Dog Grooming: Introduction and Supplies

Today we’re going to go over the basics of grooming for simple maintenance. We will go over just the basic grooming tools that you will need to just cover very minimum at handling excited or scared dogs, both sizes big and small.

We’re also going to go over cleaning and plucking of the ears and how to do that properly. Nail trims and safely handling those as well as using a clipper to demat on the ears and explaining the different sizes of blades and safety matters around those.

We’re going to start with ear cleaning. When you do ear cleaning, you can either use cotton pads, cotton balls or baby wipes. You will need a good ear cleaner. This is just a really basic one. Anything with alcohol is preferable because whenever you – after the bath, you can put the ear cleaner in. It will help get rid of some of the water that may have fallen into it when you are doing the bath itself.

I also like to use this after I’ve done ear plucking which is will help remove some of the ear and the canal on double-coated – no, excuse me, curly-coated breeds. This will add grip and help absorb some of the oil, so that you’re actually able to grab onto the hair and remove it.

Going into nail trims. We have a couple of different tools. We have two different types of nail trimmers. These are important to have different sizes of because depending on the size of the dog’s nails, you can either require something like this for larger nails or this for smaller. Using the wrong size nail clippers can cause breakage of the nails and fracturing towards the quick which will obviously make a bad assumption with the nail trimming when it comes to dogs.

Me personally, I like to use the Dremel. There is a proper way to use this. You can cause friction, burns and stuff like that, get hair tangled up and this as well. So, it’s very important to know how to use this safely but this does allow you to get a lot closer to the quick which will allow it to recede faster.

So, it’s important to make sure you have styptic powder on hand at all times. This will absorb any of the blood and allow it to clot faster. You apply this either just by pinching some and applying it directly. Hold it on for 30 seconds or you can take a cotton ball, wet it slightly and do the same thing. Just put a little bit on it and apply it for 30 seconds.

You may need to reapply as needed because sometimes they will reopen the wounds as they move. This is going to be your brushing equipment. It’s always important to have a very nice comb, one that has both the coarse and fine side, because as you finish your brushing using your slicker brushes or anything else, you’re going to go over with your comb, so that you make sure there’s no tangles or impacted coat or matting that you may have missed closer to the skin.

These are two different types of slicker brushes. One of these has pins on it versus the one that doesn’t. If you’ve never used a slicker brush, it’s important that you be aware of how hard you’re going. So, one with pins on it can help that because you can cause brush burn if you’re not careful with something like this, that doesn’t have any protection on the pins.

Going right into clipping. We have different levels of blades. Contrary to what most people would think, the bigger the number, it’s actually shorter than the smaller numbers and you can tell that on the side. It’s a very close link to the blade itself versus on a larger scale where it’s a lot farther away from the actual guard.

For your safest blades to use on dematting or sanitary in private areas, that’s another thing we will be covering, is most important to use a 10 or 30 blade. Ten is usually used for the sanitary areas because it is the safest as it’s the gaps in between the teeth aren’t as big as something such as the five or seven, something that can easily get skin caught in there.

The 30 blades, I wouldn’t use because they go too close to the skin but you can use them on paw pads or somewhere else that’s a little bit more tough. There are four types of scissors that we can cover, two with straight blades and two with a cut blade.

The straight blades are going to be your curved and straights. These are going to be used just for basic maintenance. It’s very important that you’re careful with these because these will cause major injuries if you’re not careful. You would use these just in the corner of the eyes to clear out any bit of hair so you go into a V-shape, always making sure that the blade is pointed away from the dog’s face.

These are thinners and chunkers. You use these to remove any like small tangles, knots or something like that. You just simply go above the knot just a tiny bit and you can – if the knot was right here, you just go above it and cut it out like this until it comes out or you can do the V-shape in the corner of the eyes as well.

The last is the restraint equipment that we have. I personally use two different types of tools both from the Groomers Helper brand. This is your Groomers Helper loop. This is one that attached it to the top of the grooming table. It’s important that it is only able to fit two fingers under the grooming loops, that they’re not able to back out of it and that it’s properly secured to the top, so that there’s not enough room for them to turn around and bite you if they would like to or to jump off the table.

