Grooming FAQ
Grooming is an extremely important, but much-misunderstood art and science. Your PCSA professional groomer would like you to understand more about this service that can improve your dog’s health, appearance and social acceptance. The following questions are the most frequently asked, and the answers should help clarify some of the more common misconceptions about grooming.
How frequently should I have my dog groomed?
How long will my dogs grooming take?
How old should my dog be before she has her first grooming appointment?
My dog doesn’t behave when I try to brush him. How do you get him to stand still?
My dog has a very strong odour. Bathing doesn't seem to help. Why?
Why does my dog shake his head after grooming?
How short can you clip my dogs nails?
Do all dogs need grooming?
All dogs need an occasional bath, but it is more important to keep your dog combed and brushed, especially if your dog has long hair. Matted hair can easily cause skin problems and unnecessary discomfort for your pet. If neglected for too long, it might eventually necessitate a lengthy grooming session, which could be uncomfortable for your pet and expensive for you. Regular brushing, on the other hand, improves your dog’s skin tone and circulation, and makes the coat healthier and more attractive.
How frequently should I have my dog groomed?
It depends on the breed of your dog, his lifestyle and on how you want him to look and smell. While it’s true that a clean animal is a healthier one, excessive bathing can dry out the skin and strip it of its natural oils. Generally speaking, short-coated dogs with no skin conditions can go eight to twelve weeks between baths unless they have gotten into something dirty or smelly. Longer-coated dogs should be groomed every six to eight weeks to ensure their hair doesn’t get matted and isn’t harbouring insects or hiding skin conditions. Also, depending on the coat of the dog, certain dogs should be groomed more often than others to maintain their appearance.
How long will my dogs grooming take?
Depending on your dogs individual needs, the grooming process can take anywhere from three hours to a full day. In order to keep all of the dogs happy and as least stressed as possible, our groomers do them in stages throughout the day. The dogs have a chance to roam around the grooming room and be outside in a private play yard weather permitting. For the solitary dog, there are spacious kennels to enjoy their privacy.
How old should my dog be before she has her first grooming appointment?
Even though a three-month-old puppy is not usually in need of grooming, you should take your pet to your groomer to get him or her used to full grooming gradually. This way, your pet will learn to accept grooming as an enjoyable experience.
My pet has tangled, matted hair and the more I bath him, the worse it gets. Why is this and what can we do about it?
Mats and tangles occur naturally, more so in some breeds with longer, finer hair. Regular (sometimes daily) brushing is required to prevent their build-up. Unfortunately, bathing without removing tangles first, results in a snowball effect whereby the tangles turn to mats and get increasingly larger and tighter over time. Sometimes we can “de-mat” your pet to save the coat, but often the mats are so established they have to be shaved or cut out. De-matting is uncomfortable for your pet and is inherently dangerous because the de-matting process requires the use of razor-sharp tools. To prevent this, we encourage you to bring you dog in for a “Bath and Tidy” in between grooming appointments.
My dog doesn’t behave when I try to brush him. How do you get him to stand still?
Most dogs tend to be on their best behaviour with groomers, especially when they sense the firm yet gentle touch that marks the experienced professional. It is rare for a groomer to encounter a dog with a drastic temperament problem. In these infrequent cases, the groomer might ask the owner to have his or her veterinarian administer a mild tranquilizer prior to grooming. This protects the pet from injuring himself and enables the groomer to complete the grooming safely. Many times, a dog that reacts badly to grooming at first will learn to accept and appreciate the process as the dog becomes more at ease with the groomer, and realizes how much better it feels after grooming. Younger animals learn to accept grooming faster and enjoy it more than a pet that is not groomed until an adult age or groomed infrequently.
I have my dog clipped every six months, but she doesn’t look as pretty as my neighbour's dog. Is that my groomer’s fault?
Your neighbour probably has regular six- to eight-week appointments with the groomer, and keeps the dog well brushed between appointments. This kind of regular attention enables the groomer to devote more time and effort to beautifying the dog, rather than to de-matting and trying to salvage a neglected coat.
My dog has a very strong odour. Bathing doesn't seem to help. Why?
It’s possible that your dog’s teeth, ears, or anal glands are responsible for the problem. Our groomer will be able to help you to determine the nature of the problem and refer you to your veterinarian, if necessary.
What are anal glands?
They are small sacs located on either side of the rectum. They sometimes need to be expressed or emptied. Some groomers accomplish this as a part of the grooming service. If this is the cause of your dog’s odour problem, bathing alone will not solve it. Your groomer will be happy to explain this procedure in more detail.
Why does my dog shake his head after grooming?
As part of the grooming process we clean the ears and pluck hair from the ear opening (unless the owner asks us not to do so) to allow air to flow more freely into the ear to keep it dry. After cleaning and removal of the ear hair, the dog sometimes has a tickling sensation and shaking his head is the dog’s way of responding to the tickle.
How short can you clip my dogs nails?
Every dog has a 'quick' in their nails. A quick is a nerve and blood vessel that starts at the base of the nail and can grow to be the entire length of the nail. Cutting the quick will cause bleeding, and depending on how far back you have clipped the quick, can cause pain too. In dogs with clear or pink nails, the quick is easier to identify. It is almost impossible to see in dogs with dark nails. A professional groomer that does this on a daily basis has more experience on where to cut. However, with even the most experienced groomer, there is an inherent risk that a quick may be cut causing the nail to bleed. Every dog is different and it is nothing to be angry or alarmed about, your dog will be perfectly fine. If a Groomer or a Vet quicks the nail more than likely it was only the tip and did not cause much pain at all.
Keeping your pets nails trimmed regularly will prevent the quick inside your pet’s nails from growing and will keep it comfortably short. If your pet's nails haven't been trimmed in a long time, the quick may have grown further down the nail, so getting them to the correct length without bleeding is much more difficult. Fortunately, the quick tends to recede as nails are kept shorter. But please keep in mind that this is not a fast process. If your pets nails have come to this point and you are making an effort to shorten both the quick and the nail, a routine tiny nail clip every 2 weeks or sooner will do the trick; you should start to see results in length within a couple months.