Dog grooming refers to the hygienic care and cleaning of a dog as well as a process by which a dog’s physical appearance is enhanced for the showing and other types of competition. A person who earns his living by grooming dogs is well known as a “dog groomer” or simply a groomer.
Grooming of dog maintain your dog’s health safe and looks clean your dog’s body and give a good look. A groomed dog is physically and mentally healthy than a dog that is not groomed regularly.
Puppy grooming isn’t much different from grooming a dog, although their coat may be soft, fluffy, and shorter. The most important thing to do is to get their confidence so that they see grooming as a pleasurable experience start by giving them a cradle while you brush their body gently.
9 Principles of Dog Grooming
Now, first of all, I will show you the best nine tips for your dog grooming in the house or kennel.
1. Purpose
When a dog is correctly groomed it is inspected, its skin and hair are cleaned, the cutaneous ( skin) circulation is stimulated, and its collar cleaned.
2. Know Your Dog
In addition to helping to keep the dog in good health the grooming period assists the owner to get to know his dog better. You will come to know well your dog by regularly yourself.
3. External Parasites
Dog Grooming allows you to check your dog for any abnormalities. These include skin diseases, infestation with fleas, ticks, and the presence of dead tissues and dry patches. There may be the presence of injuries and inflammation by nails and teeth. After early identification, the treatment and correction of such problems become easier and more soothing.
4. Time of Dog Grooming
Grooming should generally be carried out daily when the dog has completed its work or play. You can choose a specific period for grooming your dog and try to maintain the timings regularly.
5. Puppy Grooming
You will start grooming your puppy at a young age and that’s how your puppy became trained in grooming. Start the grooming session for your puppy as short as possible and increase the time gradually. Special care should be needed durion nail clipping and cleaning of ears.
6. Brushing
Brushing removes the loose hair, dander, and dead tissues of the dog and is helpful for any breed of dog. Dog’s fur produces natural oil, which is secreted by regularly brushing your dog for a considerable time. After brushing, the natural oil spreads over the body coat and gives a shiny and glossy appearance to your dog.
7. Inspection
Dog Grooming keeps your dog healthy and is also an essential part of the relationship. When you are grooming your dog, you are not only keeping his coat, skin, feet, ears, and teeth healthy; you are becoming familiar with his body so that you will notice early on if anything is unusual and needs veterinary attention.
8. Learning of Dog Grooming
When you are learning to Dog grooming, you must be patient to use treats for your dogs. Grooming activities should have gradual development and at the level of the dog’s acceptance. Start the grooming as a new owner in confidence and never hesitate. Take expert advice from a professional groomer if you think and take the grooming period as a fun and good relation with your dog.
9. Cleaning of Grooming Kit
You should soak Grooming brushes for several hours in a 3% solution of cresol; rugs may be scrubbed with soap and water or soaked in 3% cresol solution or dried in the sun. Clean all grooming kits with clean water after soaking with the disinfectant solution and after that make dry the items.
Reasons For Grooming
- Cleanliness.
- Health.
- Inspection.
- Appearance.
- Relationship.
Dog Grooming Kit
- Dandy Brush
- Metal Comb (with and without handle)
- Descaler
- Long Bladed Scissors
- Grooming Hand Gloves
- Nail Clipper
- Cotton Buds
- Tweezers
- Rubber backed Bristle Brush
- Stripping Brush
- Soft Cloth or Cotton Wool
- A receptacle for loose hairs
Methods of Dog Grooming
This section will let you know how to do dog grooming in the best way. So let’s get started:
1. The sequence of Dog Grooming
You can follow the grooming sequence as below: Visual Inspection >> Fingertip Message >>Combing >> Brushing >> Slick Down of Coat >> Clean Collar.
2. Restrain
The dog should be muzzled during grooming except when the part of the task makes it impractical. You may not go for restraining your dog if it is so docile and calm will not do any harm to you. If you take it to the unknown groomer that time restraint must be necessary.
3. Visual Inspection
The Dog is given a thorough visual inspection of the signs of injury, sickness, or parasites like ticks and fleas. To prevent the tick-borne infection visual inspection is the first action that you do during grooming. Ticks give irritation to the skin and make it disturbing to your dog during grooming. The most common site for tick hiding in the dog’s coat is the neck region, between the paws, underarms, ears, and abdomen.
Ticks are picked up with the help of forceps or tweezers and put in kerosene oil and later destroyed by burning. The usual sequence of dog grooming is Nose, Mouth, Eyes, Pads, Nails, Anus, Hair, and Skin.
