Basic Grooming Tips and General Health
In my profession many people ask me what they can use to better care for their pet. The following is just a brief introduction of some of what we do while grooming your pet.
Bathing on a regular basis helps remove unwanted dirt and excessive oils. It also helps to exfoliate the skin and eliminate dead hair.
Pictured below is a slicker brush with a protective coating on the tips to prevent scratching the skin. This tool is used on most every breed of dog or cat in the initial stages of grooming. It is appropriate for both long and shorter coated breeds.
In the following illustration we demonstrate what we call line brushing (where the hair coat is pulled up to get closer to the skin) and then brush in a downward motion. Line brushing helps remove most of the dead hair that is present on the dog. Line brushing is very beneficial for the longer coated breeds with a dense undercoat, such as the Collie, the Alaskan Malamute, the Husky, and the Shetland Sheepdog just to name a few. It is important with the longer double coated breeds to be bathed at least every 6-8 weeks and brushed on a regular basis.
The area’s most prone to matting are behind the ears, the tail and in the armpits. These areas should be combed (pictured below) every other day. With breeds such as the Maltese, Silky Terrier and the Yorkshire Terrier the comb will be your best friend, it will help reduce tangles and matting from their coat and these breeds in particular should be combed on a regular basis.
The furminator (pictured below) does a fantastic job at removing excessive loose coat from your dog. Gently go over your dogs coat in the direction that the hair grows. It does a fantastic job on breeds such as the German Shepherd, the Smooth Coat Collie and Corgi’s. These are breeds with a shorter coat that have a lot of undercoat.
The coat breaker (pictured below) does a great job in helping to remove unwanted hair and mats on the longer coated breeds.
Nail clippers in both small and large (pictured) and a dremmel (pictured) work great at keeping your pets nails nicely pedicured.
YOU’RE PETS HEALTH
We care about your pet. Anytime your pet has persistent diarrhea, a persistent skin problem, is vomiting, not eating or has blood in the stool please seek the advice of your veterinarian.
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