Grooming Dogs will benefit from regular grooming at least once a week – it provides an opportunity for bonding as well as keeping the skin and coat in good condition.
Bathing: Russian Toy is bathed every 8 – 10 weeks.
Reasons for grooming – Remember ‘CHAIR’
Cleanliness – keeping your dog’s coat clean by removing dirt and dead hair helps encourage new hair growth, and reduces the amount of hair deposited on household furniture
Health – grooming helps to stimulate new coat growth, and prevents the formation of knots or matting which may lead to skin irritation
Appearance – most owners take a pride in their dogs looking smart, and regular grooming will certainly help your puppy to look its best
Inspection – regular grooming is also a great way to check for parasites, or any suspicious lumps and bumps
Relationship – grooming is part of dog’s socialisation activities. Regular grooming helps create a bond between you and your dog, and accustoms your dog to being handled.
Getting started
It is important to groom dog at a height which is comfortable for both you and your dog. For many dogs it may be advisable to groom them on a table. Remember: never leave dog unattended on the table for even a short moment.
Start the grooming experience at an early age as part of your puppy’s socialisation programme and routines. Keep the sessions short to start off with – just a couple of minutes, gradually increasing the time spent on the table. Always make the experience positive, rewarding with praise and suitable treats. Any struggling should be dealt with firmly but kindly, as dog may be frustrated, mischievous or even afraid.
Finish the grooming if dog shows signs of getting bored or tired, so that each session ends on a positive note.
| Knots (ear feathering)
A knot occurs where the coat is slightly tangled but it can be removed by careful brushing or combing out. Matts are formed when dead, loose hair becomes starts to clump and twist together. |
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Care of ears, nails and eyes
- Check dogs ears to see if they are clean. You can remove excess dirt from the inside of the ear flap with damp cotton wool. Never probe inside the ear as you may perforate the ear drum. Any odour is usually a sign there is something wrong and your puppy should be taken to a vet.
- If nails are excessively long remove the tip of the claw, taking care not to cut the quick or blood vessel.
- If needed clean the eyes with clean, damp cotton wool using a separate piece for each eye.
Teeth & Teething
Puppy’s teeth change to adult teeth around 4 – 6 mths, again some go through this stage without any problems, others will chew and mouth constantly and good hard chews will help with the teething (tripe stick, paddy wack, dental chews). You may notice your puppy start to get wet eyes around this time too, this is normal during the teething process and you should wipe the eye with damp cotton wool once a day to keep the eye’s. Once the adult teeth have come through you should clean them once or twice a week (there are lots of good products on the market including Gels which make the teeth cleaning process a lot easier) also use good hard chews to encourage healthy teeth and gums.
Brushing twice a week with a dog-safe toothpaste
External Parasites
A parasite is something that lives on another animal (the host) and gets its nourishment from the host. If left unchecked, the parasite causes disease or even death. The most common external parasites found on dogs are fleas and ticks.
Fleas are very small, brownish black, extremely agile creatures. Excessive scratching and self-biting can be symptoms of flea infestation. Even if no fleas are to be seen the presence of shiny black specks like coal dust (flea excreta) is a sure indication of the presence of fleas (dab the specks with a damp piece of cotton wool and if it goes pink it confirms the presence of fleas; these are the remains of a digested blood meal from the host)
Ticks are largish grey pea shaped parasites that can be 3 to 4mm in length. They attach themselves to other animals in order to have a blood meal. There is evidence that ticks are also a threat to human health as they can spread Lyme disease.