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This blog is a follow on from my blog on home grooming. GET PREPARED FIRST First things first, get what you need ready so you are prepared, know what area your going to dry in and where the dog is going after the bath. If your lucky enough to have a big enough bathroom this makes it easier, but if you have a tiny bathroom do not worry just plan with the space you have. Make sure you have treats ready and make sure the dog is going to be secure. Sometimes in England we do get the rare treat of warm weather, so if it is warm and sunny you could wash outside. Ideally the coat should be brushed before and after the bath for longer coated breeds to prevent it getting matted. Gather together what you need towels, shampoo, possibly conditioner for longer or wool coats, brushes, bath mat, safe are to use a hairdryer, away from bathroom obviously. We recommend Use a good pet shampoo we personally recommend using a brand called Aqueos antibacterial dog shampoo, its brilliant on sensitive skin good value and its antibacterial, we have also been informed its effective against cleaning the coat for Covid-19. Aqueos can be purchased from us. There are other pet shampoos out there that will be fine to use but just may not give as good result, always choose a dog shampoo for sensitive skin. A good conditioner is also useful for any dogs that have a long coat or a wool coat, it helps with tangles and releases matting, most conditioners are fine just make sure they are not too highly scented. A couple of towels and a bath mat is useful just to stop too much water getting everywhere. A good slicker brush for brushing out long coats and wool coats or a rubber brush such as a Zoom groom for short haired coats like a Labrador. A detangle spray may be necessary for dogs with long coats, we recommend the mane and tail detangler , but there are a wide variety available in pet stores and online. Wear and apron trust me on this dogs shake you will get wet ! Always use warm water from a shower or a bucket, a lot of people get tempted to use a hose, which is fine to just blast off mud from the legs but for bathing a cold hose is not good, its obviously not going to be nice for the dog as you can imagine being doused in cold water even when the weather is hot is not nice at all, further to that its actually not good for the body either to be put into a shock or prolonged cold water, so tepid or warm water is better even in warmer weather tepid is better than cold. We also sell natural dog deodorant for finishing and you many want a shine spray for longer coats. Bath time If you are using the bath to put your dog in make sure you have a bath mat down to prevent slipping as this may cause injury or the dog to panic. Get the water to the right temperature you can test it on your wrist first this gives a good indication of temperature. Start by wetting the dog down from the tail end this means you can introduce the water slowly and gradually get them used to it rather that going in head first which for some dogs is too much. Work your way gently around the dog ensuring you get nice and wet, but avoid getting water in the ears, . If you are bathing in the garden with a bucket you could use a jug to get the water over the dog a bit at a time rather than throwing a full bucket over the top. Once your dog is nice and wet and (you probably are too) its shampoo time. Some shampoo can be diluted so read the bottle before you get going. This time start at the head end gently working the shampoo into the coat and down the body, make sure you do not get shampoo near the eyes or inside the ears, do not be stingy get a really good lather all over and give that coat a good scrub , if you have a short coated breed and a zoom groom or rubber brush you can use it to work in the shampoo. If you have a long haired breed try not to scrunch and rub the coat up too much as this can cause it to matt, its better to do it in sections and use your fingers to rub the shampoo through the lengths. If you and your dog are not really enjoying the experience you can use conditioner over the top of the shampoo but if its going well its best to rinse off the shampoo before using conditioner. When you use conditioner if the dog is long haired then you can apply all over but in some cases a dog may just have some long bits such as ears, tail, feathers, if the dog is short coated you wont need conditioner. When you get to rinsing rinse from the head down this is because it helps to wash any dirt down and off the body. Make sure you rinse well, use your hands to check all areas to ensure that your dog is free of product. The water should run clear when all product is rinsed off. You should now have a squeaky clean dog that is sweet smelling. Drying Time First of all use your hands to run over the dogs body to push off any excess water. Next get your towel and rub the dog over in the bath, its best to get rid of as much excess water in the bath before getting out to avoid the madness of a wet dog flying round merrily spreading water. Carefully get the dog out and place onto a bath mat, then using the second towel give them a very thorough rub down, again if the coat is long or a wool coat try to scrunch dry and this will avoid rubbing in knots and matting. If the weather is warm and your dog is short haired you can now just let them run around and they will dry, this can also help cool dogs down in hot weather. However if you have a dog with a long or thick coat its time to reach for the hair dryer. Its a good idea to have practised getting your dog used to a hair dryer before this time but if