Grooming Your Dog

For most people who own dogs they just take their dog to a professional to have them groomed, but what happens if you are short on cash and your dog needs a haircut. Well you can do what I have done. I take on the mountainous job of doing it myself. Things you will need to attempt this are: a good scissors, and a good clipper and a whole lot of patience. The biggest reason that I have always taken on this job is that I have not had a purebred dog until recently. So I really couldn't see spending the money on a haircut when the hair just needed to be trimmed and not in a certain style. Now I don't know if my dogs have ever felt that way as I am sure a professional groomer could have made up their own style for my dogs.

The biggest problem with grooming yourself is that it takes alot of time. I usually average 2 hours per dog, if I am lucky and if the dog cooperates. Which most of the time neither one happens. Also this is something you can't just start and quit in the middle, unless you don't mind your dog looking like an alien. First you have to decide the best way to have the dog sit or lay to cut their hair. Me I just sit on the floor and have the dog between my legs. This doesn't always work for the best because sometimes they decide they will only lay on one side. Other times they are constantly trying to inch out of your reach for a fast get away. I have always wondered how the professional get them to sit or stand, some day I would like to go watch and take tips, but for now I will do it trial and error.

The first time you cut your dogs hair is always the worst because you have to find out which spots are the most sensitive so they will act up more. Mostly for my dogs it is their face and paws. That is the area I try to start out with first as those are the ones that usually take the longest because you are fighting with them every step of the way while trying not to cut them. The mouth part is the worst for me because I had a dog once that stuck her tongue out just as I was cutting some hair with a scissors and it cut her tongue. I couldn't make that up to her enough. You learn to forgive yourself as accidents happen, I have also seen nicks on animals that have been groomed by a professional.

I have decided that I also need to invest in a cape, as my clothes get covered with hair, so I usually do the grooming prior to taking a shower. Animal hair tends to get real itchy when it is stuck in your clothes.

I determine how upset my dog is by how many kisses they will give me while they are being groomed. I am constantly praising them on how good they are being and they are either pretty or handsome depending on the gender. I then ask for a kiss, if they won't give me a kiss I know they are very upset with me, but that doesn't happen very often.

For the most part the haircut doesn't turn out to bad, sometimes there are one or two places that need a trimup but I usually give them a breather before retackling them spots.

So the answer to my question whether it is worth it or not, to me yes. It takes a few hours out of my day, they don't get upset by the car ride to a professional, and the more times it is done the easier it becomes. Do they look as good as a professional grooming, probably not, but I can guarantee they are a one of a kind. The funny thing is, even if they don't like getting their haircut, they all prance around the yard afterwards like they are showing off.

KitKat