Dog Grooming | Strong Dog

Dog Grooming: How to Brush a Dog’s teeth – The Easy Way

August is Pet Dental Health Month

In Australia and some parts of Europe, August is Pet Dental Health Month. In honor of the occasion, we find it only fitting to examine how to brush a dog’s teeth, the easy way.

The essence of proper dog grooming is sprinkled with the obvious functions such as nail clipping and dog washing but often lost by the way side is how to brush a dog’s teeth. Cleaning Fido’s chompers may not seem needed or even appropriate, but don’t assume. Learning how to brush a dog’s teeth is simple and can be done in minutes.

Brushing a dog’s teeth is as necessary as brushing our own teeth, maybe even more so. After all we don’t often lick and bite our own private parts, or eat out of the garbage or chew on our “BFF”s poop for fun so it should seem obvious that we know the importance of brushing our dog’s teeth. This could be the reason that the American Veterinary Dental Society reported that 80% of all dogs has some form of gum disease by age 3.

More Than Just Fresh Breath

The reasons for brushing a dog’s teeth is more than just to smell their minty breath when in close quarters. As a matter of fact, although mint is one of the common flavors of dog toothpaste, beef and chicken flavors are more popular. Can you imagine brushing your teeth with a pork chop flavored paste?…Well, good thing they aren’t for us; and frankly speaking, human toothpaste isn’t for dog’s either. The first step in learning how to brush a dog’s teeth is to realize that one will require a toothpaste made especially for dogs. Dogs will swallow the toothpaste and if it isn’t made specifically for pets (dogs), don’t use it.

I’m Not Sharing my Tooth Brush!

Brushing your dog’s teeth is necessary, sharing brushes is optional. Tooth brushes for dogs come in many different sizes and step two of how to brush a dog’s teeth dictates that the appropriate sized brush is used. A Chihuahua and a Mastiff shouldn’t use the same sized brushes. Any pet store will have a choice so simply pick the size right for your 4 legged roommate. There are actual brushes, which look like their human counter part, or there are finger brushes which slip over your finger. Both are effective. In a pinch, one can even use some gauze rolled around your finger and wet with water.

It’s All in the Wrist

The Academy of veterinary Dentistry states that over 95% of tartar build up on the canine teeth are on the outside of the teeth. Reason being that the semi-rough surface of the dog’s tongue cleans the inside of their teeth fairly effectively. The take away from that is don’t do the hard work that you don’t have to. You see the real secret in how to brush a dog’s teeth effectively is knowing that simple fact. There are plenty of opinions out there that dictate that you need to open the dog’s mouth widely and get all the inside as well. That makes for a pain in the butt for you and quite frankly, it’s going to piss off your pooch. See below for a good demonstration.

The easy way to brush a dog’s teeth is to simply lift the lip and get the outside of all the teeth. The canine mouth structure makes it easy to access all the teeth, even the back ones, especially with longer “snouted” dogs. Don’t make it harder than it should be. It’s helpful to find a flavor of paste your dog likes, but beyond that, brushing with a back and forth or circular motions on the outside of the dogs teeth is the idea hygiene habit. If your dog is uneasy, start slow with just a few front teeth and work your way up to a couple minute sessions if possible. Daily is best, but shoot for no less than three times a week. Thats how to brush a dog’s teeth, the easy way.

Dog Grooming: Dog Groomers

Did You Pay the Dog Groomer to do That?

Most of us prefer to take our tail-waggers to the dog groomer because often times it’s just easing to pay someone to take on the task of grooming your dog, but have you ever considered going to dog grooming school and becoming a professional dog groomer yourself?

In my opinion, professional dog groomers are like the taxi drivers in our society. Similar to driving a taxi, dog grooming most likely isn’t something you had posters of on your childhood bed room wall, laying awake at night hoping one day you’ll be lucky enough to squeeze anal grands on Fee Fee and cut tar out of Fido’s fur any more than you may have aspired to drive people around all day in a beat up old retired police car with yellow spray paint over what used to be a star on the door.

However, with that in mind, dog groomers and taxi drivers have something in common in that individually, each of them can be the sole reason we have either a euphoric experience in an otherwise mundane routine of grooming your dog or getting from point A to point B or whether we hate mankind after the experience.

Case in point, the green “dragon dog” to to right. Look at him…he’s pissed and there’s not a damn thing he can do about his day at the dog groomer. He’s breathing fire alright!

You do What for a Living?

Before the economy took a stumble, tumble and fall, I’m quite positive that not many people were flocking to dog grooming schools to be the next pooch pampering prince or princess, but for many of us, that may have changed.

Once one loses a job or has their pay slashed it’s natural to consider what other career options may exist and I’m willing to bet that dog grooming schools have seen a huge increase in enrollment in the last couple of years and why not?

A dog groomers salary may not be at the top of the pay scale, but there are benefits. Less stress being one of them, flexible hours being another and plus your clients are typically appreciative, stinky, but appreciative.

Did you even know that there was a National Association of Dog Groomers? It was news for me too!

