Wahl Healthy at Home Series

We understand that it can be difficult to get your dog to a groomer and want to help demonstrate how to perform some basic grooming techniques from the comfort of your own home. Follow these steps, and watch the videos that our friend’s from Wahl put together, to learn how to brush your dog, trim their nails, and give them a bath.

How To Properly Brush Your Dog:

1. Pick an area where you can brush your dog comfortably. We recommend sitting on the couch with your dog because this will make it easy for the both of you.
2. Start by spraying your dog with a brushing spray. Be sure to spritz the spray lightly because you don’t want the hair to be too wet.
3. Take a slicker brush and start to gently brush the bottom of your dog’s leg and foot. Working from bottom to top slowly brush up your dog’s leg.
4. After the leg is brushed out take a Greyhound Comb and check your work. If you notice any tangles or knots don’t brush through them with the comb. Set it down and grab your slicker brush again to remove the tangle.
5. Repeat the steps above on all four legs. Then move on the other more critical friction areas that will mat first such as their joints, ankles, elbows, hocks, knees, and around the collar.
6. After you are done brushing these areas it’s time to move on to the medium priority areas like their tails, ears, and body.

How To Trim Your Dog’s Nails:

1. Go on your front porch or pick an area outside where the nail clippings won’t make a mess.
2. Put your dog on your lap and grab their elbow with your hand that’s not holding the nail clipper.
3. Pull the hair away from their nail with your thumb. Apply calm steady pressure on their paw and then clip their nail. The general recommendation is to cut approximately 2mm away from the quick, but if your dog has dark claws this can be difficult to see so make sure you cut these in several small cuts. As you cut more of the nail, look out for a dark spot in the center of the newly clipped edge because this is where the quick starts.
4. Trim all the nails on your dog’s paw this way.
5. Check for dewclaws which is the fifth toe that sometimes hangs on the side of your dog’s leg.
6. If you happen to cut your dog’s nail too short it will bleed. You need to make sure you clot this by using Quick Stop, corn starch, or anything in your pantry that will help stop the bleeding.

How to Bathe and Dry Your Pet

1. If you have a smaller dog, you can go ahead and place them in your kitchen sink. If you dog is too large for this, then the bathtub works great. The most important thing is having access to a nozzle with a shower-type head on it.
2. If you don’t have a shower-type head, than you are going to have to use a cup or bowl to pour water over your dog in order to rinse them.
3. Turn the water on to an appropriate temperature that doesn’t burn your hand but feels nice and warm.
4. Then take the nozzle and start rinsing their legs and slowly make your way to their back once they get used to the water.
5. Rinse all around your dog’s body and finish off with rinsing their head last.
6. Next apply the shampoo. Start with the legs again and work your way to their back. If your shampoo is not tear-less, do not apply it to their face or around their eyes. Be sure to gently scrub the shampoo around your dog.
7. Now it’s time to rinse. Get the water to an appropriate temperature and turn on your shower-head setting.
8. Start rinsing at the head because gravity will cause the shampoo to fall from the head to their body.
9. Then rinse down the back, chest, and then the legs last.
10. Gently squeeze the hide of your dog to get out any access shampoo or water.
11. Now it’s time to dry.
12. Grab a towel and dry them off. Be gentle and don’t press too hard when drying.
13. Take your dog to a better area, such as your driveway outside, and lay the towel out underneath them so that they are standing on it.
14. Grab a hair dryer and a brush so that you can stretch dry. This will help straighten their hair and give them a good brush while you are drying them off.