The Must Guide to Dog Grooming

Article by Ann Stewart

As the weather continues to get colder across the country, including here in the St. Petersburg area, properly grooming your pet is becoming more important.

If you think through the impact the change of weather has on your own hair, keep in mind it will impact your dog in the same way. As the weather gets colder and the humidity drops, the scalp and hair become drier. This can cause an increase in your dog itching and increased dander around your home and on your clothes.

While grooming your pet at home is an important part of caring for your pet, seeing a professional groomer on a regular basis is crucial, and making sure it's the same groomer is essential.

Professional Dog Grooming Isn't Just For The Pampered

While it is an investment, professional dog grooming can help save both your dog's health as well as your sanity. Before closing the door completely, think through why you should consider a professional dog groomer:

Your Pet's Health - While the first thing anyone thinks about is how clean good looking a professionally groomed dog is, the primary reason any dog owner should consider professional dog grooming is for the health of their furry companion. Professional dog groomers, like those at Advantage Pet Center, are trained to look for signs of health problems in the skin and on the coat. These can be mild skin irritations, abrasions, lumps, bumps, and patchy baldness, just to name a few. This advanced warning can help save your dog's health, and possible life, not to mention your medical costs when you can address a problem early. This training also helps the dog groomer to identify what kind of shampoos and products are best suited for your dog and his or her particular coat and skin type.

The Right Grooming Tools & Skill - Most of us understand the difference between a friend cutting our hair (who hasn't been properly trained) versus going to a professional hair stylist. While the stylist may be more expensive, they quality of your cut is going to be far superior, and your experience is likely to be more positive. The same is true with your dog. Professional groomers know how to help your dog have a great experience while grooming them, and they're going to look great - all because they've had the proper training and have the right equipment.

Don't Forget Your Dog's Nails

Remember, grooming is more than just baths and brushes. The nails are an important piece to being properly groomed, and can have a huge impact on your dog's physical health. While you can cut nails at home, or use a drummel to file them down, do you know how to deal with your dog when the nail gets cut too short? Are you causing yourself or your dog injury by trying to hold him on your lap while cutting his nails? This can be a challenging task to those who are unprepared.

Your Professional Dog Grooming Partner

If you don't have a regular professional groomer, or aren't satisfied with them you can find providers in your area through Yelp or DogGroomerDirectory.com, a directory specific to dog groomers.

About the Author

Advantage Pet Center provides dog boarding, doggie daycare, and pet grooming for the St Petersburg area. Ann Stewart, owner of Advantage Pet Center, has a distinct passion to providing quality care for all animals, from dogs and cats to guinea pigs and snakes. Be sure to check out their services or call to schedule a time to tour the facility.

Use and distribution of this article is subject to our Publisher Guidelines
whereby the original author's information and copyright must be included.