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.