This post is another back dated post and unfortunatly I don't have pictures to go along with it. About a year after I wrote this my new grooming bag broke. I had pictures on my old computer but not on my new one so it is a picturless post. If you check the link you can look at the bag and read what I kept in each pocket. After my bag broke I changed to a new storage method which I have not made a post about yet. I will get to it one day but for now here is my old grooming bag organization
If you have a dog that is prone to matting like I have, you probably have too many grooming tools for your own good. I used to keep all my tools in a gardening bag I picked up from the dollar store one day and it worked very well for a while but as I got more tools there just wasn't enough room. I needed more pockets, I left it in disarray for a while just working around it but it was tedious trying to find everything I needed when I needed it. At Christmas I was given a grooming table for my dog and that took away some of my storage problems, unfortunately it started some others. It has a nice wire shelf underneath so I figured I would line it (so my tools couldn't fall through the wire) and lay my tools across it so there was no hunting for anything - the problem - I didn't take into account the little girl my family looks after who thought she should brush her hair with them (don't worry we caught it the very first time she tried and moved everything immediately). Next I started keeping my tools in buckets on the table's shelf. I had two buckets, one had my everyday tools and the other had all her bath supplies. All the bath supplies fit in perfectly but in order to fit all my brushes in the other bucket I had to put a smaller bucket inside to seperate my everyday tools and my weekly tools. I still had organization problems but at least it was away from little fingers and looked tidy. I eventually had enough of the buckets because my tools were starting to bend out of shape. I did a lot of research (I think I know the specs of every grooming bag (dog and horse) ever made). I really liked the horse grooming bags from Tough 1, especially their hanging bags but I wanted one that could fold up to fit on my table shelf and they weren't made to fold up small. I decided on the Top Performance Nylon Pet Groomer on the Go Bag. I chose it because it looked like a good size, it has tons of pockets, space for securely holding dematting sprays (many bags don't) and it rolled out. I got it through the above link on Amazon.ca for $40.73. To be perfectly honest I was a bit disappointed by its size when I got it because I thought it would be much bigger. I was however presently surprised to find out it holds TONS of stuff, in fact it hold more than I was expecting when I thought it would be larger. Every pocket is dedicated to a certain type of grooming.
The bag has a handle on top as well as a body strap.The outside of the bag has a zippered mesh pullout pocket, a medium sized pocket on the front as well as a small zipper pocket on top of it. The back has a fabric strip sewn on that has a magnet inside. I am not exactly sure what it is for and why it needs a magnet but my best guess is to be able to clip on your shears while you work. If anyone reads this and knows why it is there please let me know I would be interested to know.
The bag unzips all the way around the sides as well as on the base. The bag unfolds to have four see through pockets in various sizes. Every pocket is dedicated to a certain type of grooming or type of tool. The bottom pocket as a good size and I keep all of Khazi's oral care products in it. It was very important for me to have a space specifically for these because I use them every single day. The pocket holds an angled tooth brush, two finger brushes, toothpaste, Orapup (tongue brush), Orapup Lickies (the sauce that goes on the Orapup) and a tooth scaler. I also have dog mouth wash foam but it is kept in the main pocket.
The second pocket very thin and best suited for combs. I have two Wahl 58249 Finishing Combs, Bronze in there. These are my favourite combs and I actually purchased a second one at the same time I got my grooming bag because after a year of use the teeth started bending. It cost $12.99. I have a face comb as well but it is in my training bag because a friend asked me to help comb out his dog.
The third pocket is the largest foldout pocket. It actually has a zipper on both the top and bottom for cleaning purposes which I think is genius. This pockets holds my favourite slicker brush and a rake. It is actually my nail care pocket but it was best place for those two brushes to be kept. As for the nail care supplies I have a nail clipper, nail grinder and Kwik Stop styptic powder.
The final fold out pocket can be easy to miss, if the bag is sitting on a table you can't see it at all. It is 5small like the comb pocket and it holds my good shears, thinning shears and a pair of hemostats that can be used for ear hair plucking.
The front of the bag has four smallish vertical pockets with elastic to keep items in place. This is where I keep my various dematting blades and my triangle slicker brush. From left to right I have a Four Paws Magic Coat mat splitter, a Q Matts B Gone mat splitter, Q Coat Wizard, a Q 9 Blade Mat Comb, a Q Razor Mat Splitter, and Q Sensitive Area Slicker (AKA Triangle Slicker)
The main pocket of the bag has two pockets on both sides, and three elastic pockets along the back. The elastic pockets don't have a bottom which means you can easily store irregularly shaped bottles. The elastic pockets hold a bottle of The Stuff, which is my all time favourite dematting spray, #1 All Systems Mat Blaster Plus dry aerosol dematting spray, and a spray bottle containing water. I got the spray bottle from the IKEA gardening section when one of my first dematting spray bottle broke. Once I had emptied the bottle I cleaned it out and filled it with water because The Stuff works best when used on wet hair. It can saturate all the way through a really bad mat in two sprays. The side pockets contain my Facetime Foaming Face Wash and the other holds my Tropiclean Fresh-breath Instant fresh foaming mouth wash.
There is some extra room inside the main pocket that you can put a few things in, however if you fill it up too much the bag cannot fold up to close. I use it to hold my Natur Vet Ear Wash and Bio-Groom Ear-fresh Grooming Ear Powder.
I love this bag soooo much but it isn't perfect. It can sometimes be hard to zip up because of the shape and design of the bag, zipping around the corners from the bottom can be difficult and the more you have in the bag the harder it is to close. There are also some products that I use on a regular basis that just didn't fit. I have another bottle or two of dematting spray that didn't fit, an oddly shaped dematting blade, two brushes (a pin brush and a boar nylon bristle brush (AKA the Andreas brush), and all my grooming wipes. Currently my extra tools are in a bag that I got as part of a grooming supply kit. My wipes and whatnot are being stored on/under my grooming table until I can find a better solution
I have been considering buying another grooming bag to organize the left over items but I am going to have to review all the bags I looked at before and search for different criteria. I really don't need too many pockets for my remaining tools as I no longer have small items to organize. I think I might go for a small tote or maybe a ringside grooming bag so I can use it solely for my brushes, blades and wipes. Or I might go the opposite way and
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