Penny's Breakfast Joy

Some education for all of us!

I don't want to go into a big lecture about dogs and children interacting, but it is very sad to hear of accidents happening that could have been prevented.  It is heartbreaking for the whole family!

So here are some helpful tips on how children should and should NOT play with dogs.  And as well as that, some helpful images to recognise fear and anxiety in dogs...some are a lot more subtle than you'd think!

You could print these off and hand them to your kids.  I'm sure they would love to learn the correct way of playing with their furry friend!

Hope this will help and please share your new found knowledge with others!

Carolyn Zenker
Muttz For Cutz

On a lighter note...here are some funny dogs

Why dog's nails can bleed after trimming

When you trim as many nails as a dog groomer does, then seeing a little blood during nail clipping is nothing to be too worried about.  It can happen quite regularly and we know how to handle the situation.

However as a dog owner, it can be quite scary when you see your beloved pooch with blood on it's paws.  Dog's have a small blood vessel called 'quick' in their nails.  If you trim the nails a little bit too short then this will start to bleed.

 This is where the nail is trimmed just in front of the quick.  This is what you would aim for when you are clipping nails.

Here the dog's nails are clipped and the quick is exposed.  This will lead to the nail starting to bleed.  In most cases the dog will hardly feel this.  There are special clotting powders that can be applied to the nail which will stop the bleeding very quickly.

So why is it that the quick can become cut during nail clipping???  Well, when you are with a dog with black nails, it is very hard to estimate exactly where the quick ends.  In dogs with clear nails, it is easy to see the quick and to know exactly where to clip.  Due to this reason, black nails are a lot harder to clip that clear nails and they are usually the ones that end up bleeding.

As well as that, the quick can be shorter and longer in certain dogs.  All we can do is estimate where to cut the nail based on experience.  Most of the time dogs with nails that have been allowed to grow for a while and are very long will in turn have a much longer quick (as in, it goes a lot further down into the nail).  Dogs that have quite short nails also tend to have a shorter quick.

So the next time you experience nail bleeding after your dog's nails have been trimmed, don't be alarmed.  If you are clipping your own dogs nails at home, invest in some clotting powder (like Trimmex) which is readily available in shops.

Why should I groom my short haired dog?

Dog Grooming is often associated with long haired dogs that require regular trimming.  But did you know that your short haired dog will also benefit from regular grooming?  Dogs such as Labradors, Boxers, Jack Russell Terriers, and any other breed with a short coat.

Once again we kept a picture diary of a Beagle that was groomed with us and you will be able to see exactly the work that goes into grooming a short haired dog.

Before the groom: The coat looks dull and is shedding

We start by using specially designed brushes to remove excess hair

 

You can see how much dead hair is removed.  This will keep your house cleaner and the dog will feel a lot better as well.  

The nails are trimmed

The ears are cleaned

A warm shampoo and condition in our hydro-therapy bath

...What's a Hydro-Therapy bath you ask:

With this bathing system we are able to add the shampoo and conditioner straight into the water that flows through the shower.  This gives an extra deep clean to the dogs coat rather than working in the shampoo and conditioner manually.  

This is another specially designed brush that can be used to remove excess dead hair.  We like to use it during the bathing process as it works the shampoo and conditioner deep into the coat.

The dogs coat is dried by hand using a high velocity dryer (no cage drying).  This is another step in removing dead hair.  The shedding hairs simply lift out of the coat and blow away.

You can see how glossy and and clean the coat is after the groom

A clean and shiny dog is what you're left with.

So what does your groomer do?

Have you ever wondered what exactly is involved in a 'Full Groom' (the Muttz For Cutz Treatment!).  Well wonder no more.  We kept a little picture diary of one of our customers grooms.  This is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that the owner requested to have clipped short all over.  This will take anything from 1-2.5 hours and it all depends on the dogs behaviour and what kind of haircut you want your dog to receive.

And this is how your groomer looks after your pooch...

Here we have the dog before the groom.

