Top 5 best dog grooming books

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Using professional pet grooming services can get very expensive, very quick. This is only one of the reasons why new and old-time pet owners are looking to learn grooming the old school way: reading some of the best dog grooming books available.

However, there are more other reasons why as a pet parent you may wish to learn from pet grooming books and online resources. It could because you want to spend more time with your pet, bonding through the grooming experience. Or possibly you’re training to change a career and become a professional pet groomer. All very valid reasons.

For dog owners who aren’t interested in reading any of these best dog grooming books, there are a bunch of course available online. Unfortunately, these courses are far more expensive than just buying a book, but you’ll learn on the spot and with someone directly teaching you how to groom a pet.

At the end of the day, whether you’d like to learn just very little on dog grooming or you wish to become a professional, it behooves you as a pet owner to learn at least the basics of pet grooming either way.

We all need to know the very minimum of how to take care of our dogs and cats. Even seasoned groomers need to turn to a lot of books to update and refresh their competence.

Below, we have a compilation of the finest, most comprehensive, well-rated best dog grooming books currently available. Have better suggestions? Let us know in the comments below!

5 Best Dog Grooming Books

1 Notes from the Grooming Table
by Melissa Verplank (2004)

The first on our list of best dog grooming books is a well-known guide from Melissa Verplank. Author Melissa Verplank is a 20-year veteran groomer and expert stylist, and in this extraordinary and easy-to-read pet grooming book her attempt is to help both newbies and expert groomers gain more knowledge on good pet grooming practices.

This informative dog grooming book provides valuable step-by-step strategies on various grooming techniques that are applicable to all breeds. Melissa presents graphic illustrations, line drawings, and pictures for the reader to better understand the broad range of topics contained in her instructional notes. This 495-page book includes topics on clipping, bathing, different fur types, general anatomy, grooming tools and equipment, trimming, scissoring, feet and pads, and hand stripping.

• Read Amazon customer reviews

The reason we’ve rated this as the best dog grooming book ever is not only because of its extensive and accurate material, but due to the overwhelmingly positive response this book has received. Take a look at this pet grooming book reviews and you’ll notice that beginning groomers who bought this book found it the best learning resource. Even professional dog groomers thought it a handy reference for updating their skills. Clear illustrations support the detailed instructions, making it much easier for learners to follow. The spiral binding makes this dog grooming book easy to use and kept open at chosen pages.

While many would-be and professional pet groomers found Melissa Verplank’s Notes from the Grooming Table highly informative, some say it has somehow failed their high expectations. It was not quite the masterpiece they had hoped for, but just a rehash of the same typical advice you can get anywhere. Overall, we believe this is a great first guide for aspiring pet groomers who are just starting with this as either a hobby or a profession.

Most helpful customer review (full review): “Over 40 years of my life has been spent in the grooming industry. As a kid I grew up working after school in my parents pet salon and today I operate PetGroomer.com to help others succeed in grooming. Let me assure you that Notes From…”

2 A Comprehensive Manual for Individualized Dog and Cat Grooming
by Efroim Gurman and Yanina Ruda (2011)

Our second item on the best dog grooming books list is yet another very extensive guide from two authors, Efroim Gurman and Yanina Ruda, as well as a ton of contributors (names can be found on Amazon). This is 216-page manual on pet grooming which is a great resource for beginners, apprentice groomers and professionals.

About 200 dog and cat breeds are discussed in this book with focus in correcting flaws and bringing out the best in every dog or cat. Detailed instructions and illustrations make this a useful reference about grooming tools and how to handle them, guidelines for grooming, practical grooming techniques, and tips for perfecting cat and dog hairstyles. This is easily one of the best dog grooming books that’s very well-written by an author who inspired students to become professional grooming practitioners.

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When going through this pet grooming book reviews, we’ve noticed that professional groomers and pet owners have been recommending this best dog grooming book to their family and friends for its comprehensive content. Readers appreciate that this book imparted instructions clearly, and that it tied grooming theories and actual grooming practice together. The subject on anatomy provided learners with a good foundation on pet grooming. The examples, illustrations and diagrams given in this book provided realistic visualization on the part of the learner and this made understanding easier.

Still, some buyers found that Gurman’s and Ruda’s A Comprehensive Manual for Individualized Dog and Cat Grooming was missing a few things or breeds, or it wasn’t detailed enough. Generally, this pet grooming book was described as easy-to-follow, self-explanatory, precise and very descriptive with very few negative reviews. It inspired pet owners to become experts for their pet companions. This goal and saving on professional groomers’ fees seemed much easier to attain with this book.

Most helpful customer review (full review): “As a pet owner I have been searching for a dog grooming book for the normal person to understand and I have found it in this book. The illustrations and written descriptions are very clear and have helped me to understand what to do and…”

3 DIY Dog Grooming, From Puppy Cuts to Best in Show
by Jorge Bendersky (2014)

Third one of the best dog grooming books on our list comes from a single author, Jorge Bendersky, with a foreword from a famous dog whisperer Cesar Milan. In this third best dog grooming book, author says that you can judge a dog’s health by its coat appearance.

