What's your dog's grooming routine like?

[Oko]

Hey, y'all said I must post a topic if I think of it!

This came to me as I was attempting to tame Feist's wild cowlicks on her butt last night, I was just curious as to what kind of upkeep people do for nails/fur?

I am pretty pathetically disturbed by shedding, and I hadn't even brushed Feist more than once until I noticed her starting to lose a little fur. Now I probably take the time to use the undercoat rake and comb on her once a week, and she gets bathed every 1-2 weeks. The bathing isn't necessary, but I like bathing her and then she smells nice, plus it's really easy to get rid of dead fur with the zoom groom while she's wet. I clip nails weekly, although lately we've been doing it more to get her used to it.

I also spritz her with dry shampoo that smells like blueberry muffins every couple days, because it smells nice. I think she would like to trade lives with her siblings on sheep farms. :rofl1:

Soo, what do you do?

 

[Sekah]

I've slacked on grooming lately.

Cohen: Brush 1-3 times a week with a slicker brush. Sometimes I'll use a curry brush and/or thin toothed comb too, if shedding is intense. I bathe her every 2-4 months, or as needed (she likes rolling in gross things). Nails get done once a week. Fur gets trimmed around her ears once every 1-2 months. Fur gets trimmed around her feet and tailnub (just to tidy - no length is removed) when I think to do it (maybe 1-3 times a year).

Mega: She'll occasionally get groomed with a curry brush. Her nails used to be done a few times a month, but my husband is requesting I cut it out since I'll inevitably cut her quick while I do so, so I abstain and do it once a month. Baths are as needed, maybe 1-2 a year. She gets tear stains which I'll occasionally tackle with stain remover if we have a show coming up.

 

[Equinox]

Trent gets a bath about once every couple of years or so... Well, maybe once a year at most. It's the embarrassing truth, and it's not because we're worried about natural oils being stripped or whatnot. We're just too lazy to bath him. He still ends up being pretty clean though and oddly enough gets a lot of comments on his nice coat and condition!

Nails, we just did this weekend for the first time in 5 years. Another "whoops". They usually wear down naturally but now I find cutting nails FUN :rofl1: Trent is spectacular about getting his nails clipped and dremeled, and I like seeing them short (and not hearing any noises on the hardwood or cement) so I might do nails more frequently now.

Actual grooming, with the brushes, is done whenever I'm bored. Twice a week when he's shedding/blowing coat and then a couple of swipes with the brushes here and there if I have it handy and Trent is in the room. When he isn't blowing coat like crazy, maybe once a month? Before I had the proper tools I would let it get pretty bad, but now I try to get as much of the tufts out as I can.

 

[Cali Mae]

Moses goes to the groomer a few times a year for a trim and a bath. Other than that, he'll get brushed out whenever one of us notices him needing a good brushing.

Cali, on the other hand, gets brushed every other day... sometimes more depending on if she needs it or not. I've also started giving her a bath every two weeks because her fur gets dirty relatively quickly and there's nothing better than a freshly bathed, fluffy dog. Then I usually trim her nails when I notice they need trimmed.

 

[Doberluv]

The Chihuahuas barely need a thing done so I'll skip right away to the Poodle boys. I held off on getting a Poodle for about a year, the grooming needs scaring me off. Well, I decided to go for it. And I found out that not only is it not that horrendous, but I find it enjoyable, a good bonding time and interesting as a sort of "art."

Every day or every other day (as my groomer advised) I brush them out with a slicker brush and then comb through down to the skin to make sure there aren't any tangles starting. Matisse is in a puppy show coat so has longer hair. Maurice, I've scissored so he is easier. But I'm growing his out now while I decide if he's to be shown too.

About once a week, sometimes two weeks, they get a bath, blow dry and get their faces, feet and bums shaved, which I do myself along with nail Dremelling. (it's a verb now) Matisse goes to a professional groomer to get scissored all over before a show. The rest of the time, he looks like a yak with a shaved face. Oh, and an ear cleaning. Once in a while I have pluck some hair out of their ear canal. But try to time it so the groomer or vet will do that. I hate that part. Poor things. But they're prone to yeast infections if the hair wads up too thickly in there.

So, it sounds like a lot, but I've just sort of adapted to it and find it pretty fun. And the pay off is...................no shedding! I love how I can have on some black going-out-on-the-town clothes on and cuddle my white Poodle and no hair stuck on my clothes at all.

 

[AmandaNola]

Nola's nails get done 1-2x a week because they grow insanely fast. Teeth get brushed daily.
Bath every 6-8weeks. I don't hardly ever brush her. She barely sheds and her coat is tight and sleek and shiny.

 

[krissy]

Grooming? What's that?

I do nails 1-2 times a week.
I brush teeth daily.

Summit has a bath once every year and a half.
Kili has a bath before shows (but we're basically done with conformation now) or if she gets incredibly muddy... so... every 3-4 months probably, more in the spring).
I brush them... basically never.

 

[Elrohwen]

I do surprisingly little for a feathered dog who is shown in conformation, and that's how I like it! His coat is a really nice mix of a field and show coat - sheds dirt and doesn't mat, but has more pretty feathering than a true field coat.

Watson is typically bathed every 1-2 months. He doesn't really get dirty or stinky, but after 2 months his neck, ears, and feet are getting unruly and my grooming OCD kicks in and I need to trim him. A pet-type groom, not including bath and drying time, takes about 20-30min. If I'm grooming for show I'm much more nitpicky and it might take an hour, but we take breaks every 20min or so.

