Day 3 Groovy Grooming

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You know, one of the most fun and satisfying thing you can do with your dog is grooming him. Bath time became a fairly peaceful activity for Shadow and I. He was a big dog. In his prime he was about 100 pounds. When he was young, that was 100 pounds of flexed muscles ready to spring right out of the bathtub. Quite exciting. HA HA However, as he got a bit older,he would jump in the tub by himself (aaah that worked much better) and stand still for me to scrub him down and then rinse of the suds.

Brushing was good too. He would almost go to sleep as I brushed all of the loose hair from his coat, and there was a lot of it. Labs, for those of you who aren't familiar with the breed, have a double coat. The outer coat is oily and rather coarse since they are swimmers and the inner coat is finer and softer for insulation against water and the elements. Therefore, my currycomb type of grooming tool always came away full. There were times when I could easily fill a supermarket plastic carry out sack with this activity.

And, oh, those toenails! You really need a special nail clipper if you trim your dogs nailsyourself because it is quite easy to clip into the quick if you aren't very careful. When it began to sound as if we had a troop of tapdancers in the house as Shadow walked across the hardwood floors, we knew nail clipping time had come once again. Sometimes he would chew his nails and trim them himself but that was not a good plan. He would end up with cracked and chipped nails that could end up being painful. So be careful with this grooming job and get a good pair of clippers. Do some research for the best.There are a bunch out there and they are not all good.

Just to touch on one thing more, lets look a the ears. Floppy-eared dogs are notorious for getting ear infections of various types. Just to name a couple, a type of fungal infection and ear mites.
Both of these problems can be kept at bay if you learn to clean the dog's ears. If you lift the flap and look inside the ear and see what appears to be dirt, it could be either of these problems presenting itself. Both of these situations cause quite and odor which you will not mistake once you find this problem in your pet's ears. My suggestion is if you find this, go ahead and take the dog to the vet and get them cleaned out really well and treated. Then get the vet to show you how to clean the ears yourself and what he suggests as a good and safe cleanser. That will get you off on the right foot (or paw, if you will).

Here's a good grooming guide, one that I highly recommend that includes information on trimming nails, cleaning ears (see above, lol), and give your pet relief from itching an skin infections. I found it much more convenient to take care of my pet from home instead of carting him off to the groomer, the vet, etc.

That's it for today. Go give your dog a bath--it's a great way to bond with your pet and it is a lot of fun to watch them frisk about afterward. They obviously feel great!!

Catch you next time.