My Grooming Equipment

My Grooming Table

I have had several grooming tables in the past. It has been only in the past 5 years of grooming that my table has been a hydraulic table. Knowing what I know now, I should have had one of these when I first started grooming and it would have saved so much wear and tear on my shoulders and back that I now have after grooming for over 28 years.

My first hydraulic table had a round base on it and it turned a complete 360 degrees. It was an OK table, but it shook and shimmered whenever a dog, especially a big dog, would move around and get it off balanced. I quickly got tired of having to steady it with my hip so I started looking into another table that would be a bit more stable.

At a grooming seminar I found the Platinum Hydraulic table with a swing arm by Edemco. I loved it, especially the swing arm which I use all the time. The table lowers to knee height on me which is about 19 inches and pumps up to 39 inches. There is another hole at the back to have another grooming arm which I use for a belly strap if needed.

This table weighs a whopping 250 lbs. so once you place it I would leave it there cause it takes two people to move it around. It is a very stable grooming table and even giant dogs cannot make it shake and wobble. I have mine in the middle of the floor so I can walk all the way around it if needed to groom.

Fast forward to 2019 and I traded this table in on an electric table. Lost the swing arm which I do miss but the electric controls are SOOOOO much better.

My Clippers

My Grooming Clippers are Wahl KM 10's the newest corded clipper. They are two speed and I love the shape and the lighness of weight of these clippers. The neat thing is they have a five year warrenty. Can't beat that. I feel like they have helped me a lot with all the aches and pains of my shoulder joints as I don't have to reach up and turn them on and off like the others I had. (That would have been the very heavy cable Double K Clippers.)

For my cordless clippers I picked the Lithium Wahl Bravura in purple and pink. They have an adjustable blade that takes the place of the # 9, 10, 15, 30 and 40. They also have their own slip on snap on combs that match the color code and sizes of the combs for the corded clippers They hold a charge for several days and I really like them as the blade never gets hot.

Wahl Grooming Caddy

My Wahl grooming caddy mounts onto the end of my grooming table and holds a ton of my equipment. I have my snap on combs, several sprays, shears (four types), brushes combs and nail trimmers in there. I never have to go far to get something I need to finish or start a groom.

Nothing can get knocked off if I put it up properly into the caddy. It is pretty sturdy too as I am forever knocking it around with my hip everytime I go by it. I holds up nicely and is really handy when I can't go hands off of a moving dog.

My Bathtub

My bath tub is nearly five years old and nothing special. It is a tub from Edemco and it came with a rack which I have since replaced due to being so heavy to move about when I am cleaning the tub out. I got a white one since most of my other stuff is white as well and I just figured it went well with what I already had.

I did replace the rack with a two piece lighter weight one I got from Ryan's Pet Supplies. It fits just right even though made for another brand of tub and I don't have to have a muscle man to help me lift it out.

I did splurge on getting a hair trap for the plumbling. It is mounted under the tub and I can quickly screw it off and emply the trapped hair in it saving me a ton on plumbing bills. I also have replaced the nozzle on the end of the hose coming off the hot and cold water taps. It seems to get clogged from all the mineral deposits from my well water.

Over all I have been happy with the tub I have in my shop.

Shampoos

I use a variety of shampoos from Best Shot. I especially like the Dirty Dog Shampoo which is highly concentrated and dilutes at 24 to 1. Also the UltraMax shampoo which dilutes 50 to 1 is great for the double coated breeds.

I also cannot say enough about the D-Mat all Coat Conditioner with the Anti-Stat control. I use this stuff on everybody and on extra dry coated dogs I even leave it in for extra help for coats in super bad condition. I love this stuff for Bichon cuts as it makes for easy scissoring after the dog is dry.

I just cannot say enough good stuff about this line of shampoo.

Shears and Scissors

I recently bought a whole line of the Monk Lite scissors. I got the straights, curved and a thinning shear. I really like thse scissors. They are light weight, easy to handle and seem to be holding their edge quite nicely.

I had never owned a pair of curved scissors before and I do find top knots, poodle tails and bracelets easier to scissor with the curved scissors. All in all I would highly recommend this line of shears.

My Dryers

I have two main dryers I use in grooming dogs.

My main dryer is the Sahara HD TurboDryer with three speeds. It has the three hose adapter kit attached so that I can dry three dogs as once. My hoses have worn out after nearly 8 years of use so have recently been replaced. These hoses are a bit tougher than what first came out 8 years ago. I had duct taped those first ones to death and I finally decided to replace them and was glad I did as these are a whole lot better.

Then I also have a Shernbao Tsunami high velocity dryer. It is what I mainly use for Bichons and longer haired dogs like my shelties. I keep it by the tub for that purpose. Nice dryer!

My Cages

I only groom six dogs a day so I don't need a lot of cages.

I do however take in three in the morning and then they usually go home at around noon. Three more come in after lunch and I am done by five.

I have a bank of four cages. They are the fiberglass cages with metal doors. I do have the plastic racks in them which lift out for easy cleaning (See Picture up in the picture with my grooming table.)

Recently I won a bank of stainless steal cages from Shor Line. I don't do as many big dogs as I used to due to my age and bad shoulders so I sold them. Hey who can't use extra money?

Shampoo Machine

The Shampoo Machine I am currently using is a Davis ProPet Washer.

I do like this machine over the recycle pump I had been using in the past due to the fact that I am using fresh water in my mixing of the shampoo and in the rinse cycle.

My days of hand mixing shampoo are over as this machine mixes the shampoo for me automatically straight out of the gallon containers. I can use four shampoos in the machine which is the major shampoos I use anyway and it makes for a lot of time saved.

The recycle pump I used before (Bathing Beauty) I have now sold and will not go back to one of those again.