Another tool that we have is the Groomer’s Helper. This is not the actual one from the brand but this is a very cheap one that you can make out of simple equipment. This is going to attach the Groomers Helper brand loop and keep the dog from being able to turn and bite you, if you were doing something such as nails or anything behind the collar. It’s just important to remain aware of the bite zone.

[Dog Grooming: Dematting and Ear Hair Removal]

To get a dog that you don’t quite know, that you’re unfamiliar with up on the table, you’re going to take a shorter slip lead. I prefer around four feet. That way you have more room to work with and not enough to where the dog has too much length.

In this instance, you have the dog on a leash but typically you wouldn’t. So, you’re just going to want to try to get the slip lead around his head and tighten it by pulling it through. So, I’m going to remove his collar and then lead him up on the table by directing his head and if he’s being stubborn, there we go.

So, he jumps on there but some dogs don’t. If they don’t for the larger breeds, you will start by picking his front feet up onto the table and then assisting him with his hind feet to get back up on there as well.

All right. Okay. So, we are going to go over ear maintenance and how to clean and properly remove mats from ears, if they’re there. Rio has coarse hair so he has some tangles and mats. It’s the tight ribboning that’s hard to separate. You do not want to wash this as matting that is tight to the skin will continue to tighten more as it dries after it has become wet.

So, we’re going to get our blade. This has the battery separate to it. You’re going to attach the battery, get the blades you want, and when you are shaving mats, you want to start with the longest blade first. The way blade links work is it’s going to be – bigger numbers are going to be smaller links. So, I’m going to start with the larger size. That’s going to be my five blade. You’re going to rest it on the blade drive. Turn that on and clip it in.

All right, and it’s always important to feel where your skin is, the edge of the leather. You want to start where you can get the – underneath the mat and you want to do little tiny strokes. You never want to fight through the mats. Always go off the edge of the ear and if you get into a spot where it’s tight like that, you have to go a blade length shorter.

So, in that case, my seven blade. Same thing. Off the edge of the ear, never go directly down the ear as you can feed the skin directly into these blades and it can cause serious injuries. So always off the ear.

All right. And for the inside of the ear, you want to do a shorter blade to make sure that you don’t catch any of the folds or wrinkles that are in the ear. So instead of a seven, I’m going to go to a ten blade. The ten blade is what you would use for most of your sanitary or ear cleaning.

This is the blade that’s safest for the skin. It’s small enough to where the skin folds can’t actually feed into the clipper itself and I’m going to do the same thing. Just go off the side of the ear. Pull anything out that I can from the inside of the canal. Fold it outwards just along the edge.

You want to make sure that you have it up on what’s called the cutting edge, so you’re not digging it down into the dog but you’re letting it rest along the side because they can cause injuries.

Always make sure to clean up your table as you go along as the dogs can slip on hair that’s left behind. Now, to the inside of the ear, I’m going to use what is called ear powder. This is going to provide grip and absorb any of the oils that are in his ear. You don’t need a whole bunch. But you’re going to hold his head and the ear out and put just enough to where it will absorb any oil-dirt residue. Massage that in.

Now I’m going to take little tiny handfuls at a time of what wants to be released. If it does not want to come, don’t pull it too hard. It will release if it is ready to come out.

This is important for your curly-coated breeds or your doodles as hair left impacted in there can cause matting, cause ear infections, build up of moisture that causes build-up of yeast.

This is best done before the bath, so that you’re able to wash this powder away.

[Dog Grooming: Ear Cleaning and Eye Hair Trim]

All right. Moving on, after we’ve shaved the ears and we have plucked the hair out of the canal, we’re going to move on to cleaning them. You would use any basic flush. You can use a Boracetic. This is TrizUltra and Keto. You can use baby wipes, cotton balls or cotton pads. This in particular is a cotton pad. I’m just going to get two separate ones because you want to use one for each ear. You never want to cross-contaminate yours because if you have an ear infection in one ear and not the other, you can transfer that to the other one.

So, I’m just going to take them and clean out the outside of his ears, on the inside. Only go as deep as your finger will allow because you can actually cause some damage to the inside of the ear if you’re rubbing too hard, going too deep where you’re not supposed to.

But you just want to remove all the buildup of wax and dirt that sits at the base of the canal and this is a lot easier done after you’ve already shaved out the front of the ear and plucked the inside.

