Going to the groomer does not mean that your dog has to always have a hair cut, any good groomer will know how to help you choose a maintenance schedule that will enable your dog to keep a nice coat length through the cold weather, in good nick, and not facing a shave off in the springtime. We strongly encourage all of our clients to be on regular year round schedules for their dogs grooming in order to maintain their coat and skins best health and cleanliness.
So here’s our top 5 reasons to keep seeing your groomer during the winter.
1. To Prevent Matting
Any dog with a medium to long coat, can end up with matting. And the sad thing about matting, is the only way to truly solve it, is to shave it off. Not something a lot of our clients want to do (neither do we). By seeing your groomer every few weeks ( we recommend 4-8 weeks for our clients) during the winter, they will be able to keep your dogs longer coat clean and matt free. Meaning no naked dogs come the warmer weather.
2. To Maintain Healthy Skin & Coat
Imagine if you didn’t wash your hair for 3-4 months! How would that start to feel? Itchy, oily, dirty, smelly? It’s the same for your dog. Made worse by the fact that they are much lower to the ground, and bound to get wet during toilet breaks, or muddy during a walk. Add that with the increased potential for knots and matts and you might never know what is going on with your dog's skin! Regular baths, and getting the coat properly dried, are important for your pooch’s health, and your sense of smell.
3. Regular Nail Trims
Every time your dog sees their groomer, they’ll get the benefits of a paw-dicure! Keeping your dogs nails trimmed is vital, not only for your floors, but for your dogs health and posture. Nails that are too long can cause your dog to need to alter their gait, and how the hold their body, which can lead to long term effects to their skeletal and muscular systems, and can even change the shape of their feet!
4. To Prevent Fleas & Other Nasties
Fleas thrive in a warm, humid environment, so it is a common assumption that fleas are not a concern in the colder months. However, in the modern world, our pets enjoy the indoors with the comfort of heating throughout winter. While this is wonderful for our pets, it also creates a warm environment for the unwelcome critters in the household – fleas! Fleas continue to thrive in homes through winter, and what's more irresistible to a flea than a warm blooded, long coated dog, with less than clean hair and maybe even some matting to make a nest behind? At a guess, there’s not much. Along with fleas, regular baths and grooming in the winter can prevent other nasties such as bacteria or infection from taking hold. Remember, your groomer probably gets closer with your dog's skin than even yourself, so they are often the first ones to notice irregularities hidden under the coat, between their toes even in their ears!
5. Easier Home Maintenance
A regularly groomed coat is going to cut out a lot of the work you have to do for it at home. Regular haircuts means less hair that your need to keep brushed, less coat that needs be dried off after each toilet break or walk in the park, less hair to bring in mud, debris into the house, and an easier job for you on those occasions you do need to give your dog a bath at home (just remember to make sure there are no knots in the coat before you go bathing your pet at home, water can make knots/matting tighter and harder to remove)
There you have it! Five great reasons to keep those regular appointments, even if it just ends up being a bath and blow dry, any professional grooming is going to be beneficial for your dog, and in turn, for you!