This is Dolce. His companion? Gabanna, naturally.

Every once in awhile, our groomers get a request for something unusual. This little Yorkie gets a Mohawk trim. We add a little styling gel to keep the magic in place.

Brush me!

photo courtesy of brief gasp@flickr.com

Brushing your dog: Yawn! I know, who cares? It’s the same as flossing. You know you should do it regularly, but like most people, you never do it enough. Your dentist thumbtacks posters from the American Dental Association in his office showing grotesque images of the teeth and gums of poor souls who did not floss regularly. You think, “Hmm. Maybe I should floss more often,” but do you? Well, do you?

If I say failing to brush your dog regularly can lead to mats in the fur; or skin lesions, rashes and pustules under dirty and tangled fur, would it make a difference? If I told you how miserable it is for your dog to have his fur de-matted or detangled, would you brush your dog more often?

Scare tactics rarely work, unless they are extreme and immediate. Let’s face it. Your dog will not be in clear and present danger because of a lack of brushing. Instead, let’s look at the benefits. It’s a fairly short, but important list.

Aside from avoiding matted and tangled fur–a major benefit–regular brushing also:

• Causes your dog’s coat to shine for two reasons. 1) Brushing removes the dust and dirt that dulls your dog’s coat. 2) Brushing stimulates the oil glands in your dog’s skin. The oil coats the fur and gives it a shine.
• Removes loose hair from your dog’s coat before it can decorate your floors, furniture and clothing.
• Clarifies your role as a leader in your dog’s life. A lot of behaviorists mention this, but it rarely gets tied into the simple act of brushing. When you lay a gentle hand on your dog, the act of handling clarifies who is in charge at the moment. In nature, dominant dogs touch and maneuver less dominant dogs. When you brush your dog, you are calmly asserting yourself as the dog’s leader. What is even better is the contact you make is predictable and routine. If your dog resists the act of brushing, two points are true. 1) You are not the accepted leader in this case; 2) You are not brushing him/her often enough to make the act predictable and routine, because dogs thrive on predictability and routine.
• Brushing your dog at home gets him/her used to idea of grooming. This makes a trip to the grooming shop less of an ordeal for the dog.
• The simple act of brushing a dog reveals lumps, bumps, sores, and other curiosities on the dog’s skin. I know this is dabbling in scare tactics, but the fact remains, the groomers at our shop have turned up a few ugly surprises on dogs during the brushing phase of grooming. Usually, the discoveries we make are benign. Even so, early detection of skin problems makes examination and treatment by a veterinarian much more effective.

In a future article, I’ll have some pointers on how to brush your dog gently and effectively. I also plan to do a short video on the subject.

Before I close, I want to take just a few sentences to explain why this article is not about intentionally crossbred dogs, as I had promised in the article preceding this one. I did the background research, as always, on the subject of intentionally crossbred dogs and found two themes to the work. The material I found was either biased in the extreme to match the agenda of the author, or the material was a mash-up of contradictory statements. In either case, I did not feel good about writing anything you could rely upon, given the sketchy background data. I may get back to this subject after I have taken more time to filter through the garbage to find something meaningful and trustworthy.

Lead Groomer Lisa and Boss Bailey after grooming. (Boss is not the dog referred to in this article.)

I was working the front desk at Kelsey’s Dog House a while back when a customer came in to pick up her dog after the dog had been groomed. She was on her cell phone with a friend and said into the phone, “I’m here at my dog’s grooming salon to pick him up. I’ve got to pay for him. Can I call you back in a few minutes?” There was a pause as she listened to the reply. Then she said, “Yeah, his haircut costs more than mine.” I glanced at the customer register and saw that I was about to ask her to pay $52.00 for the work we had done on her dog. As I waited for her to finish her phone call, I thought about my own haircut and what it cost: $18.00. It became apparent her phone call was not ending anytime soon, so I had some time to reminisce about my last visit to the barber. I thought about everything that happened and didn’t happen.

In the 15 minutes it took to get my hair trimmed, here are all the things that did not happen:

I did not come in with my hair tangled, matted and dirty. I had washed and brushed my hair only a few hours earlier, as I do every day.