This guide is for DIYers who want to learn about the basic hygiene tenets for dogs, solutions to skin problems including fleas and ticks, and creative grooming suggestions from NY celebrity groomer Bendersky himself. There are a bunch of photos and step-by-step instructions to guide you through the different pet grooming tasks, including tips for preparing your pet before a grooming session. This is a somewhat shorter 160-page dog grooming book that can be good to quickly scan through.

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After going through the reviews on this dog grooming book, it’s clear that pet owners who wanted to take dog grooming into their own hands found this canine grooming guide to contain a wealth of information. It includes anything from simple brushing to complexities of bathing, handling dog skin diseases, parasites and allergies, and exploring styles that worked best with their pets. They also noted that home-grooming their pets strengthened their bond and saved groomers fees on the side. The tips on preventing allergies and parasites with dog grooming treatments even resulted to savings on veterinarian fees for some.

While Bendersky’s DIY Dog Grooming, From Puppy Cuts to Best in Show pet grooming book gave a boost of confidence to beginners at dog-grooming, others found it somewhat too general and lacking in detail. When tips were provided, readers hoped for more details. What the book hoped to achieve was to get pet owners more actively involved in grooming dogs, and it succeeded in that aspect.

Most helpful customer review (full review): “If you’re tired of spending tons of money at the groomers, this book is most definitely for you! The absolute A-Z of everything you need to know to take care of all your pups needs in the comfort of your own hands. I know I speak for plenty…”

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4 Dog Grooming for Dummies
by Margaret H. Bonham (2006)

No book list goes without the “For Dummies” books. Fourth one of the best dog grooming books is exactly that, from a single author Margaret H. Bonham.

Dog owners looking for an affordable reference to pet grooming will find this resource highly valuable. It touches the basics, such as preparing and training your pooch for grooming, introduction to basic clipping tools, proper care for dogs’ ears, nails and teeth, grooming styles for various types of coat, and getting your dog to the show ring. This 384-page manual is targeted for the non-pros, so beginners will find it really valuable.

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Dog grooming book reviews clearly show how buyers call this a very practical book for beginners that helped them a lot in threshing issues about their dogs, including preparing terrified dogs with anxiety problems. With the simple language used all throughout the book, the readers found it encouraging especially those who never groomed a pet before. This fourth best dog grooming book taught the basics of cutting dog’s hair by discussing the various types of coats, and this was helpful for those who have no background on dog hair cutting.

However, a lot of other pet parents found Bonham’s Dog Grooming for Dummies lacking in pictures and illustrations which mattered a lot for “dummies” learning about grooming from scratch. Others expecting the book to delve into haircuts and hair styling were also disappointed to find grooming to focus on bathing the dog and brushing its teeth. The book satisfied those buyers who expected to learn general grooming from the basics, mainly hygiene. It disappointed those who wanted to learn different techniques for specific dog breeds. Overall, it’s a good starting point for learners.

Most helpful customer review (full review): “This was purchased just in time to supplement the adult Ed. Intro to Pet (dog) Grooming classes (10 hours) at the local JVS.
The class is strictly an INTRO to…”

5 All-Breed Dog Grooming
by Panel of Credentialed Grooming Experts (2011)

Last one on our list of best dog grooming books is another good guide from multiple authors-pet groomers, credited on the book’s page as Panel of Credentialed Grooming Experts. This 272-page book is a comprehensive resource for professional pet groomers and pet owners alike. It provides detailed instructions, complete with illustrations and pictures, on how to properly groom dogs.

The last one of the best pet grooming books has been used for more than 20 years and recently revised to be more relevant as a go-to grooming reference for 164 dog breeds and varieties. This is a useful manual that covers step-by-step topics from bathing, trimming hair, clipping nails, and caring for pets’ coats. Other important topics, such as appropriate tools, eliminating odor, matting and shedding issues, are discussed here as well.

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Many of this fifth best dog grooming book reviews show how pet owners who ordered this spiral-bound guide appreciated that the instructions in the manual are clear and thorough. The diagrams and illustrations make the instructions easy to follow. They noted that the sidebar suggesting which tools worked best for a pet grooming task and a particular breed is very helpful for groomers who are just starting out.

Other dog owners who bought All-Breed Dog Grooming in the Kindle format observed that it lacked a lot of images and illustrations and thought that the spiral-bound version would have been a better deal. The spiral binding also allows the book to sit flat nicely, and flipping through the pages would be a breeze. Pet owners looking for a reference devoted on a particular breed will find this dog grooming book useful, since it features over 160 dog breeds.

Most helpful customer review (full review): “The Grooming book has gorgeous illustrations and the step-by-step instructions tell you exactly what equipment you need for each dog breed. It’s exactly what I wanted. Oster tools are suggested for each clip and it tells you what blade to use. What…”

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