The grooming equipment consists of a high table with clips to the collar to prevent any unwanted movement of the dog, especially when using the scissors; a clipper with several combs, essential for Poodles; a detangler for long or curly hair; of several pairs of scissors , straight, curved, serrated; a hand comb to fluff the hairs; finally with a thinning knife .

The technique

Having the material is not enough, you still have to know how to use it. The technique has evolved enormously over the centuries.

Today, grooming takes place in three stages:

- shampoo , gentle and adapted to the dog's hair, to remove dust and skin debris that can tarnish the coat;

- the cut performed in two steps :

1. shearing, often reserved for Poodles, requires a certain precision so as not to leave traces of the comb and allow homogeneous regrowth over the entire mowed area;

2. stripping: this is hair removal by hand or with a knife comb. This step is especially useful for wire-haired dogs, in order to remove the largest hairs and even out the coat;

- the trimming, or modeling of the dress , with a thinning knife or a comb.

To all this can be added the care of the toilet regularly provided by the owner: cleaning the eyes, waxing the ears (to avoid spikelets in summer and facilitate cleaning of the ears), descaling the teeth if necessary, cutting the nails and check the integrity of the pads.

This is the general approach to grooming. Obviously, each dog grooms differently. Here are some examples:

- for short hairs (such as Dalmatians or Labradors) disentangling is unnecessary; in a pinch, during the moulting period, a simple hard brush is sufficient. To give a shiny appearance to the hair, typical of these breeds, you can use a leather glove and then a chamois to shine the hair;

- for a long or semi-long coat (German Shepherd, Spitz, Spaniel), you must avoid removing the live hairs or breaking them with too hard material. Thus, the use of a curry comb is much more appropriate;

- for long, straight or curly hair (Afghan, Chow-Chow, Bichon) disentangling is necessary to remove dead hair. Fine-tuning consists, in the Chow-Chow, in giving volume to the dress by puffing it against the grain or, in the Fox, in leveling the beard to obtain a square head;

- well, the Poodle case is by far the most complicated. Several clippings are allowed, in particular the "lion" shearing (helmet, sleeve and pompom), the English shearing (hair combed back and retained by a ribbon, muzzle clipped), the "zazou" shearing (feet and body shaved , helmet sheep, muzzle and ears cropped).