While my barber worked, I did not attempt to bite him; claw him; wriggle out of reach; or duck my head each time he tried to approach. I did not try to jump out of the chair at every opportunity.

My barber did not trim the hair on my arms, legs, hands, feet, torso or nether regions.

He also did not have to trim and file my nails.

He did not have to pluck hair out of my ear, nor did he have to clean the wax from my ear canals.

My barber did not have to express my . . . I won’t go there.

While getting a rinse at the sink, I did not attempt to flee the area, nor did I shake the water out of my hair so it soaked the barber. He did not have to work with medicated shampoos, whiteners, or flea dip. He also did not have to scrub residue and stains on my face.

He did not have to blow-dry my hair using two different types of dryers. Nor did he have to use a de-tangling spray, de-matting rakes, or hair straightening techniques as he dried my hair. In fact, I left his shop with my hair still wet.

He did not have to carry me from work station to work station. I walked willingly from place to place.

It can take anywhere from 1 hour to more than 3 hours to turn your dog into a well-groomed masterpiece. Many dogs cooperate nicely with their groomer, but some do not. A well-executed, thoughtful dog grooming covers every external inch of your dog’s body and some internal parts as well. That is why a dog grooming may cost more than an average haircut. Come to think of it, what does your hair stylist charge for a style cut, or highlighting, or a perm; and, did you try to bite your stylist at your last appointment?

“Whoo-wee, that dog stinks!” –Owner of a stinky dog, circa 2005

This usually prompts the question, “How often can I wash my dog?” Followed by the comment, “He gets really smelly after a week.” The answer is the same one I have for most questions about dog care: It depends. It depends on the dog’s skin and it depends on the shampoo you use.

If your dog’s skin is normally pretty oily, he or she can probably stand more frequent baths than a dog with naturally dry skin. Many shampoos tend to purge the skin of oil, leaving it dry and susceptible to flaking, itching and cracking. Dogs with naturally oily skin, such as water retrievers—Labrador Retrievers, Chesapeake Retrievers, etc.—will quickly replace skin oil lost to bathing. Dogs with naturally dry skin are more susceptible to problems from bathing too often.

The weather can also work against frequent baths. If you live in a place where it gets cold in the winter, you probably use a heating system in your house. A heating system robs the humidity from your home. Low humidity usually leads to dry skin. The same problem applies to desert environments. Dogs that live in a desert area tend towards drier skin and have less tolerance for frequent baths.

Dawn bathes a small dog at Kelsey's Dog House.

Regardless of your dog’s natural skin condition, if you plan to bathe your dog more often than once every 2 weeks, then you should use a product that replaces the moisture in your dog’s skin. These products include moisturizing shampoos, moisturizing rinses, or skin conditioners/lotions that dry on the dog. In all cases, if you bathe your dog more often than once every 2 weeks, monitor your dog to make sure he/she is not scratching more than usual. If your dog does show signs of itching, stretch the time between baths. If that does not help, the bath products you are using may be irritating your dog’s skin; or your dog may have a skin problem or allergy unrelated to bathing. Try a different bath product. If that does not help, take your dog to a veterinarian for an evaluation.

There are a couple of alternatives to frequent bathing. We use both alternatives on one of our dogs, Royce the Min Pin. He sprays his front leg when he urinates. The problem seems to be related to his physical proportions and his strange posture when he pees. Royce begins to smell of stale urine after only a day or two since his last bath. Our solution is two-fold. First, we use baby wipes to clean the pee from his leg after each occurrence. We sometimes use a damp washcloth to wipe him down. We also bathe Royce once a week using an oatmeal-based shampoo with moisturizers built in. Royce has never had a problem with itching or flaking skin, even though his coat is not naturally oily.

How often to bath your small dog? No more often than every two weeks unless you take special measures to make sure you are not drying out your dog’s skin. If you take your dog to a groomer for frequent baths, he/she will know how to prevent dry skin. At Kelsey’s Dog House, we have many dogs that get bathed once a week and a couple that get bathed twice a week. We use high quality shampoos with moisturizers and have had good success keeping our dogs clean and healthy.

Lift up your dog’s ear flap and look inside. There’s a hairy sight, literally. Your dog’s ear canal is bristling with hair. On some dogs, it seems as though there is more hair growing inside the ear than on the outside. Poodles, for example, grow hair very rapidly inside their ear canals. When the groomer pulls this hair free from the ear, some of the strands are so long, you would swear they originate on the surface of the brain. Brain hair.

Of course this is not really the case. Ear hair grows from follicles on the lining of a dog’s outer ear canal. These follicles are nearly identical to the ones on the rest of the dog’s body. In general, dogs with rapid hair growth on their coat—Poodles, Bichon Frise, Shih Tzu’s, Maltese, Cocker Spaniels, etc.–tend to also grow ear hair rapidly. Dogs with relatively short bristly hair tend to grow little hair in the ear canal. For these dogs, ear hair tends to be very fine and inconsequential, which is rather odd when you think about it. (Like everyone else, I lay awake at night thinking about ear hair.)

In theory, ear hair exists to filter fine air particles before they can settle in the ear. This mechanism is a mixed blessing. While ear hair does trap crud, it does not let go of it. That means all that unclean hair becomes a breeding ground for nasty bugs, especially when you add . . . skip down to the red # sign if you are squeamish . . .especially if you add sebaceous gland oil, moisture, skin flakes, dirt, bacteria, naturally occurring yeast, and ear mites to the space underneath the hair mass in the canal. If all that were not bad enough, dogs with floppy ears, such as Cocker Spaniels, essentially have a thermally insulating, air-flow barrier in their ear canal. The term that comes to mind is “incubator.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could probably not create a more generous environment for disease than your dog’s moist, oily, hair clogged ear.

# As in all health-related issues, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Removing ear hair as it builds will prevent all of the problems associated with hair in the ear canal. The other good news is the process of hair removal is pain free for your dog, if it is done correctly. While your dog’s ear drum and the ear flap are loaded with pain receptors, the canal has almost no pain receptors. As long as you avoid pulling hair on the ear flap, you can pluck ear hair to your hearts content and your dog will not feel any pain. That does not mean he will enjoy the process: “Hey Ma, there is a good game going on through the living room window. The squirrels are playing the rabbits. Why don’t you come over here and pluck my ear hair while I watch the show? It’ll be fun.”

If sticking your fingers into your dog’s waxy ear as he squirms is not your idea of a good time, you dog’s groomer can do the job safely and thoroughly. In addition to plucking hair from each ear, your groomer will clean your dog’s ears using a special solution. Ear cleaning is another topic. I’ll let your stomach settle a bit after this discussion before we get into the special joys of cleaning ear wax. Till then . . .

“Here is your dog, Mrs. Jones. And here is a plastic drop cloth to place under him for the ride home. Don’t worry, he should drip dry in about a day and a half.

Let’s follow Sasquatch (not his real name because he does not exist,) a full-coated Shih Tzu, from the time he leaves the bath tub at Kelsey’s Dog House to the point at which he is ready to have his coat trimmed. Cue the background music they use in those industrial films showing how steel is made.

Step 1. After his bath, Sasquatch is all wet, so to speak. What is the first thing that happens after the last suds are rinsed off? Sasquatch returns the favor by giving his groomer a bath. This is actually a good thing. We want the little Shih Tzu to shake off excess water because it reduces drying time. (Some groomers believe you can make a dog shake off water by blowing on his nose. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, and it always looks silly.)

Step 2. Sasquatch goes under the towel. Actually three or more towels, usually. This step is self-explanatory.

Step 3. The groomer uses something called a force dryer on Sasquatch. The force dryer is an ominous sounding device: Dry, little dog, dry, or I shall bring the might of the force dryer to bear upon you! A force dryer is actually a vacuum cleaner that works in reverse. It does not suck, it blows. Let me say that again, because I enjoy saying it does not suck, it blows. The groomer holds a tapered nozzle at the end of a vacuum hose and directs a warm jet of air onto Sasquatch’s coat. It is not the heat that dries the dog. The force of the air stream pushes the water off his coat. The force dryer probably feels good to Sasquatch because the swirling movement the groomer makes with the nozzle creates a massaging wave of air on the dog’s muscles. Shiatsu for the Shih Tzu. (Sorry.)

