By regularly grooming your puppy from day one will help with lots of things. Being groomed isn’t up there on your pup’s best thing to have done list but it’s like trips to the vets, it is a very important part of training and then needs to become a way of life. Your pup needs to get used to this process as soon as possible. There’s nothing worse than having knots pulled out of your head from the roots especially when your only a few weeks old.
Here we will help you train your pup into liking this grooming process and hopefully working with both yourselves and your pup it will become a nice pleasurable experience.
We can help advise you on the tools and equipment you will need to groom them and help you to carry out a health check. This will help you find things on your pup and on your older dogs. For example, flees, ticks, grass seeds even long nail, broken nail, scabs and sores as well as dead hair and knots or bad matting.
We suggest that this starts as soon as (8) weeks old by using a soft slicker brush.
Step 1
At this young age (8) weeks they will still be on 3 to 4 meals a day, this will help, pick one of their meals where they are calm but still hungry enough that they will be desperate for it. Prepare the food in their dish ready, pop it on the side where they can see it. By using an old car matt or old bit of rubber, pop it on the side up high like a draining board make sure they can see their dinner. Using a soft slicker brush holding your pup on the matt brush slowly and gently brush all over for roughly 5 seconds making sure your brush every part of the pup from top to toe. Once you completed this pop him down on the floor and give him his dinner. Do this every day for 1 week.
Step 2
In the second week, pick the same time to prepare their dinner again. Get your matt and grooming box at the ready, repeating the same as last week but this time now go over again. If they are standing still try to now brush down their face and around their mouth taking a little longer on this brushing the hair back, over their top of the head. Now using your moulting comb lightly groom though there top of their head fur and may be down their beard and under there chin. Again, making sure your brushing all over them from top to bum extend your time to 1 minute don’t push or rush this pop him down and give him his dinner and pack away when he seems to be fidgety. Do this again for 1 week.
Step 3
By repeating the steps 1 and 2 again always preparing their dinner get out your matt and grooming kit your pup by now will know what’s going to go on. Pop them on the matt. This week you should be doing the same as before, brushing first all overusing the soft slicker brush for about 1 minute or if you can groom them all over about 4 times this will help loosen up their curls. By now you may be able to hear when you come across a knot by just brushing but don’t forget to use your moulting comb as well.
This week we are going to introduce a leave in coat detangling spray. This will help your pup smell a bit fresher, condition their coat and help detangle their coat. You can spray this all over them avoid their eyes and ears aim mostly for their body, back, legs and maybe under their neck and belly.
Step 4
By week four, it is tempting to try to bath your little possibly smelly pup but DON’T. By doing this you will strip their coat of oils they need to help keep them warm and the oil can help keep them clean to, a few more weeks they can come to visit us for their first bath and groom in their first puppy package.
By now your repeating steps 1,2 and 3. This week we are going to start extending their grooming time to 5 mins and now we are looking in their ears, eyes, mouth and picking up their feet, looking under their paws and checking their nails.
JUST LOOK
Tell your pup that you are ‘just looking’. This will let them get used to the fact that you will be looking which will stand out as a normal routine for them.
Step 5
I believe that at this age now (13 weeks) your puppies’ brains are like sponges and by keeping to the routine and by repeating these steps every week by now they will now know what’s going on making their first trip to us go without any hiccups.
When they come for their first groom it should only take 1 hour to 1 and a half hours, this will be a very intense process, where they will have a bath be dried using different equipment, in a new environment, full of new smells, been groomed by new people, new faces and where they can meet new dogs. The only thing that they should already be used to, should be that they have been brushed and combed standing on a rubber matt where after, they will get a treat. Can you see why this is an important part of not just grooming, but part of their training and a way of life for their little minds. Its loads to take in.
Therefore, we suggest that we do little but often. Therefore, we ask to see them again in 4 weeks as this needs to be a routine and should be repeated the same as home grooming, at least for the first 12 to 18 months.
Comentários