Here's the basic routine:
Before a bath I'll strip out some undercoat and fuzzies on his head and legs. I don't blow dry him because neither of us have the patience for it and his fur dries straight. Once he's dry, I trim up his feet with scissors and thinning shears, clipper his neck and the tops of his ears, and neaten his tail. I take off some ear feathering and neck/shoulder stuff with the thinning shears, and then I'm done.


On a regular basis, I brush his feathering out about once a week (he doesn't really mat and hardly sheds), and do his nails every 2-4 weeks.

 

[*blackrose]

I bathe, blow dry, clean ears, and trim nails every month for both Abrams and Cynder. That's about it. Abrams gets his nails trimmed and ears cleaned in between baths as well, about every two weeks, because I want to keep his nails short and his ears get itchy otherwise.

During the summer months I'll brush them if their coat needs it, but blowing them out monthly really helps.

 

[ThreePs]

Grooming forum Q

Maybe we can relocate this thread to the grooming forum for expert replies?

For my Pap, he gets combed twice a week with wide-toothed comb, med fine greyhound, and slicker for the pin mats I create brushing. I must give extra attention to knots brewing in ear fringe and arm pits. His culottes get dense with undercoat. He pees on his foreleg feathers.

Nails clipped weekly or every other week. Bathed monthly; more often in the Spring & Summer. Paw pads, sidecoat he pees on, and poop chute are trimmed about once a month.

 

[Julee]

Bathed when they're gross, nails when they need it, ears when they need it except for Copper, she has them done daily because she super prone to ear infections. Shadow gets brushed daily, Em 1-2x/week, Copper and Bloo never.

 

[Oko]

I wasn't really looking for expert replies, just curious. I thought it would be fine here because it's not really in depth techniques, just what do you do, ha. Plus people actually read this forum.

 

[Lyzelle]

Zane gets bathed every 3-4months OR when he is blowing his coat OR when he is gross. But not often. Last year he was bathed maybe 3 or 4 times. He doesn't typically need it.

Nails are whenever they get long. They tend to go in spurts. Sometimes they need done every week, sometimes it is once a month. When I do that I trim his foot hair.

Brushing is pretty much daily, or whenever there is down time. If I am watching tv, I am brushing him. Standing around talking to company, I am brushing him. It is just a habit at this point, and daily upkeep helps a ton. Every two weeks there will be an all out brushing session where I really try to purge his coat, but otherwise it is every day.

I don't do teeth or ears. Teeth because it is sorta pointless for him and ears because they are so sensitive that if you do ANYTHING AT ALL....automatic yeast infection.

Twice a year I do all of the above over a 3 day period, and trim his underline as well.

 

[Laurelin]

Ummm. I plead the fifth.

They get rinsed off a needed. At least one bath a month usually two. Only because I like decently clean dogs in the bed.

I can't remember the last time I brushed them. Usually it is when Mia has burrs.

I do their feet hair and nails whenever I realize theyre looking like muppets.

 

[Tankstar]

normally a full groom, bath brush nails dremel ears blow out 2-3 times a month.

As a groomer its just easy to bring them to work. pay a bather to bathe, blow dry them for me and then I finish them up lol.

actually they will be going in to work tomorrow for the works. Solo being a beagle is a non stop battle of hair. so i like to try to fight it a few times a month.

 

[Sit Stay]

Not much. Lol!

Nails get done as needed, which is usually about every 10ish days. Their nails grow super fast and I want to get a dremel so I can do them a little more often and maybe gets Quinn's quicks to recede a bit. Quinn's toe hair usually gets cleaned up a bit when I do her nails.

Ned is 6 months old and got his first brush today. Quinn gets brushed probably once every 3-4 weeks, but more often when she's blowing coat. She gets bathed probably 2-3 times a year.

 

[Finkie_Mom]

When they are blowing coat, they get brushed 2-3 times a week. Not blowing coat is only once a week. Bathed only before a show, or once a year or so otherwise. Nails done when I have time (I try for once every 5 days or so since Bubbles' nails grow like CRAZY and Jari is still learning to not be a jerk and bite at the dremel). Paw pad hair trimmed once every couple of weeks and/or right before a show.

 

[Maxy24]

I bathe him when he smells, so like once a month. Now that we can actually do nails I'm trying to do them once every two weeks. We'll never really get them short though since I'm scared of quicking them. But they won't get long enough to cause issues either. I try to do teeth daily but it ends up being every 2-3 days usually. He gets brushed when he looks gross (because his neuter coat gets all knotted) so every couple of weeks. That's when I'm home. When I'm at school he doesn't get his coat or teeth brushed or his nails trimmed. He still gets bathed when he smells.

 

[Laurelin]

This came to me as I was attempting to tame Feist's wild cowlicks on her butt last night, I was just curious as to what kind of upkeep people do for nails/fur?

Summer and I say you should just roll with the cowlicks.

Ignore her silly hat.

hat2 by Summer_Papillon, on Flickr

This one on her head used to drive her breeder NUTS. You could not straighten it out. It seems to have gotten better lately.

curl2 by Summer_Papillon, on Flickr

 

[SpringerLover]

I used to be more on top of it than I am now!

Lately, I do nails and trim feet about every month. Bathe about every month and a half. Trim fur less frequently than needed! :lol-sign:

When I kept Buzz & Bailey in show-like coat, I bet I bathed them every 1-2 weeks and was so careful to towel them, blow dry their ears, band Bailey's ears, etc. Now I have less time and they have less patience!

Gabby's coat just needs time to come in, so I try to comb her out. I kind of fail though and Lauren makes me do it when she can't stand it any longer!