All puppies need to get used to being groomed, and starting as early in its life as possible. Doing so will prevent future grooming problems from happening later on in their lives.

Whether your puppy has a short coat (Boxer, Basset Hound, Labrador Retriever), long coat (Lhasa Apso, German Long-haired Pointer, Samoyed) or one that falls somewhere in between, she'll need to be groomed on a regular basis.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Different kinds of coats require different grooming steps, but basic grooming care such as bathing, brushing, ear and teeth cleaning, and nail trimming is needed for all dogs. If you have a long-haired breed, grooming will have to be practiced more often and may be a bit more difficult. Therefore, it is important to introduce your puppy to grooming early on in her life. Life will be more pleasant for both you and your puppy if she learns to enjoy this experience while she's still young.

Groom Your Puppy Everyday

In order to make sure that your puppy creates a positive experience with grooming, you must introduce her to the process slowly and often. Get her familiar with each piece of equipment by showing it to her one at a time. Show her the brush, let her sniff it for a few seconds and then give her a small treat.

Next, gently touch her with the brush and the treat. Once she has fully accepted the object, gently brush one stroke and immediately follow with a treat. Repeat this about three more times until she realizes that being brushed is a great feeling. Break down the procedure into small steps as this will give your puppy the chance to create a positive experience within each step.

Take her to the grooming station and let her get to know the area before you start the grooming process. A few days before giving her a bath, put her in the bathtub while it's dry and let her play with a toy and throw in her favorite treat. Repeat the same process the next day, adding some water and a sponge. Let her get used to the water before filling the tub.

The same procedure goes for the nail clipper, toothbrush, and other grooming tools. Take the time to introduce them to your puppy and she will enjoy grooming for the rest of her life.

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Brushing Your Dog's Hair

Regardless of your dog's coat type, his hair needs to be brushed regularly. If you have a long- or medium-haired dog, the best way to maintain a clean and manageable coat is to keep it clipped, unless of course you enjoy styling your dog's hair, like many Poodles or a Lhasa Apso dogs. Short-haired coats are easier to maintain and only needs to be brushed once or twice a week.

There are many types of brushes available for your dog's grooming needs. For smooth coats, a regular rubber brush and bristle brush are often used to loosen and remove dirt and dead hair. For short coats, a pinhead brush gets rid of knots and mats, followed with a bristle brush to remove the dirt.

To brush a long-coated dog, start with a comb or a pinhead brush to detangle matted hair, then use a wide-toothed comb for the finishing touch. Dogs with silky-coats need to be combed or brushed using a pinhead brush, followed by a bristle brush to bring out the coat's natural shine.

Other Types Of Brushes And Combs

A nylon bristle works great for your short or medium-haired pet, and a slicker brush easily removes mats and dead hair, which is ideal for everyday brushing. A shedding comb removes loose hair, and a massage brush gives your pet extra pampering. A soft pin slicker is specially designed for dogs with fine, silky, and sensitive skin.

A long-coat comb works best for small or toy breeds. An oblong pin brush is used on fine or coarse coats with undercoats, while a regular pin brush comes with wire pins to help detangle mats. A flea comb has fine teeth and a plastic handle to remove fleas and their eggs from your dog's coat. Finally, a dematting rake removes dead and loose hair from innermost layer of the dog's coat while leaving the outer coat untouched.

What About Odor Prevention?

Some of the new advanced dog brushes like the Zilo-Pet brush have bristles made of stainless-steel alloy that claims to neutralize molecules that cause odors on your dog's coat.

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How would it feel knowing you took your dog to a local groomer, sat in the waiting area outside of the view of the groomer, and then found out that in order to get the job done the person tied your dog's mouth up, smacked its bottom, and did other things to "restrain" the pup so that the groomer could finish the job?

This type of approach is being used every day in dog grooming parlors around the country. When asked about such practices most give the same reply: That these are the necessary tactics to getting the dog trimmed and groomed.