Step 4. Sasquatch is moved to the drying table with a fluff dryer standing nearby. The fluff dryer looks like the hair blower you use at home on your own noggin’ except it is about ten times larger, (the fluff dryer, not your head,) and it is mounted on a rolling stand, (the fluff dryer, not your head.) While your hair blower gets hot enough to scald your scalp, our fluff dryer blows gently warmed air that feels good. Unlike being under a heated cage dryer, in which the dog is unmonitored, the groomer is right there, working on the dog as it dries. As Sasquatch stands perfectly still on the drying table, proud and statuesque, (yeah, right,) the groomer brushes his coat under the warm air flow. True to its name, the fluff dryer produces a fluffy loft in Sasquatch’s coat.

Step 5. There is no step 5. We are done. Sasquatch’s fur, dry and fluffy, is ready to be trimmed.

This process varies only slightly for some dogs. If a dog’s coat is short or coarse, the dog will usually not see the fluff dryer. After force drying, a dog might spend a little time in a kennel crate with some box fans blowing on his coat. Our kennel drying process has nothing to do with the heated cage drying process. In our situation the kennel is in a room with an ambient temperature in the mid-seventies. The fans are exactly the same as those you use at home. In fact, we buy the fans from the home goods section of a department store. For small dogs, we situate the fan so it blows from the rear of the kennel, allowing the dog to face away from the air flow. For larger dogs, who generally take longer to dry, we situate up to four fans around the dog but still leave one side open, so the dog can face away from the airflow. As the dog spends time in the kennel, we cycle in and out of the room every few minutes to check on the dog’s progress. As soon as the dog is dry, out he comes. If a particular dog objects to the kennel, we go back to the drying process described for Sasquatch.

I fly for a company that has used the motto, “Safe, clean, and on time.” I suppose when talking about drying dogs, we at Kelsey’s Dog House could modify that slightly for our purposes. “Safe, clean, and fluffy.”

Mats are the bane of a dog groomer’s existence, and they are not a very good deal for your dog either. In order to detangle a mat on your dog’s coat, a groomer usually has to resort to brute force. The groomer can use a de-matting tool that looks like a comb, but has very long, teeth with razor edges. She uses this tool to slice through the entangled fur, cutting apart individual strands of hair. She may also use a slicker brush and detangling spray. The spray is nothing more than a specialized soap that lubricates the problem area so the tines of the slicker brush have an easier time raking through the tangles. As a last resort, the groomer can use one blade of her scissors to slice through clumps of the mat. In all cases, the de-matting action tugs and pulls on your dog’s coat. It is not painful, but it is annoying. Imagine how you would feel if someone grabbed tufts of your hair and yanked. If your dog is very matted, the process of tugging and slicing may take an hour.

Matted fur can also create a health risk for your dog. We saw an example of this risk yesterday at Kelsey’s Dog House. We groomed a Soft-coated Wheaton Terrier whose fur was extremely matted. After the dog’s bath, while it was still wet, we could see his skin underneath the fur. The inside of his hind legs were spotted with angry red rashes. All of these rashes were underneath matted fur. Severe mats, being nearly solid masses of dirty fur, prevent the underlying skin from breathing. Bacteria can grow underneath these stagnant patches and cause anything from minor skin irritations like we saw yesterday, to abscesses in the skin.

The Wheaton’s fur was so matted that all our groomer could do was shave the coat. It was a shame too, because it was apparent that with regular brushing to avoid mats, the dog would have had a beautiful coat. The good news is, by removing the mats with a complete shave, the rashes on the dog’s skin would heal quickly. In a few weeks, the Wheaton’s coat would grow back in.

Let’s face it. No one enjoys brushing a dog. It is just another chore among the many chores on our list. It seems of minor importance; and, if a dog resists brushing, that task usually drops off our list. For some dogs, infrequent brushing can lead to matted fur. Matted fur equals an unpleasant experience at the grooming shop. Matted fur can also equal ugly skin problems. From my perspective, if you own a dog with fur that is prone to matting, then frequent brushing is a top-of-the-list item, along with feeding and walking your dog.

