Dog grooming has been an essential part of maintaining dog’s nice and neat appearance and good overall health. There are many professional pet centers that offer professional dog grooming services for your dogs; however, regular grooming sessions at these professional centers are not affordable to many dog owners.
Instead, dog grooming at home can be more preferable. Although it is more affordable and more exciting to groom your dog at home, as both of you can enjoy fun time together, many dog owners are nervous and worried about how they can set things up and make grooming sessions go smoothly.
The very first thing that all dog owners, who are going to groom their dogs at home, truly need is the right tool. Among various tools, a dog clipper is the most fundamental tool to get started with. If you search in today’s market, you will probably find tons of different options, but we bet that after a while searching, you’ll start asking this question: “Is a dog clipper a must-have? Why don’t I use my clipper instead?”.
This is a common question, but the true question is whether human clippers can be used on dogs. As you may guess, human clippers and dog clippers are not the same. So what exactly are the differences? Let’s find out.
Dog clippers usually have various speed modes, while human clippers are not designed that way.
While human clippers are mostly used to trim and cut our hair on the heads, dog clippers are used for many parts of their bodies. Since the coat in different body parts has different thickness and layers, which needs to be clipped separately with different speeds, clipping a dog requires a multi-speed clipper. On the contrary, cutting human’s hair is way more simpler, so a human clipper does not necessarily have more than one speed.
With various speed modes, users can switch between the modes to have the most suitable speed for the clipping area. High speed can go up to 4000-5000 strokes per minute, which gives your dog a smooth sheen. Lower speed, on the other hand, creates less heat and vibration; thus, it can be used on delicate areas such as face or feet.
Overall, when it comes to speed, human clippers should not be an alternative for dog clippers, because human clippers are not designed to have many speed modes as we do not need them, while some dogs do need different speeds on their different body parts.
A human clipper and a dog clipper may have the same appearance, but their motors are totally different.
It takes only a few minutes for a haircut done by a professional barber, whereas it takes up to hours to fully clip a dog. It is obvious that our hair is never as thick as a dog’s coat, and therefore motors used to build dog clippers must be stronger than those used in human clippers.
The most important factor to decide which motor to install is the amount of heat generated when the clipper is working. The longer the clipper is running, the more heat it generates; and too much heat will cause damage to the device. Thus, depending on the intended use, manufacturers will choose appropriate motors for clippers. Regarding human clipper, as previously stated, it takes a short amount of time to get a haircut. Before the next customer comes in, the clipper has already had enough time to cool down.
Therefore, motors used for human clippers are more gentle. On the other hand, clipping a dog takes much longer, and the clipper is usually turned on for hours. In order to avoid overheating, dog clippers’ motors usually have baffles to reduce vibration and sound. This helps the clipper work smoothly with less heat and sound, and by reducing the sound, it is more preferable for your dog. Remember that dogs are sensitive to noises and sounds? Less noises will keep your dog calm during grooming sessions, and this is why dog clippers are designed with such motors.
Not just the motors, the blades are also different.
To create sharp and accurate lines in forming hairstyle during a haircut, human clippers must have blades with fine teeth. However, using such fine teeth on a dog’s coat will only make your clipper stuck and pull out your dog’s hair. For this reason, dog clippers have wider teeth so as not to pull the dog’s fur, and also to maintain the clipper’s long life.
Using the correct blade is essential because you do not want to hurt your dog or damage the clipper just right after a few uses. Although wider teeth is more preferable for clipping, fine-teeth blade gives a nice and smooth finish touch to the dog’s coat.
To make the clipping perfect, you may want to alternate the blades whenever needed. If you purchase a clipper kit, you will find some additional blades attached in the kit with various sizes for you to switch whenever you need. In case you have more than one dog, having multiple blades is highly recommended because each blades works best for some certain types of fur, so it is suggested that you change the blade if you are clipping different breeds.
Final conclusion
Now we can come to a general conclusion that human clippers do not work on dogs or pets, due to the difference in motors and blade. Although it sounds like a good idea to make use of a human clipper that is already available at home so that you can save some money, a human clipper basically cannot function on pets (unless you want to break it sooner).
Purchasing an appropriate dog clipper is a must if you want to clip and groom your dogs at home. Remember that products may look the same, but they are designed differently for each different purpose of use. So anytime you feel skeptical, it is always a good idea to ask and double check with professionals or other experienced dog owners.