It’s not great now… but pooch will soon look and smell amazing!
Dog Grooming Tips from Rosie Pets – Brisbane Hydrobath and Grooming Specialists
1. Teaching your puppy to love grooming
You’ve just bought your bundle of fluffy joy home. You’ve stocked up at the pet store with a hundred new toys, food, a bed, and brushes. There are so many things to think about with a new puppy; setting boundaries, obedience & toilet training and of course how to groom your dog.
Living in the warm climate of Brisbane, grooming will be ever so important to keep on top of. It’s so important to start grooming your puppy and getting them used to being brushed and touched from an early age. It can all be incorporated in the daily cuddles you are no doubt already smothering your new puppy in! Once a day, simply massage their feet and get right in between the toe pads and nails. Massage their ears….not many puppies will complain about this! And start gently brushing their coats, while always rewarding them for their good behaviour. Try and keep the environment relaxed and calm and gradually lengthen the grooming period over time. Start off at 5 minutes a day, and as your dog gets older and more comfortable with being handled, increase the session length. Desensitize them to loud noises so when it comes to blow drying they won’t fret. Play loud music, turn on the vacuum & lawn mower etc. If grooming is made out to be an enjoyable, fun experience (which it should be) you will have no problems when it comes to being professionally groomed by your dog groomer.
We see time and time again dog’s come to us with a genuine fear of being groomed. In particular they hate their paws and leg’s being touched. They shake with fear and are anxious and nervous. This makes a groomer’s job extremely difficult and it is not an enjoyable experience for either the dog or groomer. Puppies taught from an early age that there is nothing to fear about grooming will be much happier and enjoy the whole dog grooming experience. What’s not to love about a trip to the groomers with a warm bath, blow dry, nails done, and head to toe new style clip! Happy grooming puppy lovers!
2. Why use a hydrobath to wash your dog?
All breeds of dogs require regular bathing. Some need it more often than others, and particularly in the Brisbane climate, you might find your furry friend a little on the nose every couple of weeks. A hydrobath provides a powerful clean that can penetrate the thickest of dog coats, yet gentle enough to massage the skin resulting in an ultra clean, yummy smelling pooch! All our trailers are equipped with hydrobaths for washing dogs. A hose is connected to a household water tap to fill the holding tank up with fresh, clean water. This water is then pumped up to a smaller tank with a heating element to warm the water to a desired temperature. The warm water then comes out of the hydrobath shower hose to fill up the bath. Once fresh water is added to the bath, high quality PH balanced shampoo is added to the water. This soapy shampoo water is then recycled through the hydrobath shower hose and onto the dog. If you wash your hair with low water pressure you will notice the difference in how clean your hair is. It’s the same for dogs. Simply rubbing shampoo onto a dog’s coat & rinsing with a normal hose will only gloss over the top of a dog’s coat. Using the hydrobath with high pressure water enables the shampoo to really penetrate to the skin. This is particularly important for long haired double coated dogs like Shelties, Golden Retrievers and Border Collies.
3. Regular Dog Grooming is Essential to avoid Matting
Keeping your dog’s coat in good condition is essential to keep your dog healthy. Mats are entanglements of the hair caused by rolling around, scratching and collars to name a few. Common places you will find mats are around the neck, back of legs and under the armpits. When you notice a knot forming it’s important to brush it out before it becomes too matted. Brushing with a comb brush vertically down the knot will help separate it before being able to brush it out. Once a mat has formed, the only way to remove a severe mat is to cut it out. Mats can be extremely painful for your pooch as they pull on the skin bruising it and can cause all sorts of skin problems and irritations. Keeping your dog free from mats is an ongoing task that begins by establishing good regular grooming habits. Dead hair is a breeding ground for mats. A coat that is brushed and cleaned regularly stays in better condition and is less likely to develop mats. It’s particularly important during the cooler months, when coats are left longer, to establish these regular grooming habits. Sadly we see so many puppies come in for a ‘summer’ clip that are matted head to toe because they have been neglected during the winter months. If you find it hard to keep up with the brushing required, it’s best to keep your dog’s coat short all year round.