Grooming your dog should be a good experience for you and your puppy and this article will help you to learn how to groom your puppy at home easily.
Taking care of a puppy can be a challenge for most dog owners and, if you’ve never had a dog before, then it is important for you to learn as much as you can. Grooming is one area of care that is important.
The importance of puppy grooming
Bringing home a cute little puppy may be one of the memorable moments of your life.
But the hardest thing is, taking proper care of it. If you’ve no previous experience of handling a dog, then it is going to be a challenging task for you.
However, it doesn’t mean that only the experienced persons have the exclusive rights to own a pet, if you know the technicalities and procedures of proper puppy grooming, you could also become an ideal pet parent and live a happy life with your canine.
Quite similar to human babies, small puppies are developing dogs that need careful care and attention.
If not looked after properly, a puppy could become unwell or suffer another health complaint.
Your cute and cuddly ball of fluff requires physical maintenance to look, feel and remain healthy.
Nurturing your puppy also makes the bonding between both of you even stronger.
Your puppy starts to recognize you and you become a special person in his life.
And this friendship will go on and on.
Regular grooming of your puppy enables you to identify early any health-related issue or abnormalities, so that you can take preventive steps at the right time before it becomes severe.
Keep your puppy as clean as you can
Your puppy will get dirty as he plays but he should live in a clean environment.
His dog bed should be comfortable and you should keep it clean with clean blankets and bedding.
Dog beds should be cleaned regularly and the area that your puppy lives in should also be kept clean and tidy.
If he has any accidents, and puppies do, then the mess should be cleaned up immediately to prevent any risk of disease or spreading around of the mess.
Make every effort to keep your dog’s surroundings clean, this will make life better for him and also for you.
There are plenty of dog specific cleaning products available to help you safely and easily keep things clean.
Prepare your puppy for grooming
Your puppy will probably not like bath time or brushing straightaway and may try to wriggle away or nip at the brush
This is perfectly normal and you just need to go slowly and gently and remember that he is a baby.
It is important to introduce him with the cleaning process early as puppies learn best aged between 7 to 16 weeks, but you should do this gradually and not too often.
Do keep in mind that you are not thrusting your pet in a bathing tub straight away.
Make him accustomed with the different cleaning process gradually and introduce him with clippers, combs, nail trimmers, brushes and other cleaning products slowly.
Patience is the key to success when it comes to grooming your dog.
Bathing your puppy
Your shouldn’t be trying to bath your puppy before he is at least ten weeks old and rea he should be older and had his vaccinations. Normally after 12 weeks
If you need to bath him before this time then we’d advise that you talk to your vet and ask for the best option to prevent your puppy from becoming unwell.
Should your puppy get really mucky then wiping him down with a damp cloth is the safest option when he is very young.
Don’t be tempted ot bath your dog too often. Some people say that you can bath him every week, but really this is not sensible, you will remove valuable oils from his coat and could irritate his skin and damage his coat.
Only ever use lukewarm water and a shampoo that is suitable for puppies or dogs. Wet the coat thoroughly and massage the shampoo into his coat, avoiding the face.
Handheld showers that you use in the bath are ideal.
Rinse him off and gently towel off the excess water. Don’t try to completely dry him as you will force water into his inner coat which serves to keep him warm and rarely gets dirty.
Let him dry as naturally as possible.
It is a good idea to try and pick a warm day for dog bathing as he can go out into the sunshine afterwards.
Don’t be surprised if your dog gets the ‘zoomies’ after he has been washed, it’s a common side effect, and most dogs will run around for a while afterwards.
Recommended puppy grooming
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Brushing your puppy
You should start brushing your puppy when he is young and maintain a regular routine, a normal hairbrush will do the job but a dog brush is better.
Most dog brushes are double sided with a soft brush on one side and a harder brush, used for removing dead hair, on the other.
Use the harder brush first to remove any debris and dead hair and then finish with the soft sided brush.
Your puppy’s nails
If you keep your puppy well exercised, and you should, then his nails will not need clipping very often, they will wear down naturally as he runs around.
Clipping a dog’s nails is within the ability of a dog owner but you will need proper clippers such as these that are on sale on Amazon.
You need to make sure that you only cut the dead nail ( just like your fingernails) and, if you are in any doubt then ask our vet to show you how.
Conclusion
It’s possible to groom your to puppy at home easily and with practice and a regular routine your dog will learn to enjoy his pampering sessions.
It is a great way to develop that bond with a dog and grooming should become an important part of your activities together.