General Grooming Tips

Click Here for Specific Breed Grooming Tips

Brushing

• Brushing helps remove loose dirt, hair, and dead skin cells.
• Brushing daily can help keep your house cleaner from shedding hair. Even "shed-less" dogs can shed hair when brushed-just like you and I do after brushing our hair.
• When brushing puppy or dog, make sure the brush has rubber or plastic tipped pins to avoid causing scratches in the skin. A comb should have smooth ended pins to keep your puppy or dog comfortable.
• To avoid tangles causing pain for the puppy, hold the hair at the root and gently work out the tangle slowly. Using a rotating pin comb or rake can help ease the untangling of hair.
• Use a rake for puppies or dogs who are going through their shedding cycle. Removing the undercoat in a timely manner will reduce the amount of tangles that form (and keep your house from looking like a hair ball). A rake helps get down to the underlying hair.
• Make sure to comb all the way down to the skin. Brushing the top layer only can cause the undercoat to mat and tangle.
• Don't forget the belly hair. If your puppy or dog won't roll over, hold his/her paws up and brush the chest and belly. This will help keep your puppy or dog from tracking in as much grass, especially the freshly cut grass or dead grass in early fall.
  
  See Specific Breed Grooming tips for more info on hair types.

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Bathing

• Dogs aren't fond of bath time, but that doesn't mean it has to be a nightmare.
• Brush your puppy/dog before bathing especially if during the shedding season. If you don't brush puppy before bathing, the undercoat can get extremely tangled and matted.
• Find a large sink (like a utility room sink) or the bathtub (preferably one with a handheld showerhead. These are the best places to bath your puppy. When you puppy grows up and it is warm outside, you can bath him on the back porch.
• Put cotton balls in puppy's ears to prevent water from getting in and causing ear infections.
• Be careful not to get too much water in puppies eyes-this can cause irritation and dryness.
• Make sure the water is warm when washing your puppy. If washing your dog outside, make sure the outside temperature is at least 75 degrees. Otherwise, it is too cold to wash a dog outside.
• Use shampoo that is formulated for dogs. If you have a white puppy/dog, using a brightening shampoo is the best way to get the white hair really clean and white.
• For pomeranians (who have a thick undercoat) use conditioner to help keep down the tangles when drying and combing.
• After thoroughly washing the puppy/dog squeegee the water off its hair by running your hands down his/her back and legs, don't forget the tail too. If you puppy/dog has long ears squeegee those too.
• Towel dry the puppy to get the excess water off the hair. Then blow dry the puppy to make sure he/she is fully dry. Dogs like pomeranians need their undercoat fully dried to prevent puppy/dog from getting cold. You can tell when the hair is dry when it no longer clumps together or looks kinky.
• Keep your puppy/dog in a warm place until fully dry. Don't let puppy outside until dry or they will just get dirty again. (Dogs have a tendency to roll around in the grass to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling of being wet. They may also roll around if there is a little water in their ears.)
• If you puppy/dog gets salt, mud, tree sap, burrs, or paint in his hair, soak the area with mineral oil and allow to set for 24 hours. Rinse the area with soap and water and clip away any damaged or extremely tangled hair. Put antibiotic cream on any areas of skin irritation after bathing and drying.
  
  See Specific Breed Grooming Tips for more info on hair types.

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Nails

• Most dogs can't stand their nails trimmed (just ask my Holly and she will readily agree). However, if started early you can train your puppy and avoid some of the fight over nail trimming.
• Nails should be trimmed short enough that you don't hear them scratching your floor.
• Start early with your puppy touching and rubbing his feet. This will get him used to you messing with his paws. Do this even before he needs his nails trimmed so he doesn't associate pain with paw touching.
• To trim nails first pick up puppy's paw and place thumb on the pad of a toe. Using forefinger pull hair away from nail to expose and extend the nail.

• Puppy's nail typically grow out and then down into a hook like claw. Cut the nail tip being careful not to go above the curve of the nail. If you cut where the curve of the nail starts you are likely to cut into the quick. OUCH!!!! See diagram for clarification.

• If you cut into the quick the nail will start to bleed. Put pressure on the bleeding with a tissue or paper towel until the bleeding stops.

• Each time you cut your puppy's toenails make sure you also check their pads for any burrs, stickers, or other debris that they can pick up from outside or even inside.
• In the winter or after the lawn man sprays the yard, rinse off puppy's paws so he won't lick them and get sick. In the winter this will remove deicing chemicals, salt, snow, or ice.
• Before you finish with puppy's paws, make sure the hair between their pads is cut. Keeping this hair trimmed will help puppy keep cool in the summer since dogs breath through their pads instead of their skin. Also keeping this hair short will keep it cleaner.

