There are two aspects to dog grooming, one is grooming your dog yourself, the other is whether your dog needs professional pet grooming.
Grooming is also part of healthy maintenance of your dog, you should be checking your dogs ears, and nails whether they need brushing, or professional grooming.
When anyone gets a dog they should be aware of what the grooming requirements are for the type of coat their dog has, its important as far as investing time, and also the costs this will incur.
Many a time people have complained to me about the cost of grooming their dog… for many breeds it is a necessity, not a luxury.
The result of not grooming can just be awful, thank goodness something I haven’t seen too often… the matting can cause skin irritation, and pull on the skin, sometimes the skin is very pink under the matting, the worst I’ve seen is a cockapoo with a tick that had layed eggs in the crease of the ear, it was totally matted as the owner had been told not to groom their dog for a year by the breeder.
If you take a dog to the groomers matted there is a far greater risk of nicks, cuts or shaving rashes, we always try to do our best for this not to happen but a matted coat means we cant see what’s going on underneath.
A poodle has a very different requirement to a Staffie!
I have a German Shorthaired pointer, he has been washed twice in the whole of his 14 years, he is clean, doesn’t roll in nasty things (thank goodness) so apart from when its muddy he has no need for any cleaning. As far as brushing is concerned I use a rubber brush at the times his coat is shedding twice a year, but really its minimal.
Where as if you have a poodle or a poodle cross or any non shedding breed, the requirements are totally different! You need to be brushing your dog probably every other day, one needs to factor in professional grooming costs, these breeds have been designed by humans to need to have haircuts. (if you look at wild dogs/street dogs they tend to have totally different coats)
I would say that any non-shedding breed of dogs ( poodle, cockapoo, labradoodle, Bischon Frisee etc..) needs to be groomed every 6-8 weeks.
This is to maintain the coat, but also what most owners fail to notice is the hair between the pads on the feet, the hair in the private area… these are sensitive areas, if the hair gets knotted in those areas you can end up with razor rash in those areas when groomed, dogs left a long time can have rock hard matting between the pads…imagine what that feels like!
The majority of people don’t groom their dogs well enough, so if the hair is left too long it will matt, and in our case at Woofs To Kittys, if a dog is too matted we are not willing to spend too long de-matting a dog, whatever anyone says this is not nice for the dogs, and I feel is cruel, our love of dogs comes before de matting a dog that hasn’t been brushed enough or left too long between grooms.
A dog bath is something we don’t recommend for more than once a month, even with gentle dog shampoo’s it takes essential oils out of the hair, and ive seen dogs with very dry frizzy hair due to over bathing.
I would recommend that you learn how to groom your dog as soon as you get your puppy, we can tell the dogs that are used to being groomed , they tend to be much calmer and have a nicer experience at the groomers, I would ask your groomer what dog grooming kit you need for your dogs needs.
Grooming your dog will also help create a bond between you, and if you start this as a puppy it will be part of your life together, its should also be part of health checking your dogs ears and nails.
If your puppy hates it, just do ¼ of the body at a time, and I always find bribery and corruption helps! So give lots of treats and make it a fun time! Should your puppy need professional grooming they need to go for a puppy groom between 12-14 weeks, this should be an introduction for the pup, a wash and dry, nail clip ear check , if needed a tidy around the eyes, feet, sanitary area and we also do between the pads, and tidy the feet.
I would say this is imperative for any dog that will need regular grooming, it gives your dog the best chance of being OK with grooming …. I don’t think many dogs enjoy it, but you want your dog to be as tolerant as possible.
Part of loving your dog is looking after its maintenance, on the few occasions I’ve been presented by dogs that are horrifically matted…. Its actually quite upsetting, and often at those times people say they love their dogs…..I would seriously question that.
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