Add Dog Grooming to Your Daily Routine

The first step that comes to mind when mentioning dog grooming is the brushing of your pet’s coat. Regular brushing will remove dirt, prevent tangles, spread the natural oils through his coat and keep the animal’s skin free of irritations. This type of dog grooming should be done at least a couple of times a week, though short periods of daily brushing will make the process easier to keep up.

Brushing is not the only step in dog grooming. Bathing, trimming of the toe nails, cleaning the ears and removing mats and tangles are all essential to good dog health. Your dog should be bathed every couple of months, like it or not, and more if the dog tends to get muddy or dirty often when outside. After a bath is a good time to trim the toe nails, as they will be softer and the quick will be more visible. Be sure not to cut down to the quick, or else you will have a fair amount of blood to clean up, though this often looks worse than it really is. Inspect your pet's ears every month for foul odors or blemished skin. Clean the ears with a cotton swab and warm water. Long eared dogs are more likely to develop infections in the ears, so should be cleaned more often.

While most dogs hate this step of the dog grooming process, you should also be brushing your pet’s teeth a number of times a week. Brush your dog's teeth using a small, soft toothbrush and pet toothpaste at least twice a week, to reduce the build-up of plaque and tartar, just like our own. Do not use human toothpaste, it is harmful to your dog; pick up some beef or other flavored pet toothpaste, which will hopefully make it a little easier to convince Rover that this brushing is for his benefit!