When I first thought of the word “grooming”, the first thing that came into my mind is cutting the dog’s hair. I always thought of using hair clippers to groom the dogs and cut their hair with different styles.

Just recently, I realized that dog grooming isn’t just about cutting hair. When you say dog grooming, that means you maintain the overall cleanliness of your dog.

It starts from bathing your dog, to combing their hair, cleaning their hair, and other stuffs.

You bathe your dog for the same reason that you bathe yourself, to keep your body clean as you are exposed everyday to different elements. The dog’s hair being long and thick is one avenue that they absorb dirt, so cleaning their hair is one way of protecting them from unwanted diseases caused by bacteria that they can get from dirt.

Another thing that happens to a dog’s hair is matting. Matting is the tendency of the dogs’ hair to get tangled up. This is more particular to dogs and pets with long hairs. When the hair is tangled, it would be painful for the dog when your to remove the tangles. This is also another avenue for dirt and bacteria to build up on your dog’s body since the hair that is tangled becomes sticky.

Cutting their hair with clippers is also practiced mainly for styling their look. Some of the dogs that enter to different dog beauty contests and dog shows usually undergo haircut in order to have a better look and style. The same thing as why we cut and dress our hair, we would like our dogs to look better, cuter, prettier, and more beautiful.

With personally grooming your dog, you become more attached emotionally to them and making your hobby more enjoyable. The dog in turn also gets attached more to his master.

Before you cut your dog’s hair, make sure that you know how to pacify their fear and calm them down. This is also where the connection would take place.

Remember having your first hair cut as a child? How afraid or at least conscious on what your barber might do to you!

Your dog also feels some fear when they recognize they will be having their haircut. Specially their first! Dog grooming requires trust from the dog with the owner or the stylist. One should be able to understand the character of these dogs in order for them to perform a good haircut. Experience with dogs as well as care and love for the dog/pet is very, very important.

A dog lover at heart, grooming your dog needs knowledge about their needs too!. Read more here on different types of barber clippers and its uses: