coats, and curly or silky coats, and are ideal for grooming the Cocker Spaniel.
When using a slicker brush, always brush gently to avoid scraping the skin and giving your dog slicker burn.
Steel combs are another popular dog grooming tool, and are available with varyingly spaced and sized teeth.
When grooming your dog, a wide-toothed comb can be used to remove the undercoat, which if left would cause matting. Use the wide toothed comb first, then follow up with a closer toothed comb to remove any dead hair that may have been left behind.
This is a brush that you wear on your hand, like a glove, for grooming your dog. It has soft rubber bristles on one side, and has short wire bristles on the other. The rubber bristles loosen the dead hair and the wire bristles remove it.
If you are hand-stripping your Cocker Spaniel's coat, you will need either a rubber glove, or rubber thumbs (as used in banks) to help grip the hair between your finger and thumb before pulling.
A good pair of cutting scissors, around 7 or 8" long, may be used to keep your dog's hair under and around the ear canal neatly trimmed.
You can also buy shorter scissors with rounded ends for trimming areas on and around the face. The rounded edges won't harm your dog should he move suddenly.
If you are not going to use the finger and thumb method of hand stripping to remove the excess of soft hair on your dog's head, you could use a stripping comb to give a smooth finish.
The Cocker Spaniel coat may show cut marks where ordinary scissors or clippers have been used. These marks can be reduced simply by using a stripping comb.
Another useful dog grooming tool is the thinning scissors (sometimes known as thinning shears) are used primarily for thinning out heavy coats in summer to help your dog stay cool, but they can give a smooth hand-stripped appearance.
Thinning scissors can be used to thin out excess hair on the neck under the ears. This area is prone to matting so it will need to be kept neatly trimmed.
When thinning the hair on ears, take care not to nip the sensitive folds of skin at the top of the ear.
Flea Combs have very closely spaced teeth and are used to detect and remove fleas in the coat. However, you may not need a flea comb if you regularly give your dog flea treatment as recommended by your vet.
Now that you're familiar with some of the dog grooming tools available, it's time to put them to work and learn about brushing your dog.