Sandra Booth, A Professional Groomer For More Than 20 Years, Doesn't Agree:

"All of our grooming is done in plain view so that anyone can watch their pet being groomed. All I ask is that the owner pretend to leave the shop so the dog won't be looking around for that owner. Once the animal is convinced that the owner has departed, that owner is perfectly free to watch the entire grooming process of their pet."

Some shops invite first-time customers into the grooming room for a behind-the-scenes peek, which usually delights the dog owner. However, customers are not encouraged to view their dog during the grooming process.

The pet is anticipating going home, and when the groomer is working on the dog using sharp shears, the chance of an accidental cutting is great when a dog goes into an alert at their owner's presence.

The shop operated by Sandra Booth is located in a quiet suburb of a large Southern California city. It was immaculately clean with the smell of disinfectant in the air even though an interview was unannounced.

"Do you see any dog mouths shut?" asked Mrs. Booth. "Do you see any of my employees giving tranquilizers? Any dogs being spanked, hit, beaten, or mistreated? There's absolutely no reason for dog grooming to be done behind closed doors, unless the groomer has something to hide"

Sandra goes on to say, "If a groomer knows his or her business, enjoys the work, likes animals, and keeps their welfare uppermost, then there is no reason to hide anything. If a groomer's work can't stand the light of day, and has to be kept hidden, then there is something wrong."

When she was asked her feelings about the possibility of getting license after all of these years being in the business, "I'm all for it," she replied. "It's about time. There's been too much quackery in the grooming business, with incompetent, self-proclaimed groomers not only hurting the reputation of reputable groomers, but hurting dogs as well."

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Ears are one of the central breeding areas for yeast infections, mites, fleas, etc. and it is your responsibility to take good care of that area to prevent the buildup of microscopic dangers. You will need to keep your dog's ears free of moisture and build up of wax because parasites grow best in that type of environment.

Different Ears Mean Different Cleaning Needs

Not all dog ears are created equal, therefore there are different cleaning regimens for different breeds. Some dogs need their ears cleaned every day, while others only need a touch up every few weeks or so.

A good rule of thumb is knowing that dogs that have larger ear flaps will need some personal ear grooming attended to more often due to lack of circulation. You may also be faced with a dog that has too much hair growing from the inside of his ears. If so then you may want to trim away the excess air.

For all-around general dog ear-care advice, follow the tips below:

1. As we spoke of earlier, moisture inside the ear can be very attractive to parasites and fungus. Mixed with ear wax and dirt, this creates a breeding ground of health problems for your dog. One way to combat this is to avoid water from going into your dog's ears. When bathing your pet, get him used to having thick balls of cotton placed inside the ears so that no water enters inside.

2. Pay extra attention to cleaning your dog's outer ear flap. You'll want to use some sort of ear solution that will help in preventing infections. You simply use a very soft cloth or a cotton ball, soak it in the solution, and gently rub the flaps clean. However, be careful not to clean too deep inside because the ear is extremely tender and going too far inside can cause pain. And be sure not to use a Q-tip or any other sharp cleaning object because you can easily damage your dog's ear canal if poked too hard. This kind of damage to the ears cannot be repaired.

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All dogs require some grooming to ensure their health and happiness. Take a closer look at your dog and find out if some of the following questions and answers apply to him.

My dog loves to be brushed. I hold him on my lap, sitting in front of the television while I brush him. I can't seem to get all the tangles out even though I brush him everyday. What do I do?

First of all, get your dog out of your lap and on a grooming table, or any table, to brush him! You cannot possibly get into all of the joints and angles when he's scrunched up in your lap. Make sure he has good footing on the table so he won't be scared. Make him stand up while you brush the hindquarters and sit, not lie, down while you brush the rest.

My Poodle is developing warts and other unwanted growths on his face. Should they be removed?

