Home Grooming Tips
There’s never been a better time to study up on the best dog grooming tips while so many grooming salons have had to temporarily close during lockdown. We found the best advice to keep your dog looking clean and fresh with DIY dog grooming at home.
Daily Grooming for your Dog
One of the best things you can do for your four legged friends fur is regular brushing and combing, the type of brush depends on what sort of fur your dog has or to make it easy... use our Dog Hair Removal Glove on all dogs! For breeds with curly or long wavy fur we recommend a slick brush. The best technique is to brush the coat with the grain, wits enough pressure to reach most of the fur but aim not to reach the skin. If your dog seems agitated chances are you are brushing too hard. One you have finished brushing a comb gets to the undercoat and should be used after you use a slicker brush to get through the topcoat. Angle the comb slightly, get it down to the root, and comb through. If you can’t get through with the comb, you need to use the slicker brush more. A shedding brush is used for dogs who shed a lot of hair and is used after the slick brush, just before combing. If your dog is small use a shedding brush sparingly, usually it wont be required for small amounts of fur.
Weekly Grooming for you Dog
Here are a few pointers to help make the most of your bath time, especially if you are new to dog ownership. The best place to wash your dog is the bath or shower, but if they have sharp nails outside is completely suitable as well - try to make sure the water isn’t too cold. Firstly start with brushing and combing to loosen and remove and excess fur and help the dog soap/shampoo get into the fur. If you find mats in the fur, deal to these very gently before washing as the water will make the mats even tighter. Ensure you don’t pull too hard on the fur as this will agitate your dogs skin. A great tool is a dog fur removal glove which can help to separate strands and gently restore matted areas. Choose a dog shampoo that smells great which will calm your dog during bath time, as a bonus it leaves them smelling great afterwards too. Lastly make sure you dry your dog completely, this will avoid the wet dog smell from wet fur. If you have a Dog Spray a few spritz of this will be a great finishing touch to leave them smelling fresh and clean.
What to Leave for the Professionals
There are a few grooming areas which are best left to the professionals to ensure your dog remains happy and healthy. The main two areas which we suggest to avoid any DIY on are fur trimming and nail clipping. Correct fur trimming isn’t as easy at pulling out the scissors and requires varied blades with varied lengths. Trying this out yourself at home with the wrong equipment can lead to disaster and your dog is likely to end up getting hurt. When considering clippers dog specific ones are very different to your average bathroom trimmer. It requires specific skill to make sure you don’t hurt or cut your dog and groomers have spent significant time training to perfect this. The second grooming item we suggest to leave to the experts is nail clipping unless you have previous experience with this. It is very easy to trim the nail too much, causing a lot of bleeding by cutting a vein. For those who decide to attempt it themselves we suggest viewing a few videos to help learn the technique first as it isn’t generally the tools that are the problem but the technique used. Ensure you use dog nail clippers have two edges and cut the nail from both sides. If you unfortunately end up cutting the nail a bit too short try a tiny bit of corn starch which can help stop the bleed.
Ensuring you dog is well groomed will improve their mood and ensure they are always looking great. Regular at home grooming will save time and money in the long run by less professional groomer visits!