Dog grooming can be very expensive if you visit a pet grooming salon. However, you must not compromise your pet's hygiene and overall physiological and psychological health by ignoring its need to be well-groomed. Just like people, they also need some pampering and grooming every now and then so that they look and feel better.
Happily, it's not necessary to spend a lot on grooming your dog. It's not that hard to groom your dog on your own right at home. Just buy some pets grooming supplies and read the following tips on how to groom your dog.
The place to start is with your dog's coat. You don't want your pet to develop problems with fleas and other pests so you must always clean and maintain its hair. A critical pet grooming tool is a brush with soft bristles. It's important to give your dog a good brushing each day so that its coat doesn't become matted. Brushing also makes the coat shine since it distributes the natural oils throughout the length of the hair. It prevents shedding because it removes dead and dying hair.
As well, you need to have your dog's coat trimmed every month or two, depending on the breed. If you want to do this on your own, you need to have clippers or trimmers, scissors, a brush or a comb, a blow dryer, and towels.
The next step is giving your dog a bath. For this you'll need a shampoo formulated for dogs, some soap, a comb and brush, and lots of towels. Before the bath, brush your dog's coat so that it doesn't become tangled when it gets wet. Your dog needs a bath once a month if it has long hair, and every two months if it has short hair. Sometimes it will need an extra bath if it's been engaged in particularly messy activities. Routinely giving your dog a bath will keep fleas at bay, and help to avoid various skin conditions. It also keeps the dog smelling nice and feeling clean.
Dog grooming also involves nail clipping. Your dog's nails grow just like yours and longer nails can do a lot of damage to your home. As well, they could break off, which can be a painful situation. So you need to trim your dog's nails on a monthly basis. This is quite different from trimming your own nails since your dog's nails are thicker and a different shape. A dog nail trimmer must be utilized. You'll also need some powder to stop the bleeding if you should happen to cut your dog.
Every couple of weeks, inspect your dog's ears to see if there are any open sores or fleas. Then use warm water, mineral oil and cotton balls to get them clean.
Lastly, it's not just humans who need to keep their teeth clean. Dogs too can get cavities and other unhealthy conditions on their teeth and gums. You need toothpaste and a toothbrush designed for dogs; use them a couple of times each week.
