How Grooming Helps Bonding With Your Pet
One way pet parents can strengthen the bond with their pet is through grooming and massage. Spending time with your dog or cat brushing, combing, trimming, and even cutting nails can easily change from a source of anxiety or dread for your pet, into a wonderful bonding session for both of you.
No matter what breed your dog or cat is, long hair or short and smooth, purebred or a mixed specialty, grooming is essential for connection, affection, and healthy well-being!
Tara Murphy, Professional Groomer
Tara started working in Petmania in 2008 and has had many achievements along the way. She completed her City and Guilds Professional Dog Grooming exams and achieved a Diploma. Not too long after, she entered a IPDGA competition where she placed 4th in the Open Clipped Class. She is also a qualified Canine First Responder Instructor and delivers this class to groomers within Petmania. After working as a groomer for 7 years, she started the Petmania Grooming Academy in Petmania Kilkenny in 2015. Today she is an integral part of the Petmania Grooming Team.
How To Start Grooming Your Pet
Grooming not only helps ensure your pet’s coat is in good condition, but it also makes your pet feel good. This is why it’s so important for owners to brush their pets often; trust and affection can be built from frequent grooming sessions.
A good way to begin the grooming process is by understanding your pet’s breed requirements. Breeds such as Yorkshire Terriers and Shih Tzus have longer coats that often require brushing at a minimum twice a week. Breeds with shorter coats like Staffordshire terriers require less brushing but need regular baths. With consistent grooming, pet owners can soon become familiar with their pet’s normal skin and coat.
Even if you frequently take your pet to a Professional Grooming Studio, you will still need to maintain their coat with combing and brushing in between visits. If mats develop, they can cause great discomfort to your pet, and they will make the grooming experience more difficult for the groomer and dog alike. Groomers will appreciate that you’ve maintained your dog’s good condition between visits.
Benefits of Grooming
Grooming is great not just for their physical wellbeing, but mental too. Your dog or cat will learn that it’s okay to allow their body to be handled and touched. The more frequently you groom, the less stress will be linked with the procedure. As well as this, you will be building trust with them; whether you’ve had your pet for years or just recently welcomed them to the family, it’s never too late to build trust.
And not to mention the physical benefits too, such as…
- Detecting disease
- Managing allergies
- Spotting fleas/ticks
- Reducing chance of infections e.g. ear, eye
- Healthy and shiny coats
- Reduces risk of matting
- Trimming nails reduces the risk of developing bad posture or bone deformations
When Should I Start Grooming My Pet?
To make the experience more pleasurable for both you and your pet, it is recommended that you start grooming when they are young, as exposing them to regular bathing, grooming and nail trimming can help them become accustomed to the process. If your pet is a bit older, try grooming more frequently but in less time. A few minutes at a time each day with a nice reward such as a treat can really help.
Essential Equipment
Depending on what type of coat your pet has, you will mainly be using one of the following brushes:
This is a thin bristled brush which is designed to maintain your pet’s coat by brushing out and preventing matts and tangles. It can come in different variants so we recommend catering to your pet’s age or specific breed when choosing a slicker brush for example we recommend a soft tipped slicker brush for puppies due to their delicate skin.
When you’re using a slicker brush, you’ll want to part the area you want to tackle first and then brush root to tip, and to do it in layers (line brushing). Do this a few times until it glides through and go over it with a comb to ensure that there are no tangles.
The next type of brush is a comb. Combs can also be found in a lot of pet households and again can be used on all long haired dogs or cats. Using a comb after a brush through with your slicker brush is a great way to do a final check for knots and tangles.
The next brush is a massage brush. This can be used on shorter or thin haired dogs and cats when they are wet. It massages them as they are being brushed to stimulate their oil glands but also relaxes them and desensitises them to the grooming process.
Should I Still Take My Pet to Professional Groomers?
Yes! Visiting a professional groomer is not only a great way to care for your pet’s coat, but it’s essential to their health and wellbeing too. From a Professional Groomer’s vast knowledge of different breed types, coats and styles to their extensive collection of grooming tools, you can trust in a professional groomer to get your pet looking great and feeling at their best.
Book a Groom
If you are looking to get your dog groomed, we offer grooming services in all of our stores across Ireland. We provide a Standard Groom which includes a standard wash & dry, nail trim, ear clean, eye clean and a breed standard haircut. We also have a range of other treatments available that can help keep your dog’s coat and skin stay in top condition.
For double coated dogs, our deshedding package is very popular. We use a special therapy mud to moisturise their skin and thoroughly go through the coat with a deshedding brush which can help reduce shedding by up to 90%.
If you would like to book your dog in for a groom with us you can do so on our website, through our new grooming app or call your local Petmania store to see what your options are.
