What are you trying to create -- a Cocker look or a Poodle look?

I would suggest getting clippers with a 10 blade for the neck/saddle/tail, and lifting them to blend into the skirt if you are going for a Cocker look. There are some resources online for DIY cocker/cockapoo grooming and I believe PetEdge or Cherrybrook may sell some informative videos -- they are expensive but well worth the cost.

If you are going for a Poodle look the majority of your work will be scissoring, not clippering. This is a lot harder to teach yourself, I'm afraid.

Sharon, if you want to grind nails, a regular old Dremel drill from Home Depot will actually do the trick. You can find many articles online on this topic that will show you how to do it step-by-step and will tell you what drill bits you need. All in all it is usually about $45 for everything you need. Go slow, keep kwik-stop handy, and use common sense and you should be fine.

thank you.

I also will enter a vote for Laube brand; especially corless. I have a Speed Feed and a Shark Totth set. I rely on my Speed Feed mostly now; goes from a #9 setting to a #40 for show trims. They run forever on one charge and two batteries are included. They also comb with a set of combs to groom longer cuts. I am extremely spoiled with these. It takes forever for them to get warm and they never get "hot". Light weight, easy to maneuver, little vibration. I also her great things about the "Lightening" but have not used them. I have 3 Standard Poodles and have been mentored by the best in grooming.

Ha! I got spoiled by Laube cordless too. They must be addictive because I only used them too. Amazing little clippers!

With poodles you'll need actually two sets of clippers. One will be a very small finish clipper with what will look like a 30 blade on it. This is to do feet. It is a lifesaver. A poodle foot is naked with a cuff.

The second set is up to you. I personally use an Andis pro 2 speed.
Depending on how you pattern or if you pattern will determine how much to spend on shears. PetEdge is a good choice for comparisons as I don't think Leerburg carries much in the way of pro grooming supplies.
You will need curved shears, straight shears, and a pair of blunt nosed shears. You will also need hemostats to do poodle ears which if left alone become forests and painful to the dog. The only other tool of note is a long toothed metal comb.

If you want to know the most important thing to own when doing poodle hair it's the force dryer. It stretches the curl to be straight which will make all the difference when clipping and shaping. You want to dry the dog completely (like not even damp) before clipping and the hair should be straight with only a slight crimp if done correctly.

If you want a suggestion for a grooming book on the how to - the book Notes from the Grooming Table by Melissa Verplank is a great book. Easy to reference.

Best of luck.

Melissa

Actually, I owned a lot of clippers, but ended up using just my favorite pair of Laube Micro Minis for everything, including poodle feet, extremely light weight, no vibration and they never get hot. Of course with poodles for show, other than the shaved areas, everything is scissored anyway, so it's kind of a moot point!

I use a dremel tool with a small sandpaper wheel on my dogs and it seems to work out well. There is no crushing or splitting of the nail.

If you accidentally go to close to the quick it cauterizes it and the dogs seem to really not have a problem with it. It takes some time to train them to put up with the noise and the vibration but it might be a good option for you.

Dale