Your vet should be the one to decide that for you. From the groomer's point of view, it is very difficult to avoid injuring growths. In the shaved areas the clipper can nick one, and the brush can scratch one located in the long hair. Remember to tell your groomer about these facial growths each time.

My Miniature Schnauzer bites me when I try to brush him. I don't want to give up, but what should I do?

If he bites you only when you pull a tangle, the solution is to brush him so often that he never gets a tangle again. If he objects to grooming generally, frequency of handling will help there, too. However, if he is simply being difficult, tie the dog's nose with a length of a nylon stocking.

My groomer told me that my dog has worms. How could she tell?

When a dog has a severe case of worms, they can be seen in the stools. Sometimes, single worms pass out of the anus. Often a groomer will observe one or all of these things.

I'm confused by all the different types of grooming brushes for dogs. Which kind should I use?

The answer to this would vary according to the type of hair your dog has and whether he is a show dog or a house pet.

Brushing a show dog, so as not to break or split the hairs, would require a gentle touch. In that case, it's best to consult with people involved in showing your breed of dog. With a house dog, the main consideration is to do a good job effortlessly and speedily.

I believe a slicker-type brush is best for all but the shortest, thinnest-coated dogs. It has many close-set tiny wire claws. For the really shorthaired breeds, a bristle brush is probably the best. Any brush is worth absolutely nothing, though, unless it is used on a regular basis.

I can't afford to have my shaggy dog clipped. Would it be okay to cut off his matts with scissors?

If the matts are on the ends of long strands of hair then it might be all right, but not if the matts are tight against the skin. Many dogs have been seriously cut by their owners who couldn't tell where the matts ended and the skin began.

Sometimes, it is better to invest your money into a professional groomer to ensure that the job is done right. Also, if you have him clipped short all over once or twice a year and brushed regularly in between, he would feel much better.

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Often as a puppy matures, ears which looked right at cropping time become disproportionately small on an adult dog's head. We must assume, too, that some puppies bleed to death at the hands of inexperienced breeders attempting to cut costs by doing their own cropping. In all probability there are also puppies who sustained permanent physical damage because of poorly administered anesthetic.

Even when the operation is performed by a veterinarian or an experienced breeder, there is always a risk of faulty healing or carriage, which ruins the dog for show purposes and detracts from his appearance, even as a pet.

Women's fashions are in a constant state of inconstancy. Every season brings radical changes in periods of adjustment of public taste. But after a very short time our eyes become accustomed to thigh-high skirts, short hair styles, or the latest shoes available, and these things seem normal, and even attractive. Likewise, if the practice of ear cropping were abandoned, surely it would take only a short time to adjust our eyes to the new look.

In Great Britain ear cropping has been outlawed for more than 90 years. British Boxers and Schnauzers and Danes are every bit as attractive as ours, in just a slightly different way. The natural ear of the Schnauzer is no more unattractive than that of the Fox Terrier, and breeders in those countries are spared the expense, the risks, and the bother of cropping.

In the United States, the group of breeds that have standards which specify cropped ears are: Miniature Pinschers, Manchester Terriers, Miniature and Giant Schnauzers, Boston Terriers, Boxers, Doberman Pinschers, Bovier des Flandres, and Great Danes.

The standards for Affenpinschers, Brussels Griffons and Standard Schnauzers state that the ears are usually cropped, while the Staffordshire Terrier standard says that the years may be cropped or natural. For the Briard, the standard says that the ears are usually cropped in France. Until ten years ago the Bull Terrier standard said that ear cropping was optional, then the option was deleted from the standard.

Among the people who raise these breeds, reaction to the cropping question varies from, "I hate it but there's nothing I can do if I want to show my dogs and sell my pups," to "I've been doing my own cropping for years and I don't mind it anymore and I like the look of cropped ears."

Still, it's hard to believe that anyone who has the best interests of his or her dogs at heart could get any sort of satisfaction out of the practice of ear cropping.

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