To Clip or Not to Clip – Many owners get the wrong advice on caring for their dog’s coat

Grooming is very important for your dog. It’s great for cutting down on shedding and smell, and will keep your dogs’ skin, hair, nails and ears healthy. Grooming is also a good way to cut down on allergies.

It’s very important to have your dog groomed regularly to save any matting of its coat. Adog whose coat is matted, full of dead hair and smelly is an unhappy, unhealthy and often flea loaded dog . Matts start when dirt and debris get caught up in the dog’s coat. They then start rubbing and scratching the area which further entangles the hair and enlarges the matt’s. As air cannot circulate through the knots fleas are in heaven, accordingly sores and rashes then form.

Heavily matted dogs can have their leg; feet and head movements restricted and in some cases pinching of the skin can cause great pain. In turn this pain may cause the dog to exhibit aggressive behaviour such as biting. Attempts to remove the matt’s May also prove to be painful, pulling at the skin.

In order to avoid these dramas the following grooming frequencies are recommended:

Stripping will remove any loose, woolly undercoat that sheds constantly. This will result in a coarser coat with shedding reduced by 75%. Regular hydrobath with blow drying will remove any loose undercoat that will stop any matting.

PLEASE NOTE

A double coated dog should never be clipped!!!

So many of our customer asks “should I get my dog clipped in the heat”?

Heat management in dogs is performed by exchange of heat via the tongue and the pads of the feet. In the hot weather dogs pant and open their mouths wide to cool down (this is good) they don’t sweat from pores like we do and removing the coat to the skin will make the dog hotter as the insulating properties of a normal coat is removed. Continued clipping over time replaces a normal coat with a thick woollyundercoat that sheds, causes heat stress it is best for your dog to keep its natural coat.