The coat is given a 'rough clip'.  This is to remove all excess hair before the bath.  This cuts down on drying time and also removes any knots and tangles

The remaining coat is given a thorough brushing

We clip the dogs nails

The hair around the pads of the feet is trimmed.  Sometimes little knots can form between the pads of the feet which can gather dirt and make walking uncomfortable

We clean the ears with our special ear solution

The dog is given a bath in our Hydro-Therapy bath

...What's a Hydro-Therapy bath you ask:

With this bathing system we are able to add the shampoo and conditioner straight into the water that flows through the shower.  This gives an extra deep clean to the dogs coat rather than working in the shampoo and conditioner manually.  

The dog is dried by hand on the grooming table.  No cage drying is used by us!

The dog's coat is clipped again.  This will pick up all the stray hairs that were not clipped during the 'rough clip'.  It gives a lovely and smooth finish to the coat.

Last but not least the finishing touches are applied.  The feet, legs, tail, belly, ears, and face are trimmed according to our clients wishes.  This can take quite a lot of time and skill as you want your dog to look tidy but very natural.

 

And there you have it, a lovely clean  and tidy doggie ready to go back home!

Obviously every groom is an individual experience.  This is just an example of one of our lovely clients.

I hope you enjoyed getting an insight into what a 'Full Groom' is all about!

Carolyn Zenker

Muttz For Cutz

To Shave Or Not To Shave

The Lovely Coat of a Rough Collie

One of the most common conversations I have with some dog owners is whether to have their double coated dogs coat clipped short.  A double coated breed would be Golden Retrievers, Rough Collies, Border Collies, Siberian Huskies.  These dogs have a layer of undercoat that is close to the skin.  This coat is usually fluffy, and can be quite rough and dull looking (you ever notice clumps of hair coming out of your dogs coat?? That's the undercoat being shed).  Then there are longer hairs that cover the dog.  These are guard hairs.  They are usually quite tough, smooth and can give your dog their lovely rich colour.

This double coat is specially designed to help dogs stay warm in the winter and also to stay cool in the summer.  Unless we are faced with California summers in Ireland (I wish!), your dog will be perfectly happy in his long coat all year round (obviously your dog always needs access to shelter in the winter and shade in the summer, and constant access to fresh water).

Brushing out the dead undercoat of a Tibetan Spaniel

What your groomer will do with this type of coat is simple (but it takes a lot of work).  Most of the dead undercoat can be brushed out (this is the tough part). This will leave your dog feeling a lot lighter, and it will almost look like we clipped some of the hair shorter.  It only looks like that because with all the heavy undercoat gone, the longer top coat lies flat and looks smoother.  Once all this hair is removed we will tidy up some of the long bits that are sticking out (along the legs, bum, ears, and belly).  This gives your dog a much neater silhouette. (Obviously your dog isn't just brushed, a shampoo and condition, a thorough fluff dry, and nail clipping + ear cleaning                                                                                                              are also included in a groom)

In our profession we would never refuse to clip one of these dogs.  What the owner wants, the owner gets, but we do advise against it for the following reasons:

A clipped coat that has grown back very dull and rough

1. The coat may never grow back the same as before.  The rough and dull looking undercoat grows faster than the lovely looking guard hairs.  This can leave you with a dull and patchy looking dog.  The lovely rich and silky coat may not grow back to it's full glory
2. Once your dog looks rough and patchy you are going to want to get him groomed more often because he will look a lot smarter when all the hairs are at the same length...this will mean more grooming bills.
3. The dogs coat has evolved into this double coat for a reason (as described above).  By clipping your dogs coat you are interfering with this ability to regulate their own temperature

In certain cases of extremely matted dogs we are left with no choice but to clip the coat short.  We don't like doing it but in the long run it is better for the dog to have a matted coat removed completely.  In these cases it would be unfair to subject the dog to hours of brushing and de-matting.

I hope that this will be helpful coming into the warmer months and that you might re-think clipping your dog this summer!

Thanks for reading,

Carolyn Zenker
Muttz For Cutz