Dog – Man Best Friends

Grooming Tools Inventory: Part I

Certain tools are necessary to properly groom your dog. All dogs should have the essential supplies such as brush, comb, and scissors. Nevertheless, long coats need different grooming tools than smooth coats, wire coats, and curly coats. The following is a list of tools you will require for grooming:

Boar’s Bristle Brush: This brush works great for removing the undercoat of long-coated breeds and also helps in getting rid of mats in the undercoat.
Bristle Brushes (soft, medium, and stiff): These brushes are used on different short-coated breeds, for usual brushing and to eliminate the undercoat of certain long-coated breeds.
Cage Dryer: This kind of dryer is designed to fit on cages so that the dog may be dried inside the cage.
Chamois cloth: This cloth is used for polishing the coats of short-haired dogs.
Comb: The best comb is a regulation-size steel comb with both medium and fine teeth. This comb will do a decent job on most breeds.
Duplex dresser: A stripping tool used on most Terriers and other breeds.
Floor dryer: This is a kind of dryer that is usually used for fluff drying. Because of the long arm on this dryer it can be used to direct the air on the coat and dry the hair.
Grooming post and loop: The perfect grooming post should be one that is portable and can simply be attached to any size table. The loop is located around the dog’s neck to guarantee his safety.
Snap-on comb: This is a favorite among ”fast job groomers.” If slipped over a #15 blade, it will therefore regularly leave 5/8 inches of hair wherever used. This kind of comb is available in six different sizes.
Grooming table (18′, x 34”): This standard size grooming table is typically a folding type and easy to carry and travel to a different location. It is 30″ high and has ribbed rubber matting. This table is frequently used for grooming small dogs.
Grooming table (24″ x 36”): This is an average size grooming table, regularly a folding type, and also easy to carry. This table is 30″ high and has ribbed rubber matting on the top. This table can be used for grooming various breed sizes.
High-speed floor dryer: This dryer is the same as the other floor dryers except that it has a high-speed motor attached for fluff drying long-coated breeds such as the Standard Poodle, Old English Sheepdog, and Afghan .
Hound Glove: The hound glove is used on the coats of different short-haired dogs in the hound family.

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Does Your Dog Put Up A Fight When Being Groomed?

When grooming your dog, it is essential for you to be firm but kind at the same time. Being firm with your dog does not mean being cruel, but to allow the dog know who the leader of the pack is. Most dogs react to simple commands such as sit and stay.

In addition, dogs react to firm commands that are given in a kind voice. In this way the dog knows that you are in control and that he will be treated gently, which is the significant part in grooming. Once the dog has been scared by shouting and cruel treatment, it is very hard to support him that he is not going to be scared again.

If a dog becomes a real problem and does not react to the handling of a groomer or his owner, he should be taken to an obedience trainer for further training. There will always be some dogs that you will be hard to groom for disciplinary reasons. If a dog is a ”biter,” he should be groomed by a vet who can administer a sedative. Dogs should be started on a regular grooming habit from puppy hood so that he can become familiar to the procedure.

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What Is A “Mat” And How Do I Get Rid Of Them?

A mat is basically a tangle of hair, frequently with undercoat, that has formed a knot tight enough to resist brushing and combing. Mats tend to form on dogs with thick, long, wavy, or double coats in corners of the body and areas with longer hair, such as the base of legs, the anal region under the tail, beneath the chest by the front legs, and around the ears. In most cases, normal maintenance such as daily brushing and combing are required to avoid tangles from turning into mats, but sometimes a mat will catch you off guard.

Mats form since hair is covered in tiny scales. When hair is twisted or harshly treated, those scales can stick up, acting like tiny barbs. These barbs catch shed hairs, wooly undercoat hairs, even dirt and debris, knotting and tangling until they form a solid accumulation of hair that is almost impossible to comb through.

Some people deal with mats by simply cutting them out, leaving ”holes” in the coat. Nevertheless, in severe cases of mat, you may be necessary to shave the coat. Regular grooming should avoid the build up of mats, but if you have allow things go, shaving down the coat might be a better approach rather than going through hours and hours working with a mat splitter, scissors, and comb, pulling on the poor dog’s coat.

The first step in mat removal is to have the appropriate tools. You may be capable to get through most mats with a sharp scissors and a comb, but you may also be capable to conserve more coat using particular equipment and products.

Oil-based coat conditioner spray: Do not attempt to remove a mat without first spraying it with an oil-based coat spray. The oil in this spray helps to smooth down the scales on the hair, saturates and loosens the mat so that it comes out more easily.

Mat comb: A mat comb is a kind of comb-like tool with blades instead of teeth used for slicing big mats into small sections that can then be worked out alone.

