Dog Grooming: The Tools & Techniques

Any dog owner will know that grooming your beloved pet is no easy task; in fact it can be the complete polar opposite. There is high chance that your dog won’t enjoy the grooming process, which can make the whole endeavour rather difficult. If you can’t make it to one of the fantastic facilities for dog grooming in North Wales, then there are a variety of measures that can be taken to make both your life and your dog’s life easier when maintaining a clean, healthy animal.

Preparation

Hopefully you have been maintaining the status quo with dog training since he or she was a puppy. In which case, they will understand the sit and stay commands that will become essential when the grooming process begins. Your dog will certainly try and vacate the bath tub as quickly as possible, but with a stern sit or stay command, they will soon learn that they must stay put. Another part of the preparation process is to make sure your dogs hair has been brushed before they go anywhere near the bath tub. This will make give their coat an additional shine after shampoo and conditioner has been applied.

Tools

Where hair clippers are concerned, you certainly get what you pay for. It will benefit you to invest in some higher quality clippers rather than finding the cheapest pair available. Also, search for clippers that come with interchangeable blades of various lengths.

Hair brushes are an essential part of your dog grooming kit. Long haired dogs will benefit from a pin brush to remove any tangles or matting. A comb is handy for brushing the hair on your dogs face. Using a comb makes it far easier to brush around the eyes, nose, and mouth.

A hair dryer can be useful to dry your dog before you begin cutting or brushing, especially a longer haired dog who will take longer to dry off. If you use a hair dryer on your dog, remember to set it at a lower heat to remove the risk of burning your beloved animal.

Choose your shampoo and conditioner carefully. A large majority of dogs can be allergic to the chemicals used in various pet hair products. Go straight to the natural, hypoallergenic products. Conditioning your dogs coat will make it easier to brush and drying time will be substantially reduced.

Asking another person to help may not seem like an obvious tool, but their assistance can be a distinct advantage during the entire grooming process. For the more intimate parts of grooming, this helping hand can distract the dog and hold them, keeping them calm and relaxed whilst you continue grooming.

Be Patient

Take your time and be patient with your dog. This is a stressful situation for them and will more than likely take a long time. But with preparation and the right tools for the job, the time it takes to groom your beloved pet will be significantly reduced. It is not worth risking cutting or injuring your dog just to get things over quicker.

Naming your dog - A Guide

With an endless list of possibilities, it can be a pain to narrow down to just one name for your canine companion. 

This can especially be a challenge for first-time dog owners. Here is a useful guide of things you should take into consideration before choosing a title for your pooch!

Keep it simple

Dogs are more likely to understand short and simple consonants, these have a more prominent and sharper reaction when people hear it. Ending in vowel sounds also have a good impact with dogs and they are more likely to recognise it ‘Charlie’ ‘Simba’, ‘Fido’ etc.

Avoid confusion

Try not to give your name which you may mix up with a command that you want to teach during dog training, for example if you name it ‘Kit’ then it may mistake it for ‘Sit’. It’s going to cause unnecessary confusion in your dog’s brain. After all, your dog can’t spell it doesn’t actually know what you are staying, it just recognises the frequency and the sound of the spoken word. Make it easy!

Choose something sensible...ish!

Remember that you will be using your dog’s name in public, so try to make sure that it’s a name that you will feel comfortable shouting out on regular basis when out on a walk. If you’re in the park and have to shout ‘Death’ to get your dog back, you might get some funny looks. Although you might think it’s pretty funny or cool, we do recommend you be responsible. Also if your dog ever goes missing and you have to walk through the streets shouting his name you want to be sounding something a bit safer.

Try before you commit

Try out your dog’s name for a few days before you commit to it, if it doesn’t respond too well or feel right then you might want to change it. If saying the name over and over doesn’t fit right, you can just pick a new one.

Consider the dog

If renaming an older or rehomed dog then it would be best to choose a name which sounds similar to the dog’s previous name. This way the dog is going to feel as if nothing’s changed in that respect, while it will already have a lot of changes in lifestyle to get used to.

You could look at your dog’s physicality for inspiration on how to name it. If it’s brown you could name it ‘Chocolate’, if white then you could call it ‘snowflake’. I personally like to name dogs after my favourite TV show and Movie characters, why not draw from your interests?

After a little bit of consideration, I’m sure that you will find the perfect name for your new pooch.

Good luck