Here at Puff and Fluff, we have had our fair share of seeing pretty matted dogs. This is not just in part because of the rescues we help. Often times, many pet owners are simply unaware of the care and maintenance needed on their particular breed of dog. We work with each client and often educate them based on their particular pet, but there is always a very basic rule of thumb in which we want to share with all of you.
Let’s first start with breed, many of the breeds that we see here at the shop that need that extra maintenance discussed earlier are breeds such as the following:
- Goldendoodles
- Poodles
- Labradoodles
- Cotons
- Lhasas
- Shihtzus
- (the list could go on)
In essence, any pet that has long hair that can get easily matted is where we come in to help. More often than not, the number one misconception of caring for these pets is that a quick bath will help get rid of tangles and matting. This is simply not true. Puff and Fluffs first recommendation would be this –
- Brush and comb your dog regularly - we realize that in a given day we may forget to brush our dog’s hair, but you can make this a reminder when you brush your teeth at night. After you brush your own teeth, brush your dog’s hair! Daily brushing and combing is best but one day here and there missed shouldn’t set you back too bad.
After you are able to get a comb or brush through the dogs hair (all the way from skin to end), we are then ready to do baths. At Puff and Fluff we recommend that dogs with longer and or curly hair get regularly scheduled grooms. Our next recommendation would be –
- Regularly scheduled grooms/baths - we recommend that you get your pets in every 6-8 weeks for grooms. We have some customers who come in every 3 weeks and alternate between baths and grooms, this is of course personal preference but can also help with the pets hair and maintaining its health.
Lastly, while you may not immediately think of it - often times what we feed our dogs affects their coats. Our last recommendation:
- Food and other additions - keep an eye out on what you feed your pets at home. Look at the quality of food and what ingredients come first. Corn is usually a pretty big indicator of dog food that has a lot of fillers and not enough of the good stuff your pets need. Also, you can add fish oil pills to their diet to help their skin be its best. Consult with your vet if you have any questions on your pets diet and what is or is not best for your furry companion!