Hair Cuts!

With four dogs in our small home it can get pretty stinky. I'm very fortunate to have the job that I do where I can use the grooming room/equipment when I'm off the clock. Having professional equipment make a world of a difference. Think about it, you may bath your dog in your tub or in the hose outside every once and a while but the best you can do is a bottle of store soap, a cup of water (maybe a hose on your shower head) and a blow dryer. Does your dog look the same as if you paid good money to have someone else do it at their shop? Nanook was a tub dog for the first year of his life until I started in this industry and now I have all the goodies to make my dogs look top quality! I've had a lot of training over the years from groomer friends on how to properly groom my own dogs to avoid forking out tons of cash each month so my house won't smell like wet dog and drool. In this blog I'm going to give you a couple tips on how to make sure your dog is properly groomed at home even if you have just the basics. 

First I'd like to Present our Model for today, Kodak! Here is his before and after shot. With his breed I like the longer look but once his hair starts to look "fuzzy" its time for a light trim. I started using human clippers at first and last year with a Petsmart gift card I received for Christmas, I invested in actual quality dog clippers. They make a HUGE difference in how the hair is cut.

Your pets play outside and especially during the warmer seasons, they will be prone to bugs and debris in their fur. Always check around their legs, belly, neck and back to check for anything out of the ordinary. When bathing and drying your dogs it's always easier to see through their thick coats and down to the skin. I will let those of you who like to shave your dogs like I do know that there is a major risk to this. SO many times I hear people say, "Oh I need a summer cut to cool them off" or "The sun beats down on them and they have such a winter coat on, they get so hot!" This is FALSE. Any dog that sheds has a double coat. A double coat regulates their body temperature naturally and keeps them cool. If you shave this double coated natural AC system off, it actually makes your dog hotter and prone to sunburn with shorter hair. I shave 3 of my dogs but I also am outside with them for 20 minutes tops in moderately warm weather, never scorching and I will always make sure they have access to shade and water when needed. A lot of people shave their dogs and leave them out back 24/7 hoping that the "new hairdo" keeps them cooler being outside all day. 

Always check their teeth and not just the front ones, check the back for plaque build up. Bones, chews and even daily brushing may be needed more often. I've seen dogs with teeth hanging on by a literal infection because their owners did not routinely check their teeth making sure they were healthy. Start doing this early to get them used to you touching their gums and mouth in general. Same with doing their nails. If you don't adapt them slowly from a young age, they may be fearful or even bite when doing so. 

Always check their ears for dark wax, excessive hair or even foreign objects. Kodak's ears get nasty sometimes so I'll have to swab them with a dog safe cleaner and cotton balls ever so often. Watch for funky smells. Any odd smell could mean the start of an infection. Always make sure water is out of their ears after swimming, baths or even backyard hose play. 

Now that Kodak's done modeling fore us he's ready to romp with his freshly groomed siblings. Ball time!

Strutting his new do!

August doesn't get any sort of hair cutting (thank goodness, she would look very odd lol) but she sure loves her coat to be blown out! I dry all the dogs with a high performance dryer which allows air to flow through a hose and into a point to push out water and hair from the coat. This is how I remove chunks of hair from August when they poke out from her hind end. 

Dublin gets a close shave when her skin starts to act up. As much I love her long Aussie coat, it's better to make her comfortable and her skin healthy.

 Nanook was the whole reason I wanted to learn how to groom. I saw how his breed was typically cut and I hated the foo foo look. Heck, we paid a groomer only 2 times since owning Nanook and hated the job they did. I prefer to make my dogs look the way I want for free! I loved the Spitz mane and through a year of experimenting with different looks, I like this one. The puppy cut.

And the final result for today.....Hello world! How do we look!?!?!?

(ps. the house smalls GREAT)