The benefits of grooming your dog

Grooming your dog has many plus points...

• Keeps the dog’s coat clean and shiny!
• Gets rid of loose hair that otherwise will go on your carpets and floors
• Allows you to get to know your dog’s body so that any lumps and bumps can be quickly identified as “out of the ordinary” and treated quickly
• Gets your dog used to being handled, touched and examined – really helpful for your vet and if you have one, your groomer
• Sends a good “training” message to your dog about you being able and entitled to physically handle him or her. A well-respected trainer once said to us: "If a dog doesn’t trust the handler enough to allow them to groom it, what does that say for the relationship? How can you hope to fully and successfully obedience train the dog if it won’t comply with that simple request?"

The variety of different coat types means different grooming needs for different dogs.

For example, our rottweiler would get a good grooming once a week, with a rubber zoom groom but our Tibetan terrier, Bowie, needs us to attend to his coat with a comb at least three times a week (more when the grass seeds and sweethearts are prevalent or he has been grubbing around in the undergrowth!). 

We also employ the services of a professional groomer for Bowie. Roughly every six weeks, he goes to the groomer for a bath, a clip, to have his ears plucked (hairy dogs do require “ear plucking”!), to have his nails clipped and also to have his anal glands emptying when required (trust me, this is definitely not a job you want to do yourself – leave it to the professionals – vet, vet nurse or groomer!).

Bowie before grooming

Bowie after grooming

The most important thing to remember is start early! As soon as you bring your puppy home, begin to introduce him to the pleasures of being groomed. And when I say “pleasure”, I do mean that you have to make this a pleasurable experience, otherwise you will set up a pattern of behaviour for life which at best is a nuisance as the dog keeps trying to get away from you and hides when you get the grooming kit out, but at worst, can result in the dog getting nasty with you, objecting strongly and possibly biting in order to prevent you from carrying out the process.
 
To make grooming pleasurable, you need to follow these simple steps:

• Have a toy or a chew to distract the puppy (stops him/ her from biting you or the brush!)
• Be GENTLE! You wouldn't like it if someone started doing your hair and the minute they found a knot, they just started yanking it out – that hurts!
• Use the RIGHT brush – to begin with use something soft and gentle – don’t charge straight in with a comb or a slicker. However gentle you are, you are bound to hurt a pup with these and they will remember this forever!
• Concentrate on the body of the pup initially – leave the more sensitive areas like the ears, the feet and the face for a few days whilst you convince the pup that having its body groomed is soothing and enjoyable - and just do long, comforting strokes.

If your dog is small to medium and long haired, it is likely you will ultimately employ the services of a groomer and in which case, you may need to get them used to being on a table. Make sure that if you do this, you put down a non-slip mat on the raised area where you are going to groom the pup. If he or she feels unsafe or slips off, you will frighten the dog badly and it will be very unhappy to be up high again. Oh, and don’t take your eyes off them for a second or they will fall or jump off!

Carry out the grooming “training” when the pup is relaxed and maybe a bit sleepy. Don’t tackle this part of your puppy’s education when it has just woken up and is raring to go!

Don’t make the sessions too long in the early stages – a few minutes is sufficient and finish on a good note, when the pup is relaxed and allowing you to run the brush over him/ her.

Reward the puppy once the session has finished with a treat or biscuit.

To summarise:

• Be gentle
• Be patient
• Make the experience positive (enjoyable and rewarding for the dog)
• Take it step-by-step

Hamish before grooming

Hamish after grooming