you have not then just start slow. Begin by turning the dryer on a just place it down so the dog can get used to the noise once you pick it up just hold it away from them for a few minutes, again this helps them accept it. Its always best if your dog is not so keen to get someone to help, they can feed the dog treats and hold on whilst you dry. Start at the back of the dog facing away from the head and start to dry, make sure the air is not too hot and keep a little distance just as you would if drying your own hair. If the dog is short haired you will need to rub the hair to help get the air to dry it and if its slightly longer or a wool coat you will need to brush as the hair dries. For long coats dry in a downwards motion using your hands to separate the hair and dry it in sections this will help prevent drying in tangles. As it begins to dry use the brush with the air to help groom it out and get rid of tangles. For Wool coats or slightly thicker coats again use the brush to brush the hair as it dries this helps to remove knots and matts. You can buy detangle sprays which can be useful with longer coats when drying, but do not use too much. Take extra care drying around the head area and try to keep the air away from eyes and inner ears, many dogs do not tolerate around the head being dried so do not loose faith if you can get it dry. Eventually you should be nice and dry if your dog is short coated this is pretty much it just have a general check over ears,eyes, nails and skin then unless you are finishing with a dog deodorant your done. If your dog is long haired or wool coated you still have some to do. So if you are tackling longer hair or wool coat once its dry you should have got it brushed out to some extent, however its important that you now finish off by doing a really good brush and comb all over to make sure all tangles are out. Sometimes it helps with longer silky coats to put through a shine spray but we recommend a natural shine spray like a coconut oil or an olive oil based spray. Hopefully this helps but as usual if there is anything missing or you have a question please feel free to ring us at the shop and we can help answer any questions. If you would like to buy any of our products for bathing feel free to call in we always have some for sale in our shop.

I have decided to do a blog on home grooming as especially with Covid-19 lots of people are now trying to keep up their dogs grooming at home. I must also give a thanks to Sue Ashby and Jane Marsden for their ideas on this subject. Its always nice to be able to be able to write about what our clients want to read. Create a designated grooming area. If you start running around all parts of the house and garden armed with a brush trying to pin the dog down, you run the risk of it turning into a game and a battle. You get frustrated the dog knows they can run and you will eventually give up, you become frustrated the dog detects your frustration and does not like being groomed. Equally if they do not like the sensation of being brushed then this just all ads to the problem. So the best way to begin to teach your dog grooming can be ok is to choose an area where grooming is going to take place every time. This area should be somewhere that is easy to clean afterwards the last thing you need is to weave hair into the carpet. Secondly somewhere that is comfortable for both you and your dog, its no good you both being uncomfortable because you both need to be at ease. If its possible it is better to groom on a table or somewhere that the dog can be up so you can see what your doing and get to all areas easily, however you must make sure that the dog is safe cannot fall off or slip, you may need two of you to do it at first and sometimes putting a rubber matt down helps with grip. Have all your tools ready and to hand in this area so brushes, combs and product your going to use and most importantly be armed with treats. Start off slowly Remember your not going to end up with the perfect result immediately its going to take time and effort to re create how you and your dog feel about home grooming. To start with encourage the dog into the area and reward them whilst there, then just let them leave do this for as long as it takes for them to be perfectly comfortable going there. Next step is getting them to stay there for a small amount of time again keep it calm and a nice experience maybe give the dog some fuss and stroke them gently all over. As you start to get the dog used to going into that area be firm but gentle in getting them to stay there until you let them go, rewarding them for doing what you ask. Introducing the brush When you both start to get used to being in the grooming area for a while and the dog is happy to go along with it, you can begin to sneak in the brush. So once the dog is used to you stroking them you can then start to stroke them with a bush, I will make a list of the best brushes and combs to use at the end of the blog. At first its important to just use the brush to stroke over the body get the dog used to the brush and build a new relationship with the once hated bristled attacker. Make sure you are still rewarding this behaviour the best rewards are normally something which takes time to chew or lick at as this keeps their attention away from what your doing. As your practice this eventually work your way up to starting to brush with more purpose. Starting to groom The main thing here is to stay relaxed, calm and gentle but BE FIRM . It is important for the dog to know that your not cross with them but you are in charge and this is going to happen. At first as with all the previous