Archive for the ‘Dog Grooming’ Category
Spring is in the air and so is the under coat your dog is shedding. If you have a long-haired dog then you know this time year is when the heavy shedding season begins. One the ways we can reduce the amount of hair left behind is by using a deshedding tool.
Deshedding tools and dog brushes used daily during the shedding season will help remove the under coat, adding a deshedding dog shampoo into the equation will help even more. By using all of the deshedding tools available to dog owners, you can make this time of year a little more tolerable.
There are two types of non-powered dog nail clippers on the market today, the guillotine and scissor clippers. The most difficult to use for the novice dog owner is the guillotine type of dog nail clippers as they can be awkward to use and should your dog be a wiggler it is easy to cut into the quick.
The Scissor type of dog nail clippers is much simpler to use and some come with a safety guard to prevent you from cutting to short. If you are the dog owner, whose dog has white nails it is easy to see the pink area or quick but if your dog has black nails it is almost impossible to see the quick.
How often should you bathe your dog? For Hound dogs no more than twice a year and for most others about quarterly. There are dog shampoos and dog hair conditioners mild enough and are formulated to help sensitive skin that you can use more often but, still no more than every eight weeks.
The best solution for reducing dog odor are dog wipes and dry dog shampoo; perfect for those people that feel they cannot wait that long to give their dog a bath. Both of these dog grooming supplies have ingredients that will moisturize your dog’s coat and skin while relieving hot spots. Hot spots are those areas where your dog continually scratches without seemingly any relief.
Pet owners with longhaired dogs have tried for decades to stop shedding with little success. Then along came the FURminator deshedding dog brush and people ran to buy the grooming tool hoping against hope this would do the trick.
While this dog brush did help relieve some of the shedding problems, it did not stop. Dog owners of longhaired breeds can spend hours brushing their dogs only to find that the next day they still have a house full of hair. In fact, there is no one grooming tool that will stop shedding.
The technology of the FURminator does just that. It removes the dead hair of the undercoat without damaging the top coat. The dog brush alone will help reduce shedding, however, when you combine the dog brush with deshedding dog shampoo and conditioner you can severely reduce shedding.
Customer reviews of these grooming supplies have all said the same thing; they have stopped the shedding for up to eight weeks. Therefore, if you are looking to truly enjoy the companionship dog ownership can bring but cannot because of allergies or frustration; cleaning daily with this dog brush and deshedding tools will help.
For the some pet owners trimming their dog’s nails can be a scary thought and unpleasant for their dog if done incorrectly. Using a dog nail clipper on a dog that has had his/her nails trimmed below the quick is not something they are likely to forget which the issue in our case was.
We use to take our dog to groomer that took care of trimming her nails. Sometime along the way, they were clipped to short. Now even if we pull open the drawer her nail clippers are kept she up and gone. We decided to try a dog nail grinder instead but were a little concerned with the noise and feeling.
After reading several online reviews, we settled on the Oster dog nail trimmer. It took a few times using the trimmer for our dog to get use to the noise but since then she no longer runs when the time comes to trim her nails. The trimmer is gentle on her nails only removing the exactly the right amount.
Grooming a longhaired dog can be a lot of work; it seems no matter how mush hair you get out of your dog it never seems to end. However, make the switch to a dog rake and make your next dog grooming session stress-free. Below is a customer review of a great dog rake:
Well I have used this dog rake a few times now and I’m amazed each time I use it because it grabs SO MUCH hair! My German shepherd doesn’t mind it either, the dog rake is very gentle; the key is to NOT press down and scrape at their skin, just gently pull it along thru the hair and it does what it says it will… grabs the undercoat and holds it till you remove it from the rake. It does not tangle or snag the hair in the tines. it’s super-easy to comb with and remove hair from the dog rake. Definitely worth the money.
Hot spots on dogs can be very painful. Does your dog seem to have an area he/she licks or scratches excessively; these areas are hot spots on dogs. There are products available that can provide relief for your dog, below is a customer review on one such grooming supply:
This stuff works! And it smells good, too. (5 out of 5)
Our dog’s belly was bald because of his excessive licking to calm the itching caused by an allergy to the grass he loves to lie on. After just a few days of regular spraying with the Hot Spots for Dogs Itch Relief Spray, the hair started to grow again. I think he’s made the connection, because he doesn’t run away when he sees the bottle in my hand….just stands still so I can spray.
Dogs just like their human companions can develop allergies any time during their lives. Keep a watch full eye on any out of the ordinary behavior such as licking and scratching. These represent hot spots on dogs and will need to be treated.
Dog Food Supplements A Relief For Sensitive Skin
My 3-year border collie mix has very sensitive skin. I have taken her to the vet multiple times for treatment including antihistamines and steroid injections. I have tried other dog food supplements but she either did not like the taste or they did not work.
I started using the Furminator Dog food Supplement about 2 and a half months ago. I noticed a significant decrease in her scratching within 1 week. She he sheds about 50% less than she used to and her coat is very shiny.
The price for it on Remarkable Dogs is awesome. It is half the price of the same product in pet stores. My daughter is also giving the dog food supplement to her allergic pit bulls and they like the taste too.
For the do-it-yourself dog groomer one the more difficult tasks is blow drying your dog after a bath. Most home blow dryers just do not have the power to get the job. The customer review below on a dog hair dryer is one the best we have came across:
Could not have my dog without this dog dryer (5 out 5 Stars)
I love this dog dryer. I just bought a second dog hair dryer for my weekend house. I blow off my furry dog every other day and dry him with this after baths or rainy walks. He gets dusty after a few days, but this dog dryer ends that. This would be great for people who are allergic to dog dander. Just blow it away. I just wish my wife’s cats would keep still so I could blow off their loose furMy dog actually looks forward to me using this dog dryer on him. He runs to me when I turn it on.
I even use it to blow the dust out of the car seats. When my wife is away, I use it to dust the house! They sell the same dog dryer as a motorcycle dryer.
We have a Belgian Sheepdog who seems to be in a constant state of shedding. It goes with the territory with longhaired dogs along with daily brushing. There are several dog grooming supplies on the market to help reduce shedding and one the best we use is a FURminator tub bathing brush.
With this bathing brush combined with a deshedding dog shampoo, you can really remove quite a bit of loose hair. We do this about every ten weeks and in between there is little to no loose hair left around the house. Using the right dog grooming supplies will reduce loose dog hair and help you keep your house hair free longer.