Grooming Your Dog at Home Without Hurting the Coat

Grooming at home saves money and is genuinely good for the dog, provided it is the right grooming. A surprising amount of the damage that turns up at clinics comes from owners doing more than necessary rather than less, and essentially all of it is done with the best of intentions.

Bathing: less often than you think

Most dogs need a bath every four to eight weeks, and many need less. Skin produces oils that protect the barrier and keep the coat waterproof, and every bath strips them.

Over-bathing is a common cause of the dry, flaking, itchy skin that then gets treated as an allergy.

• Use a dog shampoo. Human shampoo is the wrong pH and dries the skin.
• Rinse far longer than feels necessary. Residue is a frequent cause of irritation, and it hides in armpits, groin and behind the ears.
• Dry properly, especially thick or double coats. Damp fur against skin invites bacterial and yeast infection.
• Brush before bathing, never after only. Water tightens existing mats into something that has to be cut out.

Bathe more often only on veterinary instruction, for example with a medicated shampoo for a skin condition.

Brushing, by coat type

• Short, smooth coats: weekly with a rubber curry or bristle brush. Removes loose hair and spreads oils.
• Double coats: two or three times weekly, more when shedding heavily. An undercoat rake reaches the dead undercoat that a surface brush leaves behind.
• Long coats: daily, or they mat. A slicker brush plus a comb to check you actually got to the skin.
• Curly and woolly coats: daily, and these usually need professional clipping every few weeks regardless.

Brush to the skin, not over the top. Running a brush across the surface leaves a smooth-looking coat with mats forming underneath, which is how owners are surprised by a matted dog that was being brushed regularly.

Mats

Mats pull constantly at the skin, which is painful, and they trap moisture and parasites underneath. Tight mats against the skin cause sores that are not visible until the mat is removed.

Never cut a mat out with scissors. Skin lifts into the mat and it is extremely easy to cut through it; this is one of the most common home grooming injuries vets repair. Work small mats out with fingers and a comb from the outer edge inward, or have a groomer clip them out with clippers.

Shaving, and when not to

Double-coated breeds should generally not be shaved. The coat insulates against heat as well as cold, and shaving it removes protection from sun and biting insects. It can also grow back patchy or with a changed texture.

Trimming, thinning and thorough de-shedding are the alternatives. Shaving is appropriate for severe matting, for medical reasons, or for single-coated breeds where it is normal, and it is worth asking a vet or an experienced groomer before doing it to any dog for comfort reasons.

Nails

Trim when they click on hard floors or touch the ground while standing. Overgrown nails change how a dog stands and, over time, cause joint pain.

Cut small amounts frequently rather than a lot occasionally. Avoid the quick, the pink area visible in pale nails; in dark nails, take thin slices and stop when you see a pale circle appear in the cut face.

If you cut the quick, it bleeds a lot and stings. Apply pressure with a clean cloth, use styptic powder if you have it, and stop for the day. A dog that associates nail trimming with pain becomes a dog nobody can trim.

Ears

Check weekly. Clean only when needed, using a proper ear cleaner, and never push cotton buds into the canal. Dogs with drop ears, and those that swim, need checking more often.

Redness, a smell, dark discharge, head shaking or scratching means an infection rather than dirt, and cleaning it yourself will not fix it and may drive material deeper.

Teeth

Brushing with a dog toothpaste is the single most effective thing you can do at home and the most neglected. Human toothpaste contains fluoride and sometimes xylitol, both unsafe swallowed. Start slowly, a few seconds at a time, and build up.

When to use a professional

For heavy matting, breeds needing regular clipping, dogs who will not tolerate handling, and anal glands, which are best left to someone trained rather than expressed at home.

Our free home grooming schedule is printable and sets out what to do weekly, monthly and seasonally by coat type.

Grooming problems reach a vet late because they start as something owners feel they should be able to manage themselves. A mat becomes a sore, a scratched ear becomes an infection, a nicked quick becomes a dog that will not be handled, and each of those is a consultation that could have been avoided or caught early.

Consultations and treatment are covered on Skeepy Pet HMO plans at any vet clinic in Nigeria, and grooming itself is included on the plans that carry it, so the line between what you do at home and what is better done properly stops being decided by cost.