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Grooming is an art that makes a dog's coat look good without looking like a kid with scissors got at him. Some working breeds with long hair do need it reduced in length to be workable and to still allow it to look like the breed it is. All dogs at Britt
Haven are groomed once a week. I will teach anyone to groom their own dog, but do not do it as a service for a disinterested dog owner. Nails are properly sanded to length avoiding dog discomfort and the dread on both parties associated with this maintenance. This also avoids bleeding from the quick of the nail. More frequent repetition causes overgrown quick in
overgrown nails to retract to proper length. Keeping nails at proper length avoids many foot problems. Skin is checked. Skin and coat are the last part of the dog to be nourished. Problems in nutrition should be picked up by the groomer and properly
addressed with diet. Tooth and ear care are also part of proper grooming. Dog tooth paste applied with finger and then
vigorously wiped off with gauze or soft tooth brush. Any tartar at gum line should be split with a scalar and then broken off
with a finger nail. If there is serious buildup or gum inflammation, they should be scaled under anesthesia by a veterinarian. Preventive
measures like feeding dry kibble, giving frequent rawhide or nylon chews, dog biscuits as treats and at least weekly cleaning as above are a much better plan. GROOMING A BRITTANY
Good table that will mount a 48 inch grooming arm and give access to all of the dog. The square arms are superior to the round ones Oster home animal clipper from Care a lot. Any other clipper requires a #10 or 1.5mm or Medium blade designation. Black and Decker Wizard with ½ inch sanding drums, 100 grit from Home Depot I personally like 80 grit, particularly for larger nails. Sheddr’ comb, large loop 4 inch slicker brush Mars fine stripping comb 7-8 inch combo comb Fine/Medium Ice on Ice conditioner /detangler from www.chrissystems.com 30/inch thinning shears
Technique Teach your dog PAWS UP and PAWS OFF as a puppy as soon as possible as a counter to jumping up on people as a greeting. PAWS OFF is quite effective in limiting the up phase. Now that the table can be reached command the dog PAWS UP and boost it the rest of the dog up on the table and adjust the grooming loop to keep the head above horizontal and not choke the dog. Remove all collars. Mist the dog lightly with Ice on Ice- not in eyes. Using the Shedrr’ brush or blade comb, briskly whisk away dead hair and debris in the coat along with any dust. Remist and use the comb through furnishings and use slicker brush until dry. For a puppy this is enough. Teach him to stand pretty and praise him, and let him go. You don’t want to deal with dread the next time on the table.. Anytime the dog is on the table, inspect teeth, nails and feet ears, all coat and skin for lumps and bumps and perianal area. Don’t forget nipples scrotum and penis or vulvae Next week run clipper around pup and let him hear the Wizard as well. Do some pleasant bushing and soothing after to relax the dog again before releasing. Leave pleasant memories. If the dog has mats or burrs, wet with Ice on Ice and starting with the tip of the mat, patiently comb them out avoiding pulling on the root of the hair. Use light superficial strokes while holding the root. Never bathe in mats or burrs. They are hell to remove after. The blade brush may be a help with them as well. After removal, allow the hair to dry. A blower may be used if easily available. Time for the full monte. After misting, brushing, detangling and drying dog, take clipper in hand and start above prosternum (that prominent bone in the middle of his chest that I hope is there) and carefully clear an area between a v and a u shape to the side of the neck just behind the ears ending by taking out the handful of fuzz immediately behind the ears. Eye whiskers and those under the chin and on sides of face should go. Those around nose are left just in case they help with scenting. Next the bottom of the feet should be clipped even with the pads and the wad of hair between the palm and the base of the toe pads cleaned out, then up back of leg to the callosity protruding. Do not clipper furnishings!!!. Do rear feet and then back of leg to hock. Do not clipper furnishings!!! Clipper from bottom of anus to tip of tail and shape bottom of tail close. The clipper should be free floating except for some under the neck. Blend clipper line at neck with thinning shears and stripping comb. Use stripping comb on fluff of ears. Using rubber sorters from stationery store, pull long hairs to lessen the fluff. Define the outline of the ear with the clipper. Use the rubber sorters to pull the long hairs between the toes. Don’t cut these hairs. They look pretty strange in a short time. Blend the lines with a thinning shear. Comb out the areas to be thinned with the fine stripping comb. The thinning shear work is much reduced by this. Remist with Ice on Ice and slicker dry. Now it is nail time. Using the Wizard or a Dremel tool with the sanding drum, lift the foot backward like a farrier does. Steadying each toe, sand the nail parallel to the bottom of the foot. It is like a little hoof. There is a hard outside and point, a frog in the middle. Sand in short bursts to avoid heating nail. When the quick appears in the middle of the frog, smooth the outside edge and go to next nail. Use a nail clipper on dew claws. They are hard to get at with sander and much less sensitive than toe nails. If a nail is overgrown, repeat every 5-7 days until quick has retracted to normal. Chronically overgrown nails will permanently deform feet. If the dog spends much time on slippery floors and has trouble with it, coat the pads with Tuf Foot. It is a tremendous help for them for about a week. If ears are dirty or smelly, fill them with Blue Power daily until clean, then weekly. Use a doggy dentifrice on cotton rag to clean teeth. A scaler may be necessary to break a tartar ring if it has been awhile. Clean stains in corner of eyes with 1%boric acid solution or specific eye cleaner from one of the catalogs. 3% peroxide on a Q-tip (keeping out of eye) will bleach the stain in the corner of the eye. When stain is gone, allow to dry and use Q-tip wet with Ice on Ice and allow to dry. Also keep it out of eye. If eyes are OK, don’t mess. If the dog is to be bathed,, save the Ice on Ice misting at the end until after. Clean up eyes ahead of bath if there are stains. Many times the bath won’t clean up the stains. Make an attempt to keep even tearless shampoos out of the eyes. Groom the dog before a bath. Leave out the Ice on Ice until after the bath. You must use dog shampoo, tearless with whitener. Do not us a sprayer for bathing. Pet bathing heads for hoses spread the water but don’t spray. In a tub use a quart dipper to pour water over the dog. The water should be comfortably warm. Wet the dog thoroughly and use nylon scrungy to get diluted shampoo on dog and work up a lather. Most discoloration is around collar area and underside of dog and legs and feet. Lather these areas early. Work generally in the direction of hair growth. You don’t want to disturb the oil layer on the skin. Rinse thoroughly. Squeegee off most of the water. Spray on Ice on Ice and work in with your hands. Do not be excessive with the spray. When it has been worked uniformly through the hair, towel off the dog tending to flatten the coat. Allow to dry overnight and slicker brush in the morning. This bath will last long if the dog is blade brushed and then slicker brushed weekly with the Ice on Ice. Occasional dogs just refuse to stay clean for very long. Skip the baths and just brush out regularly with the conditioner. A show white clean is not for this dog, and the short time it lasts is not worth the aggravation of a bath. Contact Information
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