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Ears

• Ears should be cleaned at least once a month and after a bath is the easiest. If your puppy is a dog with long, hanging ears cleaning more frequently to prevent ear infections is recommended.
• Look at puppy's ears for anything unusual. Make sure there are no scratches, debris, ticks, dirt, puss, redness, etc.
• Use a cotton ball (not a cotton tip applicator) to clean puppy's ears. Don't got further down than the width of your 1st knuckle.
• Put mineral oil or other mineral oil containing product like hand lotion on the cotton ball and gently rub puppy's ears.
• Take a good sniff of puppy's ears to make sure they don't smell fowl. If so, check with your vet to make sure puppy doesn't have an ear infection especially if there is oozing stuff coming from the ears.

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Eyes

• Always be careful of puppy's eyes when bathing so you don't get irritating shampoo in them. And after bathing is a good time to make sure puppy's eyes are nice and white and free of discharge.
• Puppy's frequently have watery eyes because the tear duct may not be fully open. If this doesn't resolve by 3-5 months, then massage puppy's nose starting at the edge of the inner corner of the eye down to the tip of the nose. This will help open up that drainage duct in from the eye to the nose.
• If puppy frequently gets crusties in his eyes, take a damp wash rag and wipe them out. Puppy will instinctively close his eyes when you come close to them, but watch to make sure he does. Avoid wiping directly across the eye.
• If puppy has green discharge for several days even after wiping them out and the eye is red, take puppy to the vet for some antibiotic drops.
• When looking at puppy's eyes make sure the front surface looks nice and clear and you can see all of the colored part of his eyes. If any part looks white puppy may have gotten a scratch on the front of his eyes and needs some medicine from the vet. This typically happens if another dog or cat scratches at the face or if puppy runs into something sharp.
• If puppy ever seems to paw at his eyes frequently, take a careful look at them and make sure there isn't something in them or that they are red. If so, take him to a vet.
• Tear staining is common for puppies that have white hair around their eyes. To avoid this problem there are several methods we have heard about but have not directly tested.
  • When puppy is old enough (8 weeks) Angel Eyes a powder product commercially available can be used as an additive to food.
  • Keeping the hair around puppy's eyes short will sometimes help keep the eyes from watering too much which then spills over onto the hair and stains it.
  • Beef liver treats have also been said to reduce staining by changing the pH of the tears.
  • Rachel Ray's dog food has gotten good reviews from some of our maltese customers.
  • I also recommend learning more about tear staining-the causes and prevention at http://www.bhejei.com/tearsta.htm.

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Teeth

• Puppy needs strong healthy teeth. To keep them white and free from plaque weekly cleaning is best.
• When puppy is young rub puppy's teeth with finger or gauze pad. Later you can graduate to a toothbrush and toothpaste designed for dogs. Human toothpaste can cause an upset stomach.
• Teeth may also be cleaned with a mixture of baking soda and water.
• By keeping teeth clean you can also keep puppy's breath smelling good. Bacterial that builds up in plaque and later tarter is the cause of bad breath.
• If puppy's teeth get too much tarter build up it can lead to tooth lose and gum disease and a vet tooth cleaning procedure requires anesthetic.

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Ticks

• Ticks are not only annoying pests but can present a problem for puppy. Ticks can spread nasty diseases that cause expensive vet bills.
• Ticks are not limited to forests or woods, and can be present at beaches, lawns, and urban areas.
• To prevent ticks treat your puppy and his environment to avoid the constant battle of picking off ticks.
• Symptoms from tick-borne diseases:
  • Babesiosis: lethargy, appetite loss, weakness, pale gums
  • Ehrlichiosis: high fever, muscle aches
  • Lyme Disease: lameness, itching pain, swollen joints, fever, poor appetite, fatigue, and vomiting, (some infected animals show no signs or symptoms
  • Tick paralysis in dogs: gradual paralysis, seen first as an unsteady gait from uncoordinated back legs (some infected dogs don't develop paralysis
• If you suspect one of these diseases call your vet immediately.
• Removing a tick may be harder than it sounds. You must get the head. Use a pair of tweezers to get as close to the skin as possible and then gently pull up. Using your fingers to remove a tick can cause the injection of infectious material.

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Fleas

• Fleas are less likely than ticks to spread diseases to pets or people. But they are hard to catch and can settle in any area of the house.
• To prevent fleas find a good topical or oral medication from your vet. Treat the yard if especially bothersome.
• If puppy has fleas, sometimes a good flea shampoo will remove the majority, follow with topical treatment to kill the rest.
• Check puppy's bed and play area as these are areas that fleas love to hang out in.
• Vacuuming on a regular basis will help eliminate fleas from the home. Fleas can survive in the vacuum bag so change it often and seal it in a plastic bag before disposing of it.
• Steam cleaning or shampooing carpets, rugs, or furniture can kill the eggs and larvae of fleas.
• Flea season starts in the spring and progresses to summer. Some warmer climate areas may have trouble in the fall as well.
• Fluff pillows for 10 - 15 minutes in the dryer to keep them free of fleas. And wash your puppy's bed at least once a week in hot soapy water.

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