Aside from your dog looking great from regular grooming, spending the time with your dog brushing and combing has many other advantages:
- It’s a fantastic way to feel all around to check for ticks and fleas
- Keeps your dogs coat healthy and knot free
- Encourages healthy skin.
Home grooming should be done on a regular basis.
To make it as easy as possible for you at home, here are a few handy tips:
Things you will need
Many people believe a brush is the first thing, but what kind of a brush? Now this is an important question. A slicker brush is the ideal for your long haired fluffy breeds. It will help fluff the coat for easy combing, especially for your curly haired breeds.
For your double-coated breeds his brush is also particularly useful. It helps with the shedding coat and will help lessen the amount of hair loss around your house. We stock a variety of brushes and I would be more than happy to help you select the right brush.
Any brush that looks like a human hairbrush skims over the top of the coat missing all the knots below.
Dealing with knots
A sturdy metal comb will be your best friend. You can get in close to the skin and find the knots as well as comb the knots out. If there are ever knots that are hard to get out, simply put a scissor blade through it and slice from near the skin out, never cut across, then comb the rest of it out.
Scissors and clippers
If using scissors or clippers ALWAYS be aware of areas such as the ears, flaps of skin under the armpits and back legs and of course their eyes. If in doubt leave the tricky stuff to the professionals.
Where and When?
Having a ‘grooming area’ is a good idea. It tells the dog that this is grooming time, get used to it, and as a result they should hopefully behave better. The top of the washing machine with a towel is a good example.
Try to make it as routine as possible and never let the dog get away with getting out of it, once he or she realises they can win, the task will become harder and harder each time you attempt it. This will cause more problems and stress for the dog later on down the track.