A lot of the dirt on the actual leather itself can just be washed off with your shampoo or facial shampoo as you wash them in the bath. I’m using a separate one. I’m going to do the other ear. This is going to also remove that powder residue from the canal and moving directly into figuring out the space in front of their eyes, so that they’re able to see just a tiny bit better.

We’re going to use some of the scissors we went over earlier, starting with my curved scissors. I’m going to take it in reverse, holding on to the chin with my index and thumb. I’m just going to gently guide his head this way, hold his face with my hand upwards.

I’m going to go at the very tip, make sure he’s comfortable with it, and just trim out what I can at the very front. Getting that V motion. I’m going to go over the top on the other side, being very careful to mind where his eyes are.

Trim anything in front of it. All right and personal preference. But I like to clean off just a tiny bit on what we call the stop right here in the very center of the eyes.

All right. Now you can see already a little bit better.

[Dog Grooming: Sanitary Trim]

All right. We’re going to continue on with doing our sanitary trims. That is going to be the private areas as well as around the anus. You are going to use your 10 blade. That is going to be the safest blade for any of your sanitary trim areas and you’re going to turn him slightly towards us, so that we can see his rear.

With one of my hands underneath him, I’m going to tuck his tail out of the way. Actually, I can hold it up. So, you don’t want to go directly over the rear. You want to go on the sides of it and just gently holding his tail. If he puts any restraint on it, make sure you just let it go. This is connected to their spine, so it is a little uncomfortable but you just want to clear out the space directly around the anus and shortly a little bit above it, to be able to clear out for any potty issues.

Then for the genital area, I’m going to rub my hand down his legs so he understands that I’m about to pick it up. I’m going to tap it so he knows I’m going to lift it, lift his leg up, support his hips with my arms and I’m going to let the cutting edge go along his private area, being very aware of any skin folds, bumps, wrinkles, anything that I could accidentally nick.

This is a safer blade but it is still possible. I’m going to go up the leg and down it just slightly. This is a high friction area, meaning that it is constantly being rubbed together on the dog. These areas tend to mat a lot faster. It is a little uncomfortable for him. There is a slight mat right there.

I’m going to go under the mat and gently work it out. If you don’t know where the skin is, it’s important to go through with your hands and double check. If you can’t feel the skin, if you can’t see the skin, don’t try to cut it. It is best to take them to a professional or a vet at that point. It is important to be aware of around the testicles, the high-tension areas where you could potentially get caught in the clipper.

Always double check your clipper’s heat level on your wrist. If it’s not too hot, you can keep going. But if it is, you either need to use a clipper spray that has cooling in it or you need to give it a rest, take it off the clipper for a while and just set it down.

I’m going to turn him so that I can do the opposite side. Good boy. Same thing. Go down the leg. Tap, lift. Make sure you know where all of your high-tension areas are. Clear out any matting that you can see.

For males, you want to go roughly two fingers in front of the penis. So, I’m just going to be very careful, go up along the penis. A lot of dogs tend to mat in this general area right there.

So, for sanitary purposes, because they tend to pee on it, where it gets matted, it’s always important to clear that out. I’m going reverse to get this hair right there. You want to be very careful to stretch the penis out and go directly along it because you can nick the skin right here.

So, I’m just going to finish off cleaning up. I’m being very careful around the hair, around the testicles. The skin is very loose and it is very easy to nick.

[Dog Grooming: Nail Trim]

All right. So, moving on to nail trimming. We’re going to do two different versions using a Dremel or clippers. If you are using clippers, you want to make sure that you have the appropriate size. For Rio in particular, he has thicker nails, so I would go with the larger-sized clipper.

Always make sure you have everything you need on hand, including your quick stop in case something was to happen. All right. Since I am right-handed, I’m going to have his head facing this way so that I am able to Dremel it because Dremel only go one way, so you want to make sure that you’re able to do it efficiently.

To hold a Dremel, you want to choke up on it like this. You are going to use your index finger and your thumb to adjust the toes on the dog and you’re going to use your thumb to basically add balance while you’re doing this. So, I will show you on a real dog.

All right. So same thing. Run my hand along the dog. Make sure his face is out of the way. I’m going to tap to lift up. Turn it on. Choke up on it. When you are doing this, you want to make sure that the dog has not enough reach to where they can get you. Obviously, I’m not concerned about Rio because I know him.

