We all know that dog grooming will make our pets look great, but there are many other benefits as well. Whether you do the grooming yourself or bring your pet to a professional groomer, the reasons why you need to groom your dog are numerous. Dog grooming can actually benefit you as well as your pet.
At-home grooming isn't as difficult as it seems, and you shouldn't be intimidated by it. With a bit of research and some advice from a professional groomer you'll be able to handle most of your dog's grooming needs at home. Brushing and bathing are pretty standard, but the grooming tools that you use will depend on your dog's individual needs.
For more advanced tasks like expressing your dog's anal glands and cutting his hair, you may want to hire a professional pet groomer. Grooming isn't just about your dog's aesthetic appearance. It's also about his health, and some of the grooming tasks that you don't want to perform are imperative for your pet's well-being. It's better to spend the money on a professional than to avoid them.
9 Reasons Why You Need to Groom Your Dog
1. Advice from PetMD
One of the most important reasons why you need to groom your dog is to get him used to it. If you don't start working with your puppy when he's young, or at least paying someone else to work with him, you'll have a much harder time grooming him when he really needs it. Every dog needs to be be groomed at some point. For example, you're going to have to trim our dog's nails eventually or they will cause him a lot of pain.
If your dog has never been exposed to the nail trimming procedure, he's probably not going to take it very well. You'll likely need an assistant to help restrain your pet, and this will cause a lot of stress and anxiety for both of you. If you work with him when he's a puppy, he'll quickly get used to regular grooming and will even grow to enjoy most of it, as explained in this article from PetMD.
- To do this you must begin training your dog to endure grooming while she is still a puppy. If you wait too long to begin the grooming sessions, your puppy may not be agreeable to it later on, especially when it comes to ear cleaning and nail clipping…
2. Your Dog Blog
This post on Your Dog explains a lot about grooming, and also gives some great reasons why you need to groom your dog. When you're grooming your dog his body has your undivided attention. You'll be brushing, combing and rubbing every inch of his body, which is the perfect time to notice any concerning areas or take not of important features.
If you groom your dog regularly, issues like rashes, dry skin or tumors will be easily noticed. You'll catch these problems quickly, making treatment faster and getting your dog back to tip-top health as soon as possible.
- Grooming is also the perfect opportunity for you to check your dog over to ensure he’s healthy. Giving him a once-over also enables you to check for any balls of matted fur between his paw pads, which can sometimes become hard with dirt and grease, causing discomfort…
3. Hyerluv.com
I actually stumbled across this website by accident. As I was doing research this week I clicked on it by accident. Little did I know that I would find an article full of reasons why you need to groom your dog.
Did you know that daily brushing is one of the best ways to keep your dog clean and healthy? You wouldn't think that brushing his fur would have anything to do with his health, but it does! This article explains the importance of regular brushing and gives many other grooming tips too.
- There are many direct health benefits of having your dog or cat groomed. Regular brushing of all pets, despite coat length or type, helps to keep the coat and skin healthy. Most dogs do not require frequent bathing (once a month or less!), but brushing in between bath times helps to keep them clean, removing dead hair, dirt and other debris from the coat…
4. Pet Palace explains the importance of dental care
Brushing your pet's teeth needs to be part of your regular grooming routine. It may take a while to get your dog used to having his teeth and gums cared for, but it will be well worth the effort. This blog post from Pet Palace Pet Boarding Resort discusses the importance of canine dental health and what can happen if you don't care for your dog's mouth.
- Brushing a pet’s teeth is another ritual to perform regularly. A pet’s dental health can have tremendous effects on its overall physical well-being. By keeping your animal’s teeth clean, you will also help keep the animal well between vet check-ups, and can also avoid expenses related to professional cleanings…
5. WebMD discusses proper ear care
When I discuss regular grooming, I'm not just talking about brushing and bathing. You need to understand the reasons why you need to groom your dog's entire body. That's why I said you may want to seek a professional's help with some tasks. You can't count out eyes, ears, teeth or any other part of your dog's body – proper grooming encompasses everything!
In this article on WebMD, Dr. Bernadine Cruz, DVM, talks about the reasons that you need to keep your pet's ears clean. She also discusses the proper way to do that. This article shares a lot of other professional tips from the veterinarian as well.
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Ears need routine checks, too. Once a week, “flip the ears, take a look, take a sniff,” Cruz says. “They should smell like absolutely nothing. If they're red or inflamed, if you see a lot of debris, or if they just smell like a pair of tennis shoes you should have thrown away about a week ago, you've got a problem.” To help prevent infections and other complications, try liquid ear cleaners designed for pets. Simply fill the ear canal with the cleaner, massage the base of the ear, let your pet shake out the liquid, and wipe away the excess…
6. What the eyes? Pet Place has us covered!
PetPlace.com claims to have over 10,000 vet approved articles on all things pet-related. Though I haven't actually counted the articles, they do offer resources on virtually any dog-related topic you can think of – including grooming.
Since we just discussed the importance of grooming your dog's ears, I thought we should also discuss eye care. You probably wondering just exactly how you can groom a dog's eyes, so let me explain. You're not actually going to groom his eyeballs, but you will protect them by grooming the area around his eyes. Don't worry, this article will explain everything.
- Keeping your dog's face free of long hair that can irritate the eyes will make him feel more comfortable and prevent eye problems. Many dogs, such as the shih tzu, Lhasa apso and poodle, have long hair that hangs in the eyes causing irritation and damage to the cornea…Some dogs have a problem with drainage from the eyes. This problem may have many causes. Check with your veterinarian to help rule out any medical conditions that can be solved….
7. Emotional Benefits
There are many reasons why you need to groom your dog, and they aren't all about the physical benefits. This blog post from Hounds Lounge explains that grooming can also have positive emotional benefits for your pet.
- When you regularly groom your dog, he learns that letting you handle his body does not result in pain. Many dogs don’t particularly enjoy having their feet handled, but through regular grooming, your dog can grow accustomed to this. When you’re grooming your dog, always go slowly, be gentle and only do what your dog is comfortable with. His trust in you will develop over time, but only if you don’t try to force him into being groomed when he isn’t comfortable…
8. What happens if you don't groom
We've established that grooming your dog is a necessity, but what happens if you don't keep up with your dog's grooming needs? Not only will it affect your dog's health negatively, but it can also be very painful for him if you don't take care of his skin, coat, and nails.
Just take a look at the experience of this poodle who's been abandoned with extremely matted hair that cut the blood circulation in his two legs, which had to be amputated later on.
You'll quickly realize the reasons why you need to groom your dog.
- Crust in the corner of your dog’s eyes causes sores, which can lead to your pet’s discomfort. These sores can only be seen after removing the thick crust upon grooming or washing…
9. How often should you be grooming your dog?
The final article that I'd like to share with you all this week is a blog post from Yappy. It explains how often you should groom your dog, which is going to depend on your dog's breed, coat type, coat length, and any skin conditions he may have. We know the reasons why you need to groom your dog, and now you'll understand how often it needs to be done.
- If you decide you just want to get a bath done, just make sure to do it no more than once a month anything more than that and you’ll start stripping the natural oils from its skin. Why is this bad you ask? No oils on the skin causes dry skin, dry skin causes itching, and itching can cause hot spots which are painful and irritating to pets.
