Ticked

Hey guys! It's finally getting warmer and with it comes more time outside with our family and furry friends. As we all come out from hibernation so do the pesky bugs. A major thing to be keeping an eye out for is ticks. I have seen quite a few customers come in with ticks on their dogs and not even know it. Here is some useful knowledge and a few tips to know how to prevent and check for ticks.

One useful piece of knowledge to always keep in mind is that ticks can not jump or fly like fleas and other insects. Ticks actually crawl up a dogs leg and attaches itself to the dog. Most ticks are attracted dark, moist areas which on pets would be the dogs' underbelly and their armpits on their front legs. Obviously all animals and humans are susceptible getting ticks, but pets with longer hair are have higher risk since there are more places to hide. So with these pets we need to be more thorough in making sure we check these pets more thoroughly even if you have them on a flea/tick preventative.

Tips for checking for ticks:

1.) Check to see if you pet have any redness or soreness on any areas of its body. You can check this by rubbing your hands all over its body and if the pets whines or whinces then stop and check that area.

2.) Run a flea comb or a very fine toothed combed over your pet's coat. If your comb stops or you feel a bumb, stop and check the spot by seperating the hair and looking all the way to the skin to make sure that the is nothing attatched to the pet.

3.) Always check your pet for fever. Some pets can have a reaction to being bit by ticks, but also any time a pet is outside it is always good to get into the habit of checking their temperature periodically to check to make sure they did not get into anything when you weren't looking and are now having a reaction to it.

4.) Watch for head shaking. A dog may shake its head if it has a tick in its ear or around the ear. Anytime a pet shakes its ear it is probably safe to get into the practice of taking them to the vet because it could also be signs of an ear infection as well.

Some ways to help with preventing ticks is to have your vet or groomer do a tick check every time you take them in. Both would be able to do a little more thorough check than we can do at home. You can also talk with your vet about putting a tick preventative on your pet or see about having your yard treated with something that is safe for your pet as well.

As always feel free to leave a comment on if you have any questions about this topic or would like to see a post about another topic that you have questions about. Until next, stay safe and have fun!

-Rebecca

Brusha, Brusha, Brusha!

Brusha, Brusha, Brusha!

Despite the fun song from the movie Grease, most parents find the act of brushing their dogs a daunting and sometimes 
frustrating task. Most pet owners get disheartened when they feel like they have been staying on top of their pet’s coat 
and then take them to their groomer and they are charged an undercoat or a dematting fee. What I personally hear most 
often is that “just last week I got an entire grocery bag full of hair, how are you getting so much more?” There are a few 
different techniques that I use that are different than commonly used by most pet owners don’t know about.

First, depending on the dog’s coat type, you may not be using the correct tools. Most pet owners know about the furminator, 
the slicker brush, and the zoom groom. These are all great tools and I use them on a semi-daily basis. But, not every tool 
on the market is going to be meant for your dog’s coat type. Just like how we discussed in the previous blog post that 
there are many different types of coats and so we must take care of them differently, the same goes for brushing. For your 
shorter haired dogs, you mainly only want to stick to just the zoom groom. That is a tool that will give you the most bang 
for your buck when it comes to your shorter haired dogs. For your medium and long haired dogs and most of your cats, 
a metal comb and a slicker brush are going to be better for your pet.

Second, even though you may have been using the correct tools, you may have not been using them properly. The zoom 
groom is a tool that you must always go in the direction of the coat and how it grows. NEVER go against the grain, it’s very 
damaging to the hair follicles of the dog and can actually cause skin irritations amongst other things. For the slicker brush 
once again you always want to go in the direction of the coat, but what most people don’t understand is that this tool isn’t 
designed to be able to go the full thickness of the dog’s coat, which why their dogs seems to always shed even though they 
brush it on a constant basis. By brushing only the top coat of a dog, the brush never reaches down into the under coat to 
help detangle the hair that mats up with dirt, sweat, or even from just the friction of under their elbows and places like 
that. The tool that I can recommend is a metal comb. The teeth of the comb have a further reach than a slicker brush and so will 
be able to reach more hair and help remove more undercoat and detangle better.

Third, some parents don’t understand how often a dog needs to be brushed. A dog’s coat cycles every 4-6 weeks. That means 
in that time span your dog will lose all of its dead hair and get in new hair into the hair follicle. That means that for your 
bigger, hairier dogs they are losing ALL of that hair every 4-6 weeks, which might be why you feel like you can’t stay on 
top of it. I know that most people hear that they should brush their dogs at least every day, but I'm a realist and I know 
that that won’t happen. What I recommend is sitting down during your favorite weekly t.v. show and brushing them 
out during then. Then every 4-6 weeks you take your dog in to either have just a thorough brush out or a full bath/groom 
from your groomer since they will have more thorough tools than what you can buy at a pet store. That way you’ll be able to 
know that your pet’s coat and skin are in good condition and you’re able to stay more on top of the shedding. All of my 
customers that bring in their dogs on monthly basis are always so amazed on how much the amount of fur in their homes 
has decreased just by bringing them on a regular schedule and being able to stay on top of the hair cycles.

