Your dog is very important to you. For, this very reason you want to keep your dog in the best health. Grooming your dogs is the most important care you can give to your dog after you see to their basic needs. Dog grooming keeps their skin healthy, the dead hair away, and the matted hair down to a minimum. Think of grooming kind of like you would a horse. A horse needs to be brushed after you ride them to remove the dirt. A dog needs to be brushed every day to remove dead hair, matted hair, and the dirt. You will find a few tips on how to get your dog to cooperate.
First your dog needs to understand who the master is. They also need to enjoy the process. So you have to make it as painless as possible. You may teach them that there is a certain hour and place that grooming will occur on a daily basis. This helps with consistency and making sure they are understanding what you need from them.
Once they are cooperative you can start your daily examination. First you need to make sure there are no cuts, fleas, rashes or bumps. They may have other types of bugs hiding in their hair. Some dogs are more prone to diseases like cancer or skin rashes so you need to keep up with grooming to make sure they don’t have anything you should seek a vet about.
During this process you will need to brush the dogs coat. Depending on the type of dog you have you will need to have a few different kinds of brushes. A fine tooth comb generally takes care of the bugs they may have.
If you are in a prime tick area you will also need to search their fur for the bugs. Ticks are one of the hardest bugs to get rid of because you need to use tweezers and even alcohol to remove them. Ticks bury their heads under the skin so just using tweezers may not be enough. Sometimes if you just pull gently back and forth to loosen the head and then pull firmly you can remove the tick without incident.
You will also need to check the ears, feet, and teeth daily. You are going to be looking for cuts, potential injuries, tumors, or other lumps during this process as well. You want to make sure, especially when left alone, that they did not get hurt. There are many dangers when you leave them alone in the backyard from sticks, bugs, and other things that could harm their thick skin.
Dogs love to chew on things and though their teeth are quite hard they still have problems with tooth decay and can harm their teeth. Part of the grooming process is making sure they get regular cleaning. You may brush their teeth at home and take them to the vet for teeth cleaning once a year. (Depending on vet recommendations)
Your dog’s feet are also important. You will have to clip their nails every two to three weeks. You need the dog to be placid during the grooming so teach them to sit and lift their paw for you. That way you won't nip an area or clip too far down on the nail. You need to understand just where to cut. The dog has a blood supply to their nails, which if you clip with bleed and hurt the dog. Before clipping their nails make sure you know where the quick is, which is the nerve.
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