4. Cleaning of The Dog
The actual cleaning of the coat and skin is carried out as follows:
a. Message. A thorough massage with the fingertips, against the lay of the hairs, loosens dead or tangled hair and scarf and stimulate the circulation.
b. Comb. The dog has a long coat, e.g., Alsatian, the comb should be used to remove dead hair must be taken that the comb is used correctly, the top of the comb sloping towards the direction in which it is moved, and it is drawn through the hair so that the teeth do not dig into the skin. During winter months in temperate climates, the comb must not be used too freely as too much of the warm undercoat may be removed.
c. Brush. The brush is then applied against the coat with short strokes and flicking it upwards to bring the dirt to the top of the coat. Finally, the brush is used to lay off the coat to remove the dust. You must take care when brushing the head and tender parts of the day.
During grooming, hairs will accumulate in the brush and comb. This should be put in a receptacle, e.g., a bucket, which has been positioned nearby. Five or seven centimeters of water in the bottom of the bucket will prevent the loss of hair from being blown about.
d. Ears. You must inspect and clean ears daily before or after grooming. In long-eared dogs, wax and dirt accumulate in the ears which gives irritation that ultimately leads to ear infections. Easily visible parts of the inside ears should then be wiped with a soft cloth or cotton wool to remove any wax which may have accumulated.
On no account, you take any attempt to be made to clean the deeper parts of the ears. You must be cautious about the cleaning of deep ears from getting the injury and though eardrums are well protected.
e. Eyes. You should use cotton soaked with clean water to clean eye discharges. Never use any eye lotion or cream unless prescribed by an expert veterinarian. Any injury or infection in the eye you noticed during grooming must take seriously and should be treated with your vet.
f. Teeth. Normally teeth of a dog require very little attention. Discolored or stained teeth may be cleaned with a weak solution of hydrogen peroxide once a month. If you find excess tartar in teeth, you will clean it regularly.
g. Nails. With regular exercise, nails require little attention. However, they must be watched for overgrowth. Overgrown nails you must be trimmed, as if left, they will split and cause lameness.
Only a properly train person should do trimming, as excessive cutting will produce lameness. The dewclaws ( rudimentary first digit) serve no useful purpose and are removed surgically by a veterinarian in the initial stages.
h. Anus. Regular Inspection of the anal sphincter is required to see any segments of tapeworms are sticking or protruding. A regular watch is also kept to see if anal glands are impacted. The anal sphincter and these anal glands lubricate the passage of stools.
The anal glands are generally prevented from getting impacted by the process of defecation. However, if they are affected, a piece of cotton wool is placed over the anus, and firm pressure is applied with the forefinger and thumb which relieves the impaction.
i. Cleaning of Collar. The collar should be wiped on both sides with a damp cloth to remove the grease and dirt which has come from the dog’s coat. It is one of the important parts of grooming because unclean collar dirt may spread immediately after dog grooming.
Dog Grooming Timings
Dog grooming varies for the individual dog groomer and Dog grooming kit used. The entire grooming timing standard set by different dog associations and veterinarian which last for 30 minutes. During this grooming period different points of the dog are attended to as follows:
| Serial |
Things To Do |
Timing |
| 1. | Examine of The Dog | 1 minute |
| 2. | De-ticking | 5 minutes |
| 3. | A message with Tips of Fingers | 6 minutes |
| 4. | Brushing with Dandy Brush | 10 minutes |
| 5. | Combing | 2 minutes |
| 6. | Cleaning of Eyes, Ears, Teeth, and Anus | 3 minutes |
| 7. | Setting the Hair | 2 minutes |
| 8. | Final Inspection | 1 minute |
| Total | 30 minutes | |
At Last Not The Least
Dog grooming maintains a healthy coat and skin, regular nail trims not only keep the nails short but help reinforce healthy foot structure and posture and reduce the risk of infections. Your pet will look and smell great. Regular visits may result in early detection of issues with ears, skin, teeth, and more.
Dog grooming ensures a shiny, healthy, and properly brushed coat will be shadeless. Pet Grooming also maintains the dog’s stress-free experience and keeps the dog safe. Dog grooming is essential and helps keep your dog happy and healthy, and this should reduce the veterinary bills. So do not forget to start grooming your dog early.
I believe the above discussion related to dog grooming will cover all relevant information regarding dog grooming, dog grooming kit, and as well as pet grooming. If these pieces of information help you, please subscribe to our website and share them through social media.