I hope all of this information is helpful since I know how daunting of a task the daily maintenance of a pet can be. If you 
have any further questions on this topic or any other topic feel free to contact us through here or give us a call.

Until next time, Becca.  

To strip or not to strip…

Handstripping. It’s something that most pet owners know little about. This is primarily because it is a dying art in the grooming world and most groomers don’t offer it. So, to help in the education process, I figured I would answer the most common questions I receive on a day to day basis.

• You do WHAT to the dog!?!? Doesn’t it hurt the dog?

Yes, handstripping can seem intimidating upon first hearing the process, but I can’t stress how it’s so important! Handstripping in and of itself is literally the process of pulling out dead hair. So, for example, the ‘Furminator’ tool that everyone loves and swears by is a type of handstripping which is called carding. There isn’t a test at the end of this so the terminology isn’t important, but this example helps in showing that NO it doesn’t hurt the animal. Believe me, they will let you know if they don’t like something. If you have a furbaby that doesn’t like certain things then you know exactly what I’m talking about. Most dogs are not shy when it comes to telling you that they don’t want to do something. The difference between what I do and what the furminator tool does it that I do a more hands on and thorough approach to removing the dead undercoat that is on your dog.

• So if it’s like the furminator, can you handstrip my husky? He has so much hair!

No, you can’t handstrip every dog. This process is meant for dog that genetically don’t shed their hair like most dogs do. The easiest way to call this group is the ‘hard coated dogs.’ This group are going to be breeds like the Airedale terriers, schnauzers, cockers, cairn terriers, and Irish terriers to name just a few. The reason that these dogs need to have their coats handstripped is because as I before mentioned they do not shed their undercoat like most other dogs do. Most dogs like your huskies and German shepherds shed their coats almost in the shape of a straight line. When a new layer of growth comes in it pushes out the old layer of growth making only one hair in one hair follicle. On the hard coated dogs their hair does not do this. When their new layer of coat comes in the old layer does not get pushed out, the new layers just comes in beside it in the same hair follicle. This can happen for upwards of 15-30 hairs in one hair follicle which would make almost the shape of a firework. As you can imagine this creates multiple issues for the dog if the undercoat is never removed.

• Why does this cost so much? Why would I choose this over just having my dog clipped down?

As I mentioned previously this is a very hands on process. I do not have a machine that I can use to quickly do this. I literally am taking my hands and removing the undercoat out with a pulling motion. Unfortunately, there has not been a machine created that replaces good old fashioned elbow grease. Because it physically takes more time to do this we charge for the extra time that it takes just like your local mechanic would. Just like you do when choosing your local mechanic because you want your car to be in proper working order, with your dog you have to invest in its well-being so that it will be in its proper working order. The reason for choosing this method is because the dog can have skin conditions since the skin can’t breathe properly, the dog’s coat would be effected causing the texture, color, and over all appearance would be depleted as well. All of these can be taken care of by having you dog handstripped versus having them just clipped down. Having them clipped down just cuts down the length of the hairs themselves never removing the actual hairs. In some dogs the skin actually grows over the clogged pores if you cut them too short creating such issues such as schnauzer bumps and things of that nature. Handstripping is an all around healthier alternative to properly maintain your pet.

• Ok, I’m interested. This does seem to be really important but what type of commitment is this? Would this be like a clipping schedule where I come in every four to six weeks?

This is going to be on how well you want to maintain your pet. The very minimal amount that you would want to have you pet brought in is exactly like how you do with your clipping schedule, every 4-6 weeks. This would just ensure that your pet’s hair follicles were never clogged and that they are constantly in a state of healthy skin. Some owners however prefer to have their dogs look closer to what the AKC standards are or want their pets to look like the dogs they saw on t.v. at the Westminster competition. This look takes a lot more commitment. Those dogs have what is called a ‘rolled coat’ which in essence means that they have many different layers to their coat giving them more texture. To achieve a rolled coat means a weekly to every other week schedule. The reason for this is because when you come in once a month I have a month’s worth of growth to pull out meaning that almost every time I’m starting from square one. By coming in every week I only have a week’s worth of growth to take out which means that I can work on layering your dog’s coat and give it better texture which would be closer to the breed standard. So, it is honestly how you want your dog to look.

There are definitely many more questions that I’ve had on this subject matter, but these are the main concensus of what most people are concerned about. If your questions on this subject matter wasn’t answered or if you have another question on a different subject matter feel free to leave a message and I’d be more than happy to feature it in the next month’s issue! Until next time, Becca.