The buying order
The short answer
Brush and comb first, nail tool second, dryer third, table fourth, clipper and blades last. The clipper is late because two of the five coat types should never be clipped and a third barely needs it — whereas every dog needs its nails done and every growing coat needs brushing to the skin.
Most people buy this list backwards, starting with a clipper kit because that is what “grooming equipment” looks like in a shop. The result is a cupboard with an unused clipper and a dog with matted ears, because the tools that prevent problems were never bought. The order below is by return per dollar, which is a different ranking from price.
The list, in order
By coat type
Doodle, poodle, Bichon. Items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 — the full list. This is the most demanding coat and the most expensive kit, and also the one where home grooming saves the most. Start with 1 and 2 today; 3 before your first clip.
Double coat (Husky, Shepherd, Golden, Samoyed, Pyrenees). Items 7, 2, 3 and 1. No clipper. A rake, a nail tool, a dryer and a slicker is the entire kit, and it is cheaper than the doodle list by a wide margin. See the double coat page for why the clipper is absent.
Silky long coat (Yorkie, Maltese, Shih Tzu). Items 1, 2, 6 and a low-airflow dryer or a gentler setting. A pin brush as a finishing tool is a worthwhile addition here, which it is not on most coats.
Wire coat (Schnauzer, terriers). Items 2 and 1, plus a stripping knife and a carding tool instead of a clipper — unless you have decided to accept a softer, paler coat. The trade-off is on stripping versus clipping.
Short smooth coat. Item 2, and a rubber mitt. That is genuinely the whole list, and anyone selling you more than that for a Beagle is selling you something you do not need.
What to skip
- Twelve-piece kits. Usually one mediocre clipper and eleven things you will throw away — blunt scissors, a comb that bends, plastic guide combs that pop off. Buy fewer, better items.
- A second clipper “for the face” before you own a trimmer. A trimmer is a different tool, not a smaller clipper. One of each, eventually; not two clippers.
- A deshedding blade on a doodle. There is no undercoat to remove and it will cut the coat. See FURminator versus slicker.
- A grooming vacuum, unless your dog sheds heavily onto carpet. It captures hair rather than removing more of it, which is a tidiness benefit with a narrow audience.
- Heated dryers with a thermostat element. Unnecessary and a burn risk. Moving air does the work.
- Anything labeled “professional” with no specifications published. If the manufacturer will not state the airflow, the motor type or the blade standard, there is usually a reason.
Buy the second blade at the same time as the clipper
Clippers ship with one blade. A groom on a doodle needs a body blade and a short blade, and a second body blade to swap to when the first gets hot is how professionals avoid stopping. Discovering this mid-groom is the most common first-clip frustration, and it is entirely avoidable.
What to remember
- →Brush and comb, nail tool, dryer, table, clipper, scissors. In that order.
- →Every dog needs a nail tool. Only growing coats need a clipper.
- →Double coats need a rake and a dryer, and no clipper at all.
- →Short coats need a nail tool and a mitt. Nothing else.
- →Skip 12-piece kits — one mediocre clipper and eleven throwaways.
- →Buy the second blade with the clipper, not after the first groom.
