Puppy Grooming

We suggest bathing your puppy on a monthly basis.

Grooming is an excellent and enjoyable way tohelp establish the bond between you and your pet. Grooming is not only about hygiene and appearance but gives you the opportunity to check for fleas, ticks, skin irritations and lumps. This also helps to make your vet visits more enjoyable because they are familiar with being handled at home.

Daily grooming routines

We highly recommend for everyone to set up a daily grooming routine.

This routine can be the basis for:

  1. Coat Brushing
  2. Nail Clipping
  3. Teeth Brushing
  4. Checking For Grass Seeds
  5. Checking for Parasites eg Ticks/ Fleas etc
  6. Checking for Lumps

Phase 1 – calm time

Find a time each day to sit with your pet when they are lying calmly. Reward them ( treat/pat etc) only when they are lying quietly ( ie we are teaching them to be calm). Repeat at the same time each day over the next month.

Phase 2 – gentle handling

Once your pet has learned this routine introduce some gentle but minimal , reward based handling. eg:

  • Paws
  • Mouth/Teeth
  • Ears
  • Tail
  • Tummy
  • Armpits

Start slowly, reward instantly and build the handling up over over several weeks. If they start resisting or pulling away this is a signal that we have pushed it too far. Time to stop, and start again more gently tomorrow.

This handling then becomes the basis for all our grooming and checking procedures.

Grooming notes

We suggest bathing your puppy on a monthly basis, using a shampoo formulated specifically for dogs because their skin is a different PH to human skin. (Natural Shampoo)

Puppies and Kittens especially should be dried thoroughly after a bath to prevent them from getting too cold.

Long haired breeds will require regular brushing and combing to prevent their coat from becoming too knotty.

Most dogs enjoy being brushed, but if you have difficulty at home there are professional dog groomers available.

Puppies with droopy ears are more prone to ear infections so these breeds may need to have their ears checked more regularly.

Nails

Nails need to be trimmed regularly, only clip the tip of each nail, stopping before the quick where the blood vessels are. We will be happy to demonstrate how to do this, as it can sometimes be difficult to judge where to clip, particularly if your puppy has dark nails. Walking your dog on hard surfaces regularly may help keep the nails short.