Mat splitter: A mat splitter is a blade with a curved handle that is used to slash through a mat. The curved handle makes the mat splitter easy to grasp and easy to slit into the mat.

Sharp scissors: Sometimes, the best way to get rid of the mat is to cut it into strips. A sharp scissors can do the work of a mat comb or a mat splitter.

Slicker brush: After cutting the mat into smaller parts, brush out the tangles with a slicker brush.

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Grooming the Medium Coat

Another kind of coat that is easy to groom is the medium coat. Many medium-coated dogs should stay completely natural without trimming, clipping, or shaping. The medium coat does not tangle, mat, hold on to dirt, or need special attention other than habitual brushing and the occasional bath. Long hair on the feet must be trimmed, mainly between toe pads where mats can easily form.

Keep in mind that you can make small adjustments to develop the shape of your dog by trimming the head and then the body to balance an uneven dog. Nevertheless, a few medium-coated breeds need special trimming in order to participate in the show ring.

Let us take the “sporting spaniels” for instance. These dogs have the top third of their ears trimmed with clippers or tightening shears. The ruff on a spaniel’s neck can be trimmed to an inch above the breastbone and blended into the shoulders.

Other breeds with medium coats need very little coat trimming. When valid, you can also make small adjustments in shaping the ruff rear furnishings and ear hair. Mainly, leave your medium-coated breed in a natural state, simply neatening stray hairs without having to modify the dog’s outline. The basic rule for medium-coated dogs is to brush frequently to eliminate shed hair. High-maintenance grooming is not needed.

The necessary tools for grooming the medium coat are as follows: Pin brush, Coat rake, Hound glove, Shedding comb, Rubber wavy brush, and a Blow-dryer with low or cool setting.

Every day, or at least once a week, provide your dog a good, careful brushing. Nevertheless, throughout your monthly grooming sessions, you may apply the following steps after giving your dog a bath.

1. Dry the medium coat with a towel. When your dog is totally dry, have him stand. Step back and take a good look at his outline. Compare it to a picture of a well-groomed show dog of the similar breed. Look for long, stray hairs, shaggy areas, or other imbalances.

4. Using a clipper, scissors, or a stripping knife, clip off hairs longer than the ones around them and straighten shaggy outlines that are not supposed to be shaggy.

5. Never clip more than a few hairs without stopping and standing back to check again. If you trim at close range for too long, you can easily exaggerate the job.

6. Lastly, you may spray your dog’s coat with a slight coat conditioner to keep it flexible and easy to brush.

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How to Groom a Long Coat

The long coated small breeds are characterized by a certain gorgeous full fluffiness, as opposite to the parted coat-breeds, which are characterized by long, smooth, flowing hair, which is more associated to long human hair. For this cause, keep this in mind when grooming long-coated small dogs: Think of the coat standing out from the body, rather than lying flat against the skin.

When you have finished giving your small dog a shower, below is a step by step process on how to groom that long fluffy coat.

1. After drying your dog, blow-dry the long coat to keep it from drying into tangles. With the blow-dryer on cool or low setting, work from the bottom up, using the pin brush or slicker brush to fluff-dry. Separate the hair into sections with the pin brush or slicker brush and hold them out from the body as you blow-dry.

2. Keep the blow-dryer moving over each piece of hair until it is dry, then work your way up. Begin with the legs and rear end and work your way up and forward. Keep brushing and fluffing for fullness, keeping the coat free from tangles.

3. Finish by running a metal comb throughout the coat to make sure that you did not miss a single tangle or snag.

4. With a #10 blade on your electric clipper, trim your dog’s anal area to keep it clean and free of long hair and tangles. Be cautious not to touch the blade directly on your dog’s skin. Another way of keeping this area clean is to clip it tidily with scissors.

5. Depending on the breed or if you like the thought of having your dog’s underside free of long hair, with the similar #10 blade, shave your dog’s abdomen from groin to naval and down the insides of both thighs. Shave with the lay of the hair.

6. Trim between your dog’s paw pads with clippers, and if hair covers the feet, trim around the feet so the hair reaches the ground squarely around the paw in a rounded shape.

7 Brush and comb the hair on your dog’s head, ears, and face.

8. Stand back and look at the dog’s shape. Scissor any stray long hairs without changing the shape of the coat. Just look for uneven, stray areas that stand out after brushing.

9. To conclude the dog and take advantage of the coat’s fluffiness, spray it with coat conditioner or coat dressing to keep it soft and in place, then brush calmly over the top of the coat to set. Brush from bottom up and from shoulders forward to fluff-the ruff. Fluff the tail, the body, and the chest.

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