As dog owners, you understand now just how important it is to keep up with regular dog grooming. Even short-haired dogs do require some type of care when it comes to their grooming. It is essential for your dog’s overall health to keep up with their grooming. Here are some 10 of the best dog grooming habits that you can do to keep your dog looking and feeling great.
Dog Grooming Tips From the Pros
- Bathing: This will depend on the type of dog that you have. If you have a short-haired dog, you may only need to bathe them once every 2 or 4 months. Some dogs that have more delicate hair may be washed every 3 weeks. If you have any questions about how often you bathe your dog, talk to your vet or a groomer to see. Over-bathing your dog could potentially dry out its skin and strip its coat of its natural oils.
- Brushing: Brushing is something that needs to occur every couple of days for every coat type because it can remove any dead hair while also distributing the oils throughout the coat, which helps create a healthier coat. With a longer haired dog, dog grooming is important to avoid mats in the coat as well as assisting the dog in shedding their seasonal coat.
- Nails: You cannot let the nails on your dog get too long. They should be clipped around every two weeks, but if you notice the clicking of their nails on the ground as they walk you should take care of this right away. Have styptic powder on hand as this can stop bleeding if you have too much bleeding. It also helps to get them out and walking this spring/summer. Pavement helps to wear down the sharp edges after trimming.
- Regular Hair Cuts: It can be very important to get your dog to the groomer (or do it yourself) at least once a month for a trim. The reason for this is because this can keep the hair short and help to prevent mats from taking over their hair.
- Hair trimmed in and around paws: Even if you prefer your pet to have longer hair, you should still be sure to get the hair on the bottom of their paws trimmed. This is to prevent hazards like ice and rock salt from getting stuck in their paws.
- Ears: One of the areas that you may not think about when dog grooming is their ears. This is essential to preventing ear infections and is a prime location for ticks and fleas to hide out, so its a good idea to always check in their ears..
- Teeth: It is just as important to care for your pet’s teeth as it is for your own teeth. This should be done between 2 and 3 times every week.
- Only Use Products Meant For Dog: Dog shampoos are made specifically for their skin and fur, so you should only use these specialized products. Using human shampoo could cause irritation and dry out their skin.
- Take Care of Their Eyes: You need to be sure that their fur is not getting in their eyes, which can cause eye irritation that may lead to problems like infections. You may also notice that some dogs get clumpy fur around their eyes due to tear production. This should also be tended to; otherwise it can cause eye irritation.
- A Well-Trained Dog: A well-trained dog will not only be less anxious during grooming but they will also be easier to groom. This can be really important if you are doing this yourself. Make sure that they have been trained for things like commands and to be touched in the way that a groomer would.
When considering all that you need to do for proper dog grooming you can find yourself out of room and possibly leaving your bathroom a mess. Swing by Dog Day Getaway in Apple Valley – we have the best dog wash facilities in the city. We also offer special discounts, check our DDG facebook services page for more information.
