Your dog may not welcome and approve of the activity of dog grooming at home or at a dog saloon. But, being the owner, you should definitely be aware of the benefits of grooming a dog regardless of his pleading against it. Apart from giving a good appearance, it helps in the proper and healthy maintenance of the dog. The importance of grooming a dog lies in the fact that it can help you detect infections or other visible illnesses at the right time.
Different breeds of dogs require grooming sessions at different intervals of time. For instance, grooming of dogs of Pomerarian breed requires the cleaning of eyes and ears and brushing the coat on a daily basis. Some basic aspects of dog cleaning and grooming include bathing the dog, clipping his nails, brushing the coat, maintaining proper dental hygiene etc.
Let’s start with bathing. More often than not, dogs detest bathing. Hence, this basic grooming activity should be conducted outdoors as it tends to become messy with the water splashing everywhere because of the dog’s resistance. One of the best dog grooming ideas in this regard would be to make bathing a more fun activity with lot of pampering instead of a punishment.
Mild dog shampoos can be used for this purpose. Care should be taken while bathing so that the shampoo does not get into the dog’s eyes, ears or nose. Leave the shampoo for about 3-4 minutes and then rinse thoroughly. Generally, bathing a dog once in a month is sufficient. Frequent baths tend to wash away necessary oils from your dog’s coat thereby making it rough and brittle.
Next, comes the process of hair brushing. The frequency of this dog grooming activity depends on the breed of your dog. Dogs with long haired coats need brushing more or less on a daily basis. In other cases you can brush your dog’s coat several times in a week.
Regular brushing helps distribute the natural oils from the skin which in turn helps to give a more shiny and healthy look to his coat. Try not to press to hard while brushing your dog’s coat as it tends to scratch his skin and result in brush burns. It is recommended to brush the dog against the lay of the coat to make it fluffier. Dogs with growing hair might need hair cuts every 2 to 4 weeks.
While grooming a dog yourself, you should lay special emphasis on clipping the nails of your dog. A relaxed attitude in this regard may lead to long toenails resulting in scratches on the floor or carpets and may cause painful injuries to other pets or the humans handling the dog. This grooming activity can be conducted every two to three weeks.
While grooming your dog at home yourself, you can use nail grinders to make the task easier. While clipping the nails, you should be cautious as to not to clip into the quick. A quick is a pink darkening in light-colored nails and almost invisible in dark nails. It has nerve and blood supply. Negligence in this area of grooming a dog can deteriorate the condition of the dog’s nails.
Dirt, wax and hair make an undesirable combination and tend to cause ear mites or infections in your dog’s ear canal. The signs of such infections are redness, pain, constant scratching, head shaking and smelly ears. For this, you need to remove the hair from your dog’s ear canal very carefully without damaging the sensitive tissues. Therefore, scissors and naked fingers are a big no-no. You can use ‘strippings’ available in the market for this purpose. As for the eyes, some breeds of dogs have a predisposed tendency of tearing, but in some breeds, it can indicate an underlying medical condition.
When grooming a dog at home, special care should also be taken for maintaining proper oral hygiene of the dog in order to prevent cavities and other painful and uncomfortable periodontal diseases. Small toothbrushes with soft bristles can be used for this purpose. Finally, emptying the anal glands of the dogs is the most awkward and disinteresting activity in the whole process of grooming dogs. Failure to empty the anal glands properly may increase the possibility of impacted glands which can be very painful for the dogs.
