Good grooming is essential not only for humans but for pets too. Dogs aren’t in a habit of keeping themselves clean unlike cats. Therefore proper grooming is extremely necessary for our dogs. This also has other benefits like being able to spend more time with her/him, promoting an overall health for her/him with coat, feet, teeth, ears, skin etc, noticing anything wrong in any of her/his body part, and making yourself safe from the health hazards too.
While you start grooming your dog, start slowly to enable her/him understand and accept what you are doing. Offer her/him various treats and have a lot of patience. If you feel that you are not succeeding and getting frustrated, leave it and come back later. But ensure that the session will be fun for you and your dog.
If your dog needs to be trimmed or clipped regularly, you should take her/him to a professional groomer.
Bathing
Unless your dog has gotten very dirty, it is not necessary to bathe her/him every now and then. Bathing too often will eliminate natural oils from their coat and leave them dried out. Bathing once in 2 to 4 months is just enough. Ensure to use a dog shampoo. Perform the session on a non-slippery surface. After you lather up the coat, ensure complete rinsing it. If shampoo remains on the coat, it will damage the coat. Save her/his mouth, ears and eyes from direct entry of shampoo and water.
Brushing
More than frequent bathing, a regular brushing will maintain your dog’s coat’s health. It will remove dead cells and hair, evenly distribute the natural oils promoting a healthy and clean coat and also help you to find any problem in your dog’s skin. Regardless of the length of your dog’s coat, you should brush it every two days. Sometimes special brushing will be needed for cleaning hair mats or helping shedding of seasonal coat.
There are general purpose combs and brushes, as well as specialized tools. Slicker brushes and shedding blades are great for removing hair mats and dead coats, but they are not ideal for general purpose. Pin-head brushes, combs and “Zoom Groom” are great for general purpose.
Nails
Dog’s nails are curved. If you don’t cut them on time, they will make your dog’s fingers and toes twist while walking, which is very uncomfortable, and can also result in broken fingers and toes. To prevent this, regular clipping of nails is necessary. Usually once in every two weeks, you should check and clip your dog’s nails. Even if you hear them clicking when the dog is walking on the floor, you can know that they have grown too long. If you are not sure about how and where to cut the nails, you should take the dog to a professional groomer to avoid hurting the dog.
Ears
Ear cleaning for dog is utmost necessary to avoid any ear infections. It also makes the dog feel good. Even examining superficially will let you know the presence of fleas, wood ticks or anything abnormal inside the dog’s ear. Once a week examination and cleaning of ears are advisable. For this purpose, you can use a piece of gauze or a cotton ball. You can also use your finger wrapped with a baby wipe. But water should not be used as it doesn’t evaporate easily. Go down inside the dog’s ear only up to your finger goes easily and wipe gently. Avoid using Q-tips or anything further than this or it may cause a serious injury to the dog’s ear.
If any unusual discharge or smell from the dog’s ear is noticed, take her/him to the vet.
Teeth
Dogs have more or less the same tooth problems as that of humans and the bacteria in the teeth can enter their blood circulation to cause still more health problems. Therefore regular cleaning is essential which should be done 2-3 times a week. A dog toothbrush or a piece of gauze wrapped around the finger can be used to clean your dog’s teeth. Never use human toothpaste, because if the dog swallows it, it can cause stomach upset. Use either a dog toothpaste or baking soda or plain water. You just need to clean the outer surfaces of teeth, as the dog’s tongue will make the inside and top surfaces clean.
Pedigree Cutts is a dog grooming salon offering first class grooming services for dogs and other pets at reasonable rates. Whether your pet is small or big, long- or short-haired, they have just the right expertise to make any pet look well-groomed.