Dog Grooming Stripping or Plucking

Should wirehaired breeds be plucked or clipped? Wirehaired Terri en-breeders who show their dogs express dismay at the mentions of clipping. A clipped terrier does not have a typical show appearance. But those who are not interested in showing their dogs will find that the dogs like clipping better than plucking. The clipped coat is smoother,the dog is not subjected to the annoyance of plucking, and the job cost sonly about half as much. A dog may be clipped every three or four months for a year and be in trim condition all the time at a cost no greater than that of two plucking's.

Summer clipping is advisable for long-haired dogs for hygienic rae-sons as well as for the dog's comfort. At one time it was generally thought that since dogs have few sweat glands in the skin it was unnecessary to clip them in hot weather. Some people even insisted that the long hair served as a protective insulation against heat. Our own experience with hundreds of long-haired dogs has convinced us that this reasoning is fallacious. Clipped dogs are definitely and obviously nudism comfortable in extreme heat. In addition, a clipped dog is more easily cared for. It requires less combing, keeps cleaner, and does not shed long hair throughout the house. It is also much less likely to get fleas or skin disease since many parasites prefer skin that is under heavy coats of long hair. If, in spite of clipping, your dog should get a skin disease, it is more readily curable and requires less medication than would be the case without clipping.
Most dogs are groomed by professionals who know how to do it correctly. Great skill in grooming is required to turn out a Poodle, for instance, in style. It generally pays to have the work done by those who know how. An amateur cuts off the hair all right, but sometimes the result resembles a moth-eaten garment. Professionals with efficient clip-per's do a much smoother job.

Dog Grooming

When you think of the condition of an animal's coat, you must consider both its hair and the skin under that hair.

You undoubtedly have noticed that when dogs are brought into the warmth of a house in cold weather they have a doggie odor than they do in warm weather. That is due largely to the greater secretion of sebum, a protective substance emitted by glands embedded in the ski nand deposited mostly against the shafts of the hair. To some extent it coats the skin, acting as a waterproofing agent helping it to shed rain and dampness, and it also serves as a protection against some types of bacteria. The sebum serves several useful purposes, but when it is allowed to accumulate on the dog's coat it may produce a strong odor that must be removed by bathing.

The animal's skin functions as an organ of the body, just as do the kidneys or liver. Its exposure subjects it to all kinds of abuse which better-protected organs never experience. In a healthy animal, glandular secretions of the skin keep the coat shiny. But a coat must be combed often. Dead hair must be removed and snarls untangled in all long-haired breeds. Only a comb or wire brush and elbow grease will accomplish this. Burrs most be removed by hand. Hard mats have to be cut with scissors. To do this, push the scissors under the wad, pointing them away Irons the body, and cut the wad in half. Large wads may be cut into massy sections which then comb or brush out with the least pairs to the pet. It is almost never necessary to do the easy thing - snip across the hair. With patience, all the dead hair can he separated Irons the wad, leaving a lovely coat.

Combing of long-haired dogs should he done as frequently as necessary to keep the coat in good condition. Animals should be taught floppy to stand or lie on a table or, in the case of a large dog, on the floor, and expect and abide combing.
Shorthaired animals need less attention. Some people take a hacksaw blade and drag it, like a comb, over the coat. The teeth catch the loose hairs and pull them out. The bare hand, moistened and rubbed over shorthaired dog's coat, will pull out many loose hairs and leave the coat looking glossier.

Soft-bristle brushes should not be the mainstay of grooming. Running brushes over the outside of a long-haired animal's coat accomplishes little in the way of loose hair removal. It does sweep out some of the finest skin scales, accumulated dust, and a few loose hairs. There are massy kinds of specialized brushes. Thousands of elaborate groom-in brushes, with wire bristles on one side and fiber bristles on the other, are available. You can get along very well with (1) a comb with very strong teeth, ten to fourteen to the inch, which can pull out snarl sand do rough work; (2) a fine comb with twenty teeth to the inch; (3) astron brush; and (4) a pair of scissors.