Do it yourself grooming?

dubilpie

I groom my 2 Shih Tzu's myself. I personally find it a lot of work,  I never realized how much work it takes until I decided to try my hand at it. It took me a long time to get the hang of it and you can still tell my dogs are not professionally groomed but they are happy. I keep mine in a puppy cut, they seem more comfortable that way and I prefer the look myself. I have the hardest time getting their legs and paws to look good.  

Oh heaavens, I forgot about their legs and paws!  For mine I say her poor, poor paws.   You start out with a tad, then it's not even, work on the other side....My baby looked like she had chicken bones for legs. 

It seemed like every time I found a good groomer she would leave the area.  I got so tired of the nicks I would find on her, rather cuts, nics I can understand (it was still my baby...and it upset me) but when I found a cut on her from scissors and no one told me, it really upset me, I felt like I wasnt' there for her.  A good groomer is worth every penny I ever paid. 

Personally, I feel that grooming your own dog is the only way to go!  Seriously!

We had Airedale Terriers for many years, and with all of that grooming, trimming and stripping, one became very well versed with the dog's body.  You literally have to touch every part of the body, which is great, because you can feel for any lumps or bumps yourself, plus you can trim or style to your personal liking.  Now that we'll only have short haired breeds, the tools have changed, but, we're still are benefiting from those previously learned grooming techniques.

We had hands on lessons about hand stripping from our breeder, as well as lessons on clipper etiquette and styling; skills which helped us properly care for our dogs coat needs.  It's payed off years later, as now I feel very comfortable around a grooming table, scissors, clippers and nail cutters. 

So I say, if your interested in doing your own home grooming, go for it.  Take the time and learn from a pro, or someone who has grooming knowledge and you'll be glad you did.. so will your dog. 

I have four dogs and just recently got sick of having to deal with making grooming appointments, getting bad hair cuts, and stressing my dogs out.  So, I learned to do it all myself.

Buster is easy.  He doesn't need clipped and his nails are clear.

Max is fairly easy (although it does take two of us to do his nails), but I can trim him myself and he's a fairly large dog.

Lady also takes two of us.  She is older and I like to make sure she doesn't fall off the table or anything so we work together.

And Benny (the pom)...well, he is my project.  I still mess up on him, but as it grows in it looks pretty good.  However I do still take him in to get his nails done.

I really enjoy grooming my dogs.  I usually have a day to do each of them and it works out great.  Also, great for bonding as others have said.