We love our furry friends, our dogs of course are part of our family. When we first set eyes on the adorable little bundles, there are a few things that never cross our minds. Are they going to get huge? Will they still be cute? Are they going to be easy to train? One thing that a lot of people do not think of is the grooming requirements. Sure, some dogs, in particular, don't require a lot of coat care, as in Pugs, Foxies and dogs with very short hair. That is not true of many breeds. Pet grooming is a huge business for people who are too busy or not skilled enough to do it themselves. We want our pets to look nice and more importantly, to smell nice.
There are many pet shampoos, brushes, combs, moist wipes, deshedding tools, and things to trim nails on the market. Some of our pets resist our best efforts to keep them looking spiffy. In that case, a professional groomer is in order.
Grooming takes patience. "Sit still!" works somewhat on dogs. Poodles, schnauzers, cocker spaniels, and the like need regular trims to keep their coats in check. A matted coat is smelly and unattractive and can be detrimental to skin health. How will you find fleas under all those mats? Don't even get started about nail clipping. The tiniest dog can be the biggest challenge to achieve this seemingly simple task. Yes, we all know that we should start early in the pets life to get them used to brushing and nail trimming, but we are way too busy playing with them. Some of us do not have the patience for it. At the first sign the "baby" is not happy, we stop. They whine, growl, or heaven forbid, show their teeth and we are convinced that we are somehow injuring them.