Your dog is constantly on the go. So think about the pounding your dog’s paws suffer each day. How should you care for your dog’s paws?
Many dog owners don’t do any grooming of their dog. They leave it to professional dog groomers and for good reason.
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It takes a lot of patience to groom dogs. And skill! Your dog needs to be comfortable while you are grooming them. Plus, you must also know how to move around based on their preferred position.
Dog Grooming
Cleaning your dog’s paw and cutting the excess hairs around it, plus cutting the nails are part of the usual grooming routine. When you take your dog to a professional groomer, they will also maintain their feet and nails.
There may be times when we don’t have enough money to keep our pooches well-groomed. Or at certain times of the year we don’t have our dogs clipped. So their hair and nails grow. This is not good for them hygienically speaking. So why don’t you have a go yourself?
Care for Your Dog’s Paws and Nails
If you are not taking your dog to the groomers for any length of time, you can clean your dog’s paws and cut their nails yourself.
Don’t feel bad if you don’t get it right the first time. Always remember that your dog would definitely prefer you over the groomer since they trust and love you.
It is definitely one of those things that get easier the more you do it.
Gather Your Tools
Gather all the materials needed. The minimum you will need is:
Rather than buying the items individually, I bought a kit. I did also buy a pair of the round tip grooming scissors as I have a bit of a fear of stabbing my dog with sharp scissors!
Position Your Dog
Put your pet dog in a comfortable position. You will need them at a comfortable height for example on top of a table.
Brush Your Dogs Hair
Brush the hair on the dog’s legs all the way down to the feet using a slick brush. This will remove unwanted mats on the dog’s coat.
Brush the hair of the legs towards the tip of the nails of your dog. This is so you can see how much hair will need cutting.
Shave Your Dog’s Hair
Razor the hair on your dog’s foot. This should be done from the tip up to the desired level or just below the joint of the dog’s leg.
Cut any hair on your dog’s paw that you were unable to shave.
Put very light pressure on your dog’s paw so that the claws pop-out. You can then cut the hair between your dog’s toes.
Brush the trimmed leg towards the tip of the nails.
Hold your dog’s trimmed leg just above the brushed hairs.
Cut the excess hairs to form a straight cut for a cleaner look.
Cut Your Dog’s Nails
Carefully cut the nails on each claw. Do not cut them too short as this will cause bleeding if not properly performed.
Do the same on the other front foot of your dog.
Do the same trimming and cutting of nails at the back legs. Make sure that your dog is still comfortable. You need to adjust your position rather than the dog adjusting to you.
All done! Your dog’s paws are now cleaner and their nails are properly cut.
You can do this every month to help your dog especially if they run outdoors through every type of terrain, like mine.
I finish Poppy’s little pedicure off by applying some paw balm. I try and do this about once a week when it is very warm or very cold. I like to use natural products for Poppy so this is a good choice. It is a natural, healing and moisturising paw balm.
I never thought I would be able to groom my own dog. Especially as she has a pretty difficult coat with 2 types of hair. However, I realised I was spending more on Poppy going to the hairdressers than on me going to the hairdressers! I therefore gave it a go. I have done it twice now and it was much easier the second time. So what is stopping you? Start by looking after your dog’s paws and progress from there.
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Thank you for useful piece for information. I would like to add a something to this as Winter i arriving, pet parents can also consider apply Fronltine Pawbalm on the paws on their pet, this will help to make the paws soft.