Top Dog Grooming Tips Every Owners Needs To Know

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Owning a dog can be an excellent addition to your life. Your new furry four-legged best friend can join you on your adventures and make things better in any way. You can benefit from their unwavering love and affection when you bring a dog into your life. In return, all they ask is that you keep them happy and healthy and give them a good life.

Being a dog owner is a role filled with responsibilities, beyond the fun of playtime and providing a nutritious diet. One of the most crucial responsibilities is grooming, a form of care and love that should never be overlooked. Understanding and fulfilling your dog's unique grooming needs is a testament to your love and commitment to their well-being.

This post is going to look at how you can stay on top of grooming and some top tips for keeping your dog looking in tip top shape at all times.

Invest In Quality Tools

The effectiveness of your grooming efforts is directly linked to the quality of the tools you use. Investing in the best tools for your specific dog is crucial to keeping them looking good. Whether it's a gentle dog brush for daily grooming or you Check out this dog grooming vacuum for heavy shedders, having the right tools will make your grooming routine more effective and enjoyable.

In addition to brushes, tools like clippers, undercoat rakes, shedding blades, and de-matting rakes might be helpful for keeping your pooch looking good. Slings you can hook into door frames or ceilings above a table can be a good idea if your pooch is a wriggler or will try to escape. You can invest in a high-quality grooming table that allows you to keep your dog still and in one place while you tackle more intensive aspects of grooming.

Brush Regularly

Exactly what regularly means depends again on your dog and the breed. Some breeds require you to brush them daily or even twice daily. Others could be weekly tasks you need to carry out. Find out what frequency works best for you and your dog and schedule it so it's something you take care of automatically. This will keep you on top of things and prevent matting or knot issues.

Also, and this cannot be stressed enough, brush your dog prior to bathing so that you don't develop any tangles after bathing and that their coat is tangle-free and healthy.

A big part of brushing your dog is getting the right type of brush, as mentioned in the above point. Different types of coats require different brushes, and different coats need different care.

• Slicker brushes: for medium, long, wire and curly-coated dogs to remove and prevent mats
• Bristle brushes: for dogs with short, silky hair or to finish off grooming for dogs with long hair
• Pinhead brushes: best-used finishing brushes
• Undercoat rakes: to remove loose fur from double-coated dogs and to help remove and prevent matting
• Rubber brushes: for short-haired dogs to lose dirt and hair and bring them to the surface to be removed with a finishing brush

Groom When Calm

Imagine yourself being all worked up and stressed and then being asked to do something you don't enjoy or don't want to do. Are you going to comply and make the experience easier when you're frustrated and upset? Probably not and it's not going to be a positive time for you either, is it? The same goes for your dog and at-home grooming. If they're already stressed or agitated, then chances are whatever you're doing isn't going to be accepted or appreciated.

Try to groom your dog when it's relaxed and comfortable for a more pleasurable and more straightforward experience for both of you. You might need to introduce desensitization training, such as gradually introducing the grooming tools, starting with short and gentle sessions, and rewarding your dog for calm behaviour, prior to doing anything to remove the fear or transform your dog's reactions into positive ones. But to avoid a stressful grooming time, always try to complete your grooming when you’re both calm and keep things as calm and as quiet as possible for the entire process.

Bathing

Unless your dog is visibly dirty or has rolled in something partially disgusting and smelly, it doesn't need a bath as frequently as you think. Most dogs only need a bath every few months, and over-bathing can deplete essential oils from their skin, causing skin issues.

You can use cleaning wipes or deodorizing sprays between baths to keep them looking clean and smelling fresh. However, regular brushing and washing your dog's bed and blankets can help to keep the dog's smell to a minimum.

When bathing your dog, always soak their fur with lukewarm water first. This temperature is comfortable for your dog and helps to open the hair follicles, allowing the shampoo to penetrate better. Then, massage their skin with dog-specific shampoo to loosen and remove ground-in dirt and to keep their coat looking clean and healthy. Avoid doing this around the ears and face, and use a cloth or water to clean these parts to avoid irritation and ear issues (particularly for breeds with more prominent ears like hounds, spaniels, etc). This method ensures that water and shampoo don't get into their sensitive areas, causing discomfort or potential health issues. Then rinse thoroughly as left over shampoo can be a cause of irritation.

Use Safety Features

Always use your grooming tools with any safety extensions for both your safety and that of your dog. Nail trimming, trimming fur or using de-matting tools or shavers can not only result in uneven fur if you don't know what you're doing but hurt both you and your dog if you catch them or they react badly or move quickly.

While it's always best to take your dog or a trained groomer, if you want to groom at home, aside from ensuring you have read the instructions and watched tutorials on best practices, always use any safety features that come with your tools to ensure you cause as little damage as possible. This means using scissors with rounded ends for sensitive areas and safety guards on clippers if you're using them.

Wash Bedding

If you're going to make an effort to keep your dog happy, healthy and nicely groomed at all times, then washing their bedding can help support your grooming efforts. Their beds will accumulate scent and dirt from spending time in them, as can any blankets or cushions they use, not to mention furniture in your home. Grooming your dog is only half the battle, so when you're going about your business, ensure that you include cleaning their bedding and accessories frequently, too, to help you stay on top of things. If you're sending your dog back to a dirty bed after a bath, then it's highly likely that the nasty dog odour you were trying to remove is still going to linger on your pooch and be around for a little while longer.

Pet grooming is part and parcel of being a responsible dog owner. Some breeds require more intense grooming than others, and knowing what your responsibilities are when bringing your new pup home in terms of grooming can help you manage expectations and ensure you give them the correct care they need. You can opt to bypass the majority of grooming for your dog by taking them to a qualified groomer; however, knowing how to keep things in check yourself and doing so can lead to a happier, healthier you when grooming is done correctly, a deeper bond between you and your best friend.