“I don’t like the ‘Poodle style.’ Could you groom her so she looks like a Bichon Frise?”

The groomer looked at the Poodle and saw it had a very full coat that would be easy to sculpt into just about any shape. She probably could have made that Poodle look like a Boxer, with a little effort.

“I believe I can do that,” she said.

“Then please do it,” the customer said.

And she did. This groomer happened to be very talented. Not only did she have a steady hand, she also could visualize the finished dog underneath a shaggy coat. Her philosophy was the same as a certain sculptor who said the key to sculpting a horse from a block of marble is to remove everything that is not a horse.

Two hours later, the customer returned to pick up the Poodle. The Poodle’s coat was transformed into that of a Bichon Frise, with a full and curved neck flowing into a gorgeous bell-shaped head. The legs were perfect columns of white fur. The chest, full and billowy tapered to a narrow waist. The only indicator that this was a Poodle and not a beautifully crafted Bichon Frise was the tail. Instead of the long flowing tail hair of a Bichon that arches over the rump and back, the Poodle’s tail remained a Poodle’s tail—short and clipped into round Popsicle shape, because the Poodle came in with short, stiff and curly Poodle hair on its tail.

“Hmm,” said the customer. “I don’t know.”

“Is it too short?” asked the groomer.

“No . . . It’s just . . . I don’t know.”

The next time the customer came in with his Poodle, he asked the groomer to trim the dog so it looked like a Bedlington Terrier. And she did, giving it that classic lamb’s head and closely trimmed tail. Only the ears were the give-away. The Poodle, having Poodle ears, did not have the classic long and tapered ears of a Bedlington Terrier.

“Hmm,” said the customer. “I don’t know.”

“Is it too long?” asked the groomer.

“No . . . It’s just . . . I don’t know.”

A month later the phone rang and it was the Poodle’s owner.

“Oh, I must have dialed you by accident. I was trying to reach another grooming shop.”

“Well, as long as you reached us, would you like to set up an appointment for your Poodle?”

“No. I don’t like that groomer there. My dog never looks quite the way I want her to look. Sorry.” Click.

Suddenly, Roofi transformed into a hellhound. He thrashed and gyrated to a devilish rhythm we could not hear. He snapped at the nail clippers. He growled and shook as though he were in the opening stages of a seizure. Ultimately, it took three people to trim Roofi’s nails. One to hold Roofi’s body, one to hold Roofi’s legs, and one to do the clipping. In hindsight, it would have been better for Roofi and for our team if a veterinarian had clipped his nails with the dog under anesthesia.

Believe it our not, this scene happens quite often at grooming shops. While most dogs resist nailing trimming to some degree, there are some who would rather fight to the death than submit to a nail trimming. We have found that a power nail grinder creates much less anxiety for a dog than the dreaded nail clipper. Though the grinder makes a lot of noise and vibration, dog’s seem to prefer the constant and predictable noise to the sudden snap of a nail clipper. There is a reason for this.

If your dog has previously had his nails cut carelessly, he may have learned to fear the sight and sound of nail clippers. When I say carelessly, I mean the person who used nail clippers may have cut into the quick of your dog’s nails. The quick is the living core inside of your dog’s nails. It is fed by blood capillaries and is netted with nerve endings. If a nail clipper accidentally cuts into the quick, it hurts. The pain comes immediately after the loud snap the clipper makes when it cuts. Instantly, the dog associates pain with that snapping noise. I know this to be true, because I have had the good fortune of performing the first grooming on puppies that have never been injured by a clipper and therefore have nothing to fear. Of course, I am very careful when clipping, so the problem will not begin with me.

Some dogs, though never injured by clippers, seem to be sensitive to having their paws touched, particularly the front paws. I believe this is because the front paws are more likely to be stepped on by people. If you have ever stepped on your own dog’s front paw, you were probably alerted by a blood-curdling scream, well out of proportion to the pain caused by your misstep. In fact, some dogs are so sensitive to paw contact, they will scream if you even nudge one of their paws with your foot.