steps just to a little bit at a time reward and release. In order to get the coat fully brushed out which is vital in keeping in matt free and in good condition take the following steps. Start from the back of the dog section by section. Lift up the fur right from underneath and use your brush to gently brush it back down section by section. Make sure you brush right from underneath. Do this in sections bit by bit you and your dog may need a break especially at first. Once you have a fully brushed out coat you can then use a comb to go over and check for small tangles. If you find tangles go back and use the brush to break these up avoid pulling the coat with a comb it hurts and your dog wont thank you at all. If you find dense areas of matting it may take time to tease away at these with a brush on wool and dense coats you can even use a little bit of diluted conditioner to rub into the area which may help release the matted fur, but make sure its diluted enough and doesn't leave to much sticky or greasy residue. You can by detangle sprays which will also be very helpful. Be patient it may take time for you to get this out but if you keep working away at it you will get there eventually. I often get told from owners that they had to cut out a matt or a bit of something, If you need to do this please please be careful and only do this if absolutely necessary with blunt ended scissors. I have seen many injuries over the years where owners have accidentally cut their dog or cat and its not nice, also its obviously distressing to both pet and owner. At the moment with Covid-19 vets are on reduced services this means its even more important not to take risks. The most important part of home grooming is brushing. Dogs that exhibit difficult behaviours Ok I can hear lots of but what ifs in my ear right now and I know that putting into practice what is above is not going to be that easy. I do understand trust me after many many years of grooming and doing behaviour, I have been through just about every scenario. So lets say when you try to groom Charlie, she bites you. Right so when this happens its important to be firm and persistent push her away from you and say a firm no keep doing this which I know is exhausting but if you persist it will pay off. A calm firm authoritative NO will eventually get there, it must be the same command in the same voice every time. Its rare that a dog actually will try and really go for you but if this is the case then do not put yourself at risk, and its probably best left to the groomer but sometimes when we know the dog well enough we can give you advice on and individual case basis. My dog just wont keep still If you are finding that Molly keeps doing a runner, its important to start from the beginning and be persistent as frustrating as this is the more you keep enforcing the firm but kind rule of getting Molly to understand that she is going to come with you and you are in charge and this is where we go for grooming. Remember to persist be gentle be firm and reward, you will eventually get there. My dog just screams at me every time I try to brush If you have a particularly vocal dog its important to first rule out any reason that they may scream at you other than just being vocal. Make sure your brush is not to harsh and that they are not uncomfortable or got any problem area such as sore skin or an unseen injury. The most likely reason for a dog to shout about it is because they have learnt to play you they are communicating with you, telling you they do not want to be groomed, or by making a noise they know it intimidates you and mostly makes you stop hence they win and freedom is theirs. Again in this case its important you take control and be firm and persistent once the dog learns this the noise will begin to stop remember to reward for good behaviour so when the dog is quiet even if only temporary reward. List of useful equipment for grooming A slicker brush, this is a wire pin brush these are the best brushes for most types of coat and can be found easily. Make sure you choose the right type of slicker brush if your dog has sensitive skin you will need a soft slicker brush, most of the time a medium a slicker brush is best for doing the job and getting through the coat by medium I mean in firmness. They also come in lost of sizes so choose a size that is going to be able to get to all the areas you need to get to in relation to your dogs size. A wide pin comb with wide pins is best as it will get through thicker coats more easily if your comb has pins that are close together and too short it will pull on the coat. A detangle spray of which there are a few on the market but use sparingly as if you use too much you will find you get a greasy residue. We use Mane and Tail horse detangle spray as we find this is excellent. Another is the Wahl detangle spray, but there are many out there that are good. For short haired dogs that do shed hair such as the Labrador a very good tool is something called a Zoom Groom, which is like a rubber brush ,you can also use other makes of rubber brush but we find the Zoom Groom is the best. If you must use scissors very carefully its best to use blunt ended baby scissors but be careful and only use for removing big matts or thistles stuck in the coat, make sure you know where the skin ends and coat begins. I will be doing another blog very soon as a part 2 to this one with regards to bathing and drying at home. As always I am writing these to try and help and for you to enjoy, your feedback is always welcome and any ideas always welcome. You can always contact us through our email or on our Facebook page.