Best Dog Grooming Shears
Whether you want to start taking more responsibility for your dog’s appearance or open a dog grooming salon of your own, the right tools will be critical to your success. Trimming hair with badly made shears won’t just give an unattractive outcome; if your shears pinch or pull, you may traumatize your pet or even trigger them to fight you, making future grooming sessions less pleasant for everyone involved.
The type of dog grooming shears you need will depend on your dog’s hair type, as longer styles and thicker coats can require more specialized equipment. But don’t forget that when buying dog grooming shears, nothing is more important than quality.
Types of Dog Grooming Shears
There are many types of dog grooming shears on the market today, all serving different functions in the groomer’s toolbox. If your dog has a short to medium coat you may only need one pair of shears; a breed with a longer or extra thick coat will probably need two or three pairs to be able to serve in all the needed functions.
Shears are designed for different purposes, and come in many shapes and types. Here are some of the main shear designs, along with a description of their functions.
Straight Versus Curved Shears
Straight shears are great for everyday trimming tasks and cleaning up the ends of long hair, while curved scissors are perfect for those areas where you need to get close to the dog’s skin without pinching—like the flanks, tail, topknot, and ears.
To have all your grooming basics for a longer haired dog, plan to get one of each. But if your dog has shorter hair and only really needs a little neatening up, or if you use clippers for most of your dog’s body, you may be able to get away with only keeping a curved pair to get those little sensitive bits of the dog’s coat.
Thinning Versus Blending
While thinning shears have two toothed edges and are intended to remove large amounts of hair from a dog with an unmanageably thick coat, blending shears have a toothed edge and a flat/dull edge and remove less hair at one time. Blending shears create a look with movement and body without sacrificing too much hair volume.
Also in this category are chunkers, which are thinning shears that remove larger amounts of hair with each clip. These are used mostly for dogs with very thick coats.
Quality Is a Worthwhile Investment
Many dog owners think they will groom their own dog, but one or two attempts can be enough to deter them. One bad pinch can be all it takes to turn a puppy’s trust into fear.
High quality, well-engineered dog grooming shears make it much easier to safely and attractively groom your dog. When poorly engineered scissors are used, they can become loose, choppy, sticky or dull, and any of these situations can lead to bad outcomes.
Dull scissors can take multiple cuts to get through a single section of hair, damaging the ends and making the coat look rough and ragged. If the pivot point is loose even a sharp blade won’t cut well, as the two blades of the shears won’t meet properly when the scissors are closing.
A fine pair of shears from a reputable merchant will work better and continue functioning longer than an inferior product. Purchase highly functional, durable shears and find out the difference that quality can make.
