Your Home Grooming Care Regime

You have chosen a very special friend who will give you loyalty and happiness every day. We can help you maintain this special affection by helping you with grooming hints to use at home. In order to aid in maintaining optimum skin and coat condition we recommend you don’t leave your professional grooms longer than six weeks. This is in conjunction with regular home grooming.

Grooming is one-on-one time and essential whether your dog has short or long hair. From the day you take your new puppy or dog home you need to start your dog’s grooming regime.

Bathing your dog at home: Tools: 1x empty container; 1x sponge; 1x towel; Shampoo; Shower connection

Step 1

Secure your pet on top of a table. Put a mat or towel down if the surface is slippery.

Step 2

Inspect the mouth, teeth and ears, handle the feet and check the nails.

Step 3

Now, using the appropriate brush and comb, groom your pet. (In the beginning just do a little at a time to get your pet used to it.) Remove any and all knots. Your pet must be completely free of knots and tangles before bathing otherwise they cement when dry resulting in matting. This becomes painful for your dog as it pulls on their skin.

Step 4

Use a shampoo appropriate for your pet’s skin and coat type. Attach the dog to the bathing space and wet all over. Dilute the shampoo 1:8 with water. Sponge in the shampoo and wipe firmly all over. Lather it up. Rinse off well, avoiding water in the ears and nose. The key to a clean dog is the use of plenty of fresh, clean water. By using shampoo which is diluted with water and scrubbing the coat with a sponge you will achieve a clean dog. Should the rinse water still have dirt coming off the dog, repeat the process until the rinse water is clean. For stubborn dirt a slicker brush or rubber scrubber can aid in removing the dirt.
Once your pet is clean, towel dry and comb through the coat while it is still damp. This will remove any tangles that have occurred during the bathing procedure.

We advise adequate grooming between professional visits. If problems are noticed at the time of a professional groom we will bring them to your attention. Lack of grooming will cause many on-going problems for your dog. Matting of hair can be dangerous, especially around the chest area and will also harbour fleas. We have seen some interesting tools sold by petshops for home grooming purposes that are totally unsuitable and in some cases almost lethal in the wrong hands. Talk to us about what’s suitable for your dog.

We are always happy to discuss any grooming needs with you. A free lesson on how to brush and comb your pet is available to all our clients.