But if it’s a dog that you didn’t know, you would want to make sure that whatever you have attached to the table is tight enough to where they can’t slip out. So, two fingers under this that he’s going to have his head controlled. So he cannot bend down and reach me if he were to want to grab this. This is on just in case if you are having a dog that has a potential bite risk. You would have someone else holding on to this or you can wrap it around the post and hold on to it yourself like this.

But he knows – I do him all the time. He knows me, so I’m not worried about that. So again, pick up his foot. Hold it upwards so you can see where the quick is. Turn it on. It’s going to choke up on it.

You’re using your thumb to brace, your index and thumb to maneuver the toenail. On pink nails, you’re going to look for a pink quick. It will tell you when to stop. On black nails, it would be a black quick. It is a darker or more prominent color and that’s how you can tell the difference.

Most people say it’s harder to see the black nails but personally for me, the pink is a lot harder. You can tell from the front side, if you pull back the hair, you can see the pink hue of the quick. His quick is directly behind where I just Dremel to.

[Dog Grooming: Safe Handling While Bathing]

All right. Moving on, this is how I’m going to safely get a dog into – a larger dog into the tub and onto the slip lead, so that I can have control of them. This is Alma here. I’m just going to get the slip lead and put it over her head.

All right, and then now I have control over her. I’m going to take off her collar. Good dog. I know. Good job. All right. Good girl. All right. Let’s go. I know. Come here. Alma. Get this for me.

Okay. So, if I can’t guide her directly to it by just like leading the leash there, I’m going to take her front legs, put them into the tub and help assist her the rest of the way into it.

All right. And if you’re using any secondary attachments, go ahead and touch them now. If you are using a grooming loop or a grooming lead, you’re going to make sure there are two fingers around the neck, so that they can’t slip in or out.

You want your water to the right temperature. A dog’s body is a little bit warmer than ours, so you want to make sure that it’s not too hot because they can quickly overheat. So, we want it to be more on the cool level than anything.

Alma is a dual-purpose dog, so there’s a potential for her to bite. So, in this specific instance, I’m going to keep this secondary leash on. So that if anything can happen with anyone else here, they can just grab onto the leash and keep control over her face while I work on the rest of her body.

She’s a little bit weird of the water. So, I just turn it on without actually touching the water to her. Gauge her by putting it over her feet. If she seems okay with that, then I can move on to putting on the rest of her body. You never just want to go all at once to putting it on the dog because you can spook them very quickly and that usually leads them wanting to lash out or jump out of the tub, something that you don’t want.

Good job. Good girl. All right. Put your shampoo. If it’s a concentrated shampoo, it’s best to dilute it. But in this manner, I’m just going to apply it directly because she is a little bit more dirty than your typical dog and so I’m applying it full strength so that I’m able to clean her really well.

It’s just important if you do apply any full-strength product, especially a concentrated one, that you rinse it fully. Good girl. You also want to use this time to make sure that you’re feeling over the dog very thoroughly because if you have any lesions, injuries, any trigger points, this is a good time to find them out before you’re in the danger zone trying to do nails or get in the dog’s face or anything like that.

Again, when you rinse, just make sure you rinse very thoroughly. Any remaining product can cause post-grooming folliculitis. It can cause dermatitis, dry skin, a whole host of things.

All right. When you dry a dog, you still want to be aware because this particular dog, she has high dry for towels and stuff like that and you can very well be injured by a bite that’s not intended for you that she would simply go after something else that she wants.

So, in this case, so I can get her fully dried off, as that’s important to the health of the skin. I’m going to have someone assist me by holding her head. So, he’s going to stand in front of me and guide her head that way with the leash.

All right. So that she’s not able to turn around and reach me. On breeds like this, the double coats or your doodles or your curly coats, it’s very important that you follow up with a blow-dry, especially on any dog that has a double coat. Any remaining leftover undercoat can cause a lot of impaction matting. It can cause skin issues. So, it’s important that when you’re blow-drying a dog, you make sure that you could see the skin as you do it and that you’re looking all over the dog for any signs of illnesses or ailments.

This is a trigger for some dogs. So it’s important that you know where their face is and where your hands are in terms of the bite zone. You can see down all the way to her skin as I’m blow-drying.

If you had the higher power dryer, it’s important not to go too close. This one is fairly weak, so I’m able to go a lot closer.

