Basic Dog Grooming To Get You Started

All dogs need to be groomed. No matter if you have a short-haired dog that just requires just a simple brushing occasionally, or if you have a dog with a long, luxurious coat that requires constant grooming, you will have to spend some time and effort grooming your dog.

Basic Dog Grooming For Short-Haired Dogs

In general, grooming a short-haired dog will require less time and effort than grooming dogs with other types of coats. For most short-haired dogs all you have to do is brush them on a regular basis. Usually a weekly brushing with a good dog grooming brush is sufficient.

However, there are some short-haired dog breeds that are notorious shedders. For example, Labrador Retrievers are perhaps one of the worst culprits when it comes to shedding. During some parts of the year, you may have to brush their coats daily to keep all the loose hair from going all over your house.

Other short-haired breeds like the German Shorthaired Pointer and the Beagle also shed quite a lot. So do not think that just because you have a short-haired dog breed that you will escape your grooming chores.

Basic Dog Grooming For Long and Medium Coats

Dogs with long coats will require a great deal more attention when it comes to grooming them. Dogs such as the Maltese, Yorkshire Terrier, Afghan Hound, the Setters, and the Spaniels will need to be brushed several times weekly, or even daily.

Dogs like the Collie or the Sheltie that have a medium coat, may also have a thick double coat that needs frequent grooming to avoid matting and tangling.

If you are brushing a long coat or a medium coat, start with a good brush, such as a boar bristle brush like the IONIC Brass-Boar Bristle Palm Brush by Chris Christensen. You can also use a boar bristle and nylon bristle mixed brush. Boar bristles are good for spreading the natural oils in the dog’s coat.

Brush the coat in the direction that the hair grows. For dogs with a thick double coat, you can brush a second time. This time, brush in the opposite direction to how the hair grows, and then brush back in the way hair naturally grows.

If your dog has a long, flowing coat you can then use a good pin brush to separate out the dog’s furnishing and make sure that you remove any matted fur and tangles. The pin brush is made with metal pins that are good for separating the long hair. Do not use it on the dog’s body as the metal pins can be sharp and can scratch the skin.

Next you can use a dog comb to gently comb out the long hair.

Other Basic Dog Grooming Tasks

Besides brushing and combing your dog’s coat, you will also need to brush the teeth and trim the nails weekly.

You can use a good ear cleaner to clean the ears. There are also a variety of dental care products to help your brush your dog’s teeth and maintain proper dental health. Try to get a dog toothpaste that has chicken, beef, or peanut butter flavor. Your dog will love it and brushing the teeth will be a lot easier.

To trim your dog’s nails, you can use nail clipper or a rotary nail clipper. There are various products available to help you keep your dog’s nails in great shape.

These are the basic dog grooming tasks you will need to keep your dog looking and feeling great.

Dog Grooming Advice is an in depth series of articles about proper dog grooming. Move on to the next article, Why Groom Your Dog, or go back to the previous article, An Introduction to Good Dog Grooming.

Best,

Omar Reyes

p.s. Order your IONIC Brass-Boar Bristle Palm Brush by Chris Christensen today!