Grooming Your Puppy

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The Benefits of GroomingEvolution Self Cleaning Slicker
Coastal Evolution Self-Cleaning Slickers save you valuable clean-up time. With the touch of a button, the pins retract, hair falls away and the pad ca...

In general, groomingEvolution Self Cleaning Slicker
Coastal Evolution Self-Cleaning Slickers save you valuable clean-up time. With the touch of a button, the pins retract, hair falls away and the pad ca... helps to remove flakes of dry skin and dirt and debris from the hair coatHerbal Groom Shampoo 12 oz
Bio Groom Herbal Groom Shampoo 12 oz is the Best Of Nature - Botanical Extract Shampoo Concentrate. This all natural tearless conditioning shampoo tr.... It also removes shed hairs and helps to stimulate sebaceous glands that condition the dog's coat. For longhaired dogs, owner grooming is essential if matting is to be avoided.

It may be helpful for the owners of such dogs to consult with a professional groomer when the dog is at the puppyhood stage. There is nothing like a hands-on lesson to show the way.

First time long haired dog owners will be taught the importance of grooming the undercoat as well as the overcoat. Properly grooming such a dog requires more than a superficial effort, it involves a conscious effort to groom deeply by using the right size and type of grooming tools. In that connection, wire pin brushes work best on wooly coats. Slicker brushes, with their fine wire bristles, should be reserved for dogs with dense undercoat.

When to Groom

Longhaired breeds need to be groomed every day. Medium hair length breeds should be groomed two to three times a week and shorthaired breeds may get by with once weekly grooming. When any of these various types of dogs are puppies, however, it's a good idea to engage in a sham or partial grooming session on a daily basis while the window of learning opportunity is open. In addition to regularly scheduled grooming sessions, puppies and adult dogs should be groomed as soon as possible after their coats have become wet. If not combed out immediately, such dogs' coats may become entangled and matted, leading to problems at the next grooming session.

Who Should Groom

It is important that every owner should be able to groom his or her own dog as part of a regular maintenance schedule. However, specialty grooming and special cuts are normally best left up to a professional groomer.

Professional grooming can be engaged in as early as 12 weeks of age and may be advisable on a regular basis for certain dogs. Nevertheless, an owner's maintenance grooming, between professional grooming sessions, is also important to maintain a healthy hair coat.

While some owners may have the confidence and coordination to do some trimming of hair around the dog's eyes, between its toes, or around its anus, many may prefer to leave such delicate operations to the professionals. Plucking hairs from overly hairy ear canals is another grooming maneuver that some owners become adept at, employing the philosophy that a little and often is the best approach. Other owners prefer to leave this tricky little task to the professional groomers.

Puppies should be handled with kid gloves, using a soft touch and soft voice at all times. Massaging the pup gently during grooming may be pleasurable for it and may be something of an inducement for it to tolerate what must be a strange intervention at first.

If you think of grooming a puppy like bathing a baby and use a similar approach you won't go too far wrong. Never use force to accomplish what you need to accomplish. Never persevere if the going gets tough. Never loose your temper and never yell at the pup. And don't forget, if you're having trouble ask for help. Don't plow on regardless.

Having a dog with a well-combed coat is definitely something to strive for but you don't want achieving that goal to be something that impacts negatively on your relationship with it. If your puppy and, later dog, enjoys being groomed (which it should), then you are doing things right. If you encounter resistance, its time to rethink your strategy.