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Dog Articles

Grooming Your Dog

Learning the proper way of grooming your dog will create an easy, stress free grooming session and is an excellent of bonding with your dog. Grooming has become an increasingly important part of your dog's regular health care. Grooming ensures that skin care problems are kept to a minimum (because grooming distributes the natural skin oils evenly throughout the coat), and will assist you in monitoring your dog's overall health condition. If you are grooming your dog on a regular basis, you can't help but notice if there is a new bump or lump that you hadn't noticed before.

This simple preventive action has saved many canine's. Our dogs can't tell us where it hurts, but by taking just a little time we can detect health problems before it is too late. The trick to grooming your dog is to have them either tolerate the process or even actually enjoy it. Quite a few dogs don't like to be bathed and some may become panic stricken.

The ideal solution is to start the grooming process when your dog is a puppy, but unfortunately not all of us raise a puppy. You might have adopted an adult dog, so you might have to introduce the grooming process slowly. The important thing is to get them used to being touched and handled all over as soon as you can.

As your puppy or dog gets used to the sensation of being rubbed and handled, they will slowly come to enjoy it. Remember, dogs are social creatures by nature and physical contact is a big part of their lives. It shouldn't take long for them to start trusting you and allow themself to enjoy the process of dog grooming .

The basic tools you will need to bath your dog are:

a tub;
a non-slip mat;
a plastic jug;
some warm water;
a small sponge;
and some canine shampoo.

Stand them in the tub, on the non-slip mat. If your dog is large or rather unruly, you might consider bathing them outside to minimize the mess. Pour warm water all over them and get them good and wet. This will break down the grease in their fur. Mix a little dog shampoo with another jug of warm water and rub it thoroughly into your dog's fur. Be careful not to get soap in their eyes or water in their ears (because this could cause an ear infection.

Now it's time to rinse. Use the jug and some clean, warm water and carefully pour it over your dog and use your hands to help disperse the lather from their coats. Rinse them off thoroughly at least twice, since any residue that remains will irritate their skin.

If your dog has short hair, you can dry them off with a towel or two depending on how big the dog is. If your dog has longer hair, gently towel them off and then use a hair dryer to get rid of the last dampness. Be certain that the hair dryer is set on low heat and hold it far away from your dog's fur to prevent burning either their skin or fur.

Remember that most dogs have an inherent dislike of being bathed, which can cause anxiety and even outright panic. Your dog will take a lot of their emotional cues from you, so make sure you act like a good role model for the occasion. Reassure your dog frequently, keeping your voice low and even; keep your movements slow and deliberate; praise them lavishly for good behavior, and give them a couple of treats throughout the process to make it more enjoyable for them. The more they enjoy the dog grooming process, the easier it will be for you.