Some dog groomers will tell you can help the situation by manipulating your dogs paws at home. This answer is partly correct. If you suddenly grab your dog’s paw under any circumstances, your dog is going to pull away and that will be the end of the experiment. Here is the better solution for dogs that are highly sensitive to having their paws touched. When your dog is lying next to you, while you are watching T.V. together, for example, quietly and gently massage one of her shoulders. Gradually move your massaging hand down to her upper leg and continue the massage. Then stop. The following day, repeat this procedure, but work your way down the leg until your are massaging or stroking your dog at the elbow. You are working on a de-sensitization project, and like any such program, you have to work slowly toward the most sensitive area. If your dog tolerates this well, at the next session, work your massaging or stroking hand down to your dog’s forearm. At the next session, try to work your way down to the paw. When you finally do make contact with the paw, use light and gentle strokes. Certainly do not grab or massage the paws immediately. Build up the degree of contact over time. If at any time, your dog resists your touch, reverse course up to the point where your dog is relaxed and not resistant. Eventually, your should be able to work your way down the paw; and handle your dog’s paws without any resistance. This de-sensitization project should continue every day at first, and then occasionally for the rest of your dog’s life to keep your dog de-sensitized. This exercise is not just for the benefit of your groomer. It will make your dog’s visit to the groomer much less stressful.

It also helps if the groomer is forewarned about your dog’s sensitivities. The groomer will begin the nail trim by trying to relax the dog first. He or she will also try to distract your dog during the nail trim using a team approach. The groomer will do the trimming as quickly as possible while an assistant distracts your dog with a combination of gentle talk, petting, and visual distractions.

The alternative to these methods is an expensive procedure involving anesthesia at the veterinarian’s office every time your dog’s nails need a trim.

Afterword: We have had dog owners give their fearful dogs mild tranquilizers before their appointment. I have not seen a case where the tranquilizers made any difference at all. The best approach is to de-sensitize your dog to paw handling; and, inform your groomer of the problem so he or she can adjust her approach to nail clipping.

“Dog’s nails or claws are meant to be long. In wild canids they are used as tools for digging, ripping, gripping and fighting. In the domesticated dog these functions are no longer useful and long nails lead to problems such as damaging the home environment, causing injury to people, broken nails resulting in bleeding and trouble walking on hard surfaces.

“When a dog’s nails become too long they interfere with the dog’s gait and as the nails continue to grow, walking will become awkward and painful. In severe cases a dog’s nails can curl under and grow into the pad of the dog’s paw causing a very serious and painful infection. These types of ingrown nail problems are most common on the dewclaws. Nail trimming needs to be done frequently and on a regular basis both to keep the nails short and to maintain the dog’s training concerning nail trimming. Cutting longer nails is more uncomfortable to the dog and it is much easier to “quick” a dog or cut into the tender section of the nail when the nails are long. I recommend trimming the nails every 2-4 weeks for most dogs. If you let your dog’s nails grow too long then it could take some time to get them back to a healthy length again.

“What is the “quick”? The quick is the living part of a dog’s nail and has blood vessels and nerves running throughout. Cutting into the quick during dog nail trimming is painful for your dog and will result in bleeding. . . It is also important to note is that the quick grows with the nail. As a dog’s nails grow longer the quick will also lengthen. So if your dog’s nails are over grown you will not be able to clip the nails to the desired length without cutting into the quick. (Ed.: boldface added.) You will need to trim the tips of your dog’s nails often and over time the quick will recede. To avoid cutting into the quick you’ll want to start by trimming small pieces of the nail until you get the hang of it.”

At Kelsey’s Dog House the second most common problem we see, after matted fur, is overgrown nails. Unfortunately, once a dog’s nails are overgrown, all we can do is trim or file the nails to within 2 millimeters of the quick. Trimming any closer than this runs the risk of cutting into the quick. Once this trimming is complete, the quick will begin to recede. As the quick recedes, we have an opportunity to cut the nail back a few more millimeters about 2-3 weeks after the original trim. This will force the quick to recede further. With repeated small trims, we can return overgrown nails to a healthy length. If we wait too long between trimmings, the quick will begin to regrow into the lengthening nail and the problem of overgrown nails will continue. Note that we offer nail trimming as a stand-alone service for a small fee.