How to Clean and Groom Your Puppy or Dog?

It is very important to clean and groom your puppy or dog on a regular basis to keep them clean and sharp looking, and just nice to smell!

When bathing your puppy or dog, make it a fun experience for them each time, and the early your start doing it, the better. This is the time you can inspect your dog completely, so that you can notice any new cuts, scrapes, rashes, anything that you might not notice when just playing with your dog.

This is also the perfect time to inspect your puppy or dogs nails, check to see if they are too long, and need to be trimmed. Use cotton balls when cleaning the inside of the ears, never use cotton swabs, as you could damage their ears. Check inside of ears for any foul orders, a sure sign that you need a visit to your local vet. If your puppy or dog shakes his or her head a lot, and trys to scratch at it on a regular basis, your dog could have ear mites, or an infection.

If you do not wash, comb or brush your dog on a regular basis, they could end with with matts in their hair, and those are harder to get out. When matts get wet, they are harder to deal with, so you should try to get them out before the bath.

Fleas can be another big problem. Make sure you use good quality flea shampoo, and for serious problems, consult your vet at once. Your veterinarian or pet supply warehouse will also carry some more expensive solutions, that do work very well, that you can usually place on the dog once a month, to cure this problem.

In order to keep water out of your dogs ears while giving him or her a batch, you could put cotton balls just inside the ear canal, so that water does not get inside the ears, and cause a bacteria infection later.

After you get the bath ready for your puppy or dog, you do not want to get water in their eyes or ears, and you certainly do not want to put your dogs head underneath the water, unless you want your dog to panic and freak out, not a good idea at all.

Wet your puppy or dogs hair from the head down, and then apply a good quality shampoo, then lather the dog up, rinse and repeat. During the bath, it is good to talk to your dog, and tell them they are doing a good job, and they will relax more, when they hear the gentleness of your voice.

After you take your dog out of the bath, you do not want to just let him or her go outside, because they will go directly to some dirt, and roll in it, and all your work will be wasted. You should towel dry them as much as you can, and then let them air dry in a warm place, until they care completely dry, combing or brushing them until they are nice. If you do decide to use a blow dryer on your dog, make sure you set it on the lowest setting, so you don't hurt your dog.

If your dog gets so dirty, or has more matts than you know what to do with, it is best to go to a professional groomer, and let their experience work for you, and you might just learn a few tricks for next time, when you do do it yourself.