Helpful Score: 1
This book has breed-specific directions on how to groom almost all AKC registered dog breeds. It also has a section at the beginning of the book that talks about different equipment (shears, clippers, stripping knives, hydraulic tables, etc.) and how to use them properly.
The biggest caution I would give about this book--and it's a BIG caution--is that it isn't clear about how much blending is needed between clippered areas of a coat and the longer parts (furnishings, legs, etc). For example, when you're looking at the diagram and instructions for a Cocker Spaniel, it shows how you can use a #10 to a #5 blade on the back, and it shows a straight line from the chest to the tail where you stop clipping. An inexperienced person might clipper the coat straight across, nice and tight, leaving a "hula skirt" look on the dog. (As a professional groomer I see this quite often from newbies.) The book doesn't explain that it's imperative to clipper WITH the grain (in the same direction the hair grows) and drop the clippers off the rib cage to blend the clippered saddle into the longer skirt with NO discernible line between the two. And you must be careful, because some of the patterns have changed a bit since this book was published. You'll get more up-to-date information--and better instructions--from the newer "Notes From A Grooming Table." But this book is better than no instructions at all, and will work until you get "Notes From A Grooming Table."
The biggest caution I would give about this book--and it's a BIG caution--is that it isn't clear about how much blending is needed between clippered areas of a coat and the longer parts (furnishings, legs, etc). For example, when you're looking at the diagram and instructions for a Cocker Spaniel, it shows how you can use a #10 to a #5 blade on the back, and it shows a straight line from the chest to the tail where you stop clipping. An inexperienced person might clipper the coat straight across, nice and tight, leaving a "hula skirt" look on the dog. (As a professional groomer I see this quite often from newbies.) The book doesn't explain that it's imperative to clipper WITH the grain (in the same direction the hair grows) and drop the clippers off the rib cage to blend the clippered saddle into the longer skirt with NO discernible line between the two. And you must be careful, because some of the patterns have changed a bit since this book was published. You'll get more up-to-date information--and better instructions--from the newer "Notes From A Grooming Table." But this book is better than no instructions at all, and will work until you get "Notes From A Grooming Table."
