As you can imagine, grooming dogs is an ongoing process around here. And now with all the older pups gone (but Bialy) and Reba and Faith’s pups still little, it was given me time to get caught on on grooming chores.

And it’s definitely a process. First I start on the grooming table brushing out any tangles, trimming toenail, cleaning ears (and checking for infection or nasty crud) and lastly, I check teeth. A lot of my dogs will allow me to use a dental scraper to knock off any tartar that might be building up on their pearly whites. If their teeth are too dirty or they just won’t allow me to fiddle with their mouths (think Allie 😉 ) then the next step is to set up a professional dental prophy with my veterinarian.

This is the ear cleanser I use. I get it from Revival Animal Health online. They have lots of products for many different things and great customer service. (No, they aren’t paying me to say that) 😉 You probably won’t need to buy the gallon size though…. hehe

The Poodles of course have to dry after their bath so I can them groom them with the clippers. It’s a bit more work than brushing and bathing a Cavalier, for sure! This is Sundae and Jasper.

The bath is a bit of a process too. Cotton goes in the ears to keep the water out and eye drops to keep the soap from burning if it gets in the eyes.  Then once the dog is wet, I use my gloved right hand (the glove part is the most important!) and express their anal glands. If your dog goes to the groomer, the groomer will most likely do this there. If you’re grooming at home, it’s something you will want to do yourself as anal glands can get plugged, impacted and infected. Big yuck! Trust me, it will be one of the stinkiest, most unpleasant things you’ll get to do. (You Tube it if you want to find out more). Here is Gracie getting finished with her bath.

Dickens, oh, Dickens..that hair!  :O

No, he’s not dead. He actually fell asleep while I was brushing him. Pretty stressed out. 😉

See Sundae does really have colored spots. Most of the time the farm dog looks all one color; dirt. But when he’s clean, you can see his cream colored spots on his white body.

Good boy Jasper! All done. (Jasper was from our Poodle litter last year)

Another “wild” Cavalier. He’s leaning on my arm while I brush his back end out.

That face. <3