That’s all I need.

All right. So, moving on to handling a potential bite risk dog, this is Arthur. He is a West Highland White Terrier. Even though he’s small, it’s important to understand that these dogs can still do a lot of damage. So you have to be really careful when you’re working with them. These actually tend to cause the more violent bites. When they do, it actually causes impact because not a lot of people are expecting them to be as abrasive as they are.

So again, to get him, you’re wanting to get your slip lead a nice big loop, so you can get it over his head. I’m just going to slip it over his head, tighten it like that. Good boy. I know. Kind of choke down on it, enough to where you can get him but he can’t reach your hand. I’m just going to overextend it over his head and you can pick him up just like that. Good boy, Artie.

All right. I’m going to get him into the tub, restrain his head with my secondary loop. I know bubba [0:31:26] [Phonetic]. This one unclips, so I can clip that behind his head and adjust it from there. For safety again, two fingers underneath. Always be aware of where his face is, where his mouth is, where the bite zone is.

Taking off his collar and when most dogs I could release them, I’m going to have someone assist me with him since he is a bite risk. I’m going to make sure this orange loop stays on his head. Generally high up enough to where he can’t – he has less control over his – the movement of his face.

So, you can put a little bit more slack to it. Just make sure you have enough control over his face. All right. I’m just going to go into it. Get him nice and wet to start off with.

Yeah. Good boy. I know. Again, make sure it’s an appropriate temperature for the dog that you’re working on, in the environment you live in. Good boy.

When you work with a breed like this, it’s important that you maintain control over his head at all times. You know where it is. I’m going to put my finger. Wrap his little beard and I’m just going to start – I know. Start from behind his head. Try to keep the water out of his ears and go quickly over his eyes.

We’re going to apply our shampoo. Typically, you would apply this with a dilution bottle. But make sure if you’re using concentrated shampoos, that you thoroughly dilute it. Make sure it’s rubbed in all the way. Good boy.

When I’m working on him, I’m still watching his face to make sure I know where he can bite if he were to try to. I always make sure my elbows are not in the way of his mouth. Anything he can extend his head to is called the bite zone.

You want to make sure you try your best to stay out of that range. Also, know your dog’s trigger points, what irritates them, what doesn’t. Look for any spots that may be skin irritation like he has there. Good boy. I know.

So, I’m going to take this. So, I’m just going to overextend. So, I have control of his head. Good boy. Good boy. Good job. I’m going from behind so that if he were to try to reach back and bite me, that I can move my hand out of the way like I did beforehand. I’m just going to get my helper then to come over on this opposite side. I can extend his head this way so he’s not able to reach me if he were to want to try to bite me.

Release a little bit of tension. If your dog gets stressed out, you do want to just let him calm down. When you’re working with fearful dogs like this, you don’t want to give them a reason to still fear you. You want to allow them to work through it themselves. But you also don’t want to give them a win, so that they think they can get away with the behavior that they’re showing.

So, I’m just going to go and rinse Arthur off. He has control of his head at the current moment. So, I am more free to be able to move around my dog. So, make sure you maintain eyesight on where his bite zone is at all times.

All right. I’m going to have a little bit more backwards tension and I’m just going to go over his head. Normally I would want to cover his nose but since he is a bite risk, that is a little bit too close for comfort. So, I’m just going to grab his chin, make sure I’m not getting this – you want to go over the eyes at least once to make sure you cleared of any shampoo or product left in it.

Try to avoid the ears as best as possible. It’s easier for dogs like this to come from behind than it is to come from front because a lot of times, going from front is more intimidating. It causes more pressure. You just follow this up with your conditioner, do the same process and then you can go ahead and blow-dry him. He has still got shampoo left in his hair. So, I’m just going to go over that one more time. Good boy.

All right. You want to squeegee out as much as you can. Be very aware of where his mouth is, where he could bite. He’s more weird about his body than he is his face, so that’s what you want to be aware of, his trigger zones and it’s typically right along his back or going down towards his legs because he does not like his legs being that way.

These types of dogs I want to get as much as I can dried off of him but if he won’t allow me to for whatever reason, you can also put them in a kennel dryer or just a kennel with a fan on it and a couple of towels to get that done as well. The only breeds you wouldn’t want to do that is, is a curly-coated breed because they will mat.

[End of transcript]