A Safe Guide To Clipping Your Dog Very few people see clipping their dogs as an art.
Instead, they tackle areas like scraggly hair on the feet to keep their pets from tracking in mud.
They mostly ignore other areas.
However, in an effort to get rid of undesirable hair growth, many dog owners forget that they can hurt their dogs.
When you choose to clip your dog's coat, it's important to keep breed in mind.
Longer hair breeds can suffer if you clip them wrongly.
Dust accumulates in the coat, and skin diseases may result.
In addition, parasites may more freely breed in coats that haven't been cared for correctly.
You also need to trip your dog's toenails correctly to keep them from breaking accidentally and making walking painful.
Longer nails will tend to twist sideways, and in serious cases even dig into the foot and cause injury.
Dogs with overly long claws will often catch them on hard surfaces, splitting or breaking them.
Injuries are common during the process of clipping a dog's nails - the inside of the nail may bleed when cut.
Since the quick of the mail is the source of blood and the location of nerves, it's what keeps the nail healthy and growing.
This area is located well back in the nail, but if the nail's been cut too short or splinters, the quick may be exposed.
This sensitive area will then be quite painful.
To cut your dog's hair and nails, always use the sharpest clippers you can, and choose the right tools.
Human nail clippers are wrong for dogs' nails - use ones purchased at your local pet supply store instead.
There are a number of great new nail clippers out there that are made to keep pain and damage to a minimum.
If you live somewhere with a cold climate, avoid clipping your dog in winter unless you have to.
The winter can put a lot of stress on your dog, particularly if your dog's coat is not long enough to protect her from the snowy weather and chilly climate.
Remember that humans aren't the only ones to get frostbite.
Never cut your pet's hair too short in the summer, either.
Otherwise, you could expose her skin to the harmful rays of the sun.
Dogs' fur keeps them cooler in the summer as well as warm in the winter.
A slight cut will be fine, but make sure you leave enough fur to protect your dog.
It's also important to avoid clipping unhealthy dogs.
This can cause them stress, so clip sick pets only when absolutely necessary.
One way to help keep your dogs nails short and health is walking her on concrete on a daily basis.
This allows the nails to gradually be worn down.
It naturally controls the length of the nails, keeping you and your pet from needing to deal with nail clippers.
Of course, to get the best results, you'll want to find a professional groomer who knows the correct way to clip particular breeds.
Instead, they tackle areas like scraggly hair on the feet to keep their pets from tracking in mud.
They mostly ignore other areas.
However, in an effort to get rid of undesirable hair growth, many dog owners forget that they can hurt their dogs.
When you choose to clip your dog's coat, it's important to keep breed in mind.
Longer hair breeds can suffer if you clip them wrongly.
Dust accumulates in the coat, and skin diseases may result.
In addition, parasites may more freely breed in coats that haven't been cared for correctly.
You also need to trip your dog's toenails correctly to keep them from breaking accidentally and making walking painful.
Longer nails will tend to twist sideways, and in serious cases even dig into the foot and cause injury.
Dogs with overly long claws will often catch them on hard surfaces, splitting or breaking them.
Injuries are common during the process of clipping a dog's nails - the inside of the nail may bleed when cut.
Since the quick of the mail is the source of blood and the location of nerves, it's what keeps the nail healthy and growing.
This area is located well back in the nail, but if the nail's been cut too short or splinters, the quick may be exposed.
This sensitive area will then be quite painful.
To cut your dog's hair and nails, always use the sharpest clippers you can, and choose the right tools.
Human nail clippers are wrong for dogs' nails - use ones purchased at your local pet supply store instead.
There are a number of great new nail clippers out there that are made to keep pain and damage to a minimum.
If you live somewhere with a cold climate, avoid clipping your dog in winter unless you have to.
The winter can put a lot of stress on your dog, particularly if your dog's coat is not long enough to protect her from the snowy weather and chilly climate.
Remember that humans aren't the only ones to get frostbite.
Never cut your pet's hair too short in the summer, either.
Otherwise, you could expose her skin to the harmful rays of the sun.
Dogs' fur keeps them cooler in the summer as well as warm in the winter.
A slight cut will be fine, but make sure you leave enough fur to protect your dog.
It's also important to avoid clipping unhealthy dogs.
This can cause them stress, so clip sick pets only when absolutely necessary.
One way to help keep your dogs nails short and health is walking her on concrete on a daily basis.
This allows the nails to gradually be worn down.
It naturally controls the length of the nails, keeping you and your pet from needing to deal with nail clippers.
Of course, to get the best results, you'll want to find a professional groomer who knows the correct way to clip particular breeds.