All things being equal, would you rather be jammed into a down sized cubicle forced to be around work mates that you maybe can’t stand, don’t trust, hate the sound of their voice or all the above, or would you prefer to stare into soft eyes with murky breath that really doesn’t care how you cut their hair? I’m just sayin…

What if you could become a celebrity dog groomer and be know as the dog groomer of the stars with a reality TV show? If Animal Planet is any indication, they had a show called “Groomer Has It” which pitted 12 dog groomers against each other for weekly elimination and a grand prize.

I can’t say that their viewership was overwhelming, but let’s be real, at some point there were thousands of people watching 12 dog groomers do their thing on national television and at least 4 or 5 of those people cared about the outcome so maybe there is something to it.

Just a Little Off the Top

You can learn to be a dog groomer from the comfort of your own home, or actually attend a specific dog groomer school. If you don’t want to work in a “big box” pet store you could even start your own dog grooming business.

Think there’s not a market for it? There’s even a website dedicated to finding dog groomers nationwide. If that’s not your thing, open a mobile dog grooming business and have the freedom to hang your head out the window at freeway speeds.

The point is most likely no one aspires to become a dog groomer, but if you’re maybe in between jobs and have a love for the furry four-legged, going to dog grooming school and becoming a professional dog groomer may be a temporary stick to chase that could afford doing something you take pride in and that there is certainly a market for.

Let’s be honest. Someone got paid, and maybe even handsomely for making these poor dogs look like walking bowls of Fruit Loops cereal. At least we know “Bozo” owns two dogs.

Dog Grooming:Cleaning a Dog’s Ears

No One Likes Stinky Dog Ears

I don’t know about you, but I admit it; every once in a while I like digging in my ears to clean them. Yes it’s good hygiene, but more so it’s the self-satisfaction of maybe getting lucky and pulling that big blob of ear wax out, you know, the one that you can almost feel detaching from your brain that screams success on the end of your Q-tip. Yeah, that one!

What about cleaning someone else’s ears? Would you?… Have you?

If you’re a caring and loving dog owner, then yes you have; or at least you should have. Let’s face it, cleaning dog ears doesn’t rank high, with most owners it may rank second to squeezing anal glands but cleaning your dog’s ears is part of a necessary and proper dog grooming schedule. We’ll show you a quick easy way that will cost you no more than about 5 minutes and that you can do at home.

Tenn-Hut! – Inspection Time

Inspecting your dog’s ears should not be a once in a while event. Rather it should be something you do on a regular basis maybe once a week while petting your precious pooch. It can be as simple as lift the ear flap and inspecting the inside. When done on a regular basis it’s the simple comparative knowledge that tells you if there is something wrong. If one week your dog’s ears are a healthy pink tone and clean and the next week inflamed or a discharge is present, something is wrong and your vet should be consulted as ear infections on dogs are not something that should be dealt with at home.

Some signs that Fido may have an ear infection are:

Inflammation or swelling inside the ear
Dirty looking discharge present under ear flap
Foul, “yeasty” odor
Ears are sensitive to touch
Dog shakes head often and violently
Excessive ear scratching
Dog rubs their ears on the ground
Not coming when called may just be a sign that you didn’t look frustrated enough for your dog’s liking, but it has nothing to do with ear infections on dogs.

It’s recommended that cleaning your dog’s ears should be done roughly once a month. If you use a professional groomer, this service is probably already done for you. If you wash your dog at home, use a natural dog shampoo and consider that ear cleaning during bathing may be a better timed approach, just be careful not to get water inside your dog’s ears.

Ear Anatomy 101

One must realize the anatomy of a dog’s ear both when cleaning and and inspecting. The human ear canal goes from the outer ear straight to the ear drum whereas the canine ear canal goes straight from the outer ear and then down to the ear drum, in the shape of an “L”. Although not clinically proven, dogs with floppy or long ears seem to be more prone to dirty or infected ears opposed to dog with cropped or short ear flaps. Ear infections in dogs are the result of growing bacteria and it makes sense when we think about it. Bacteria thrives in warm, moist and dark environments with poor circulation which essentially explains what it would be like either inside a dogs ear or in the boot of a sauna mechanic.

The easiest and best way to clean your dogs ears when there is no sign of infection is with a homemade remedy of white vinegar and water in a 1 to 1 ratio or 50/50 solution. If your four-legged friend has excessively dirty ears, you can substitute rubbing alcohol for the water in the same ratios.

Even Cats Like Clean Dog Ears

Cotton balls are recommended because their easy to use and maneuverable. Don’t soak the cotton ball, but saturate it and clean what you can see. That means don’t shove it down the “L” shape of the ear canal. There are over the counter solution for cleaning the inner ear, or you can have it done by your vet or professional groomer, but it is not advised that the novice dog ear cleaner do it themselves. There is simply too much risk involved in damaging the inner ear. Repetitive wiping in an outward motion (inside the ear to the outer edge) and encouraging words to your dog is really all that’s needed with a healthy ear. Remember, this is maintenance, not a make over so don’t over do and trust your eyes. If it looks like an infection, it most likely is and your vet should be consulted.