Bathing
Before bathing, start with the dog standing on the table and
loosen up the coat by long sweeping strokes of a large pin brush
or bristle brush. Brush with the lie of the hair and then
against and finally back into normal position. This will give
you an idea of any tough areas. Now making sure all is "to
hand", lay the dog on it’s side with the back toward you with
the "Judges" side up. Do the "Judges" side first, as sometimes
a groomer will cheat on good grooming as they tire. Should you
be inclined to tire midway through your job, do the "Judges"
side first for the best look in the ring.
Begin with a long line parted down the spine, from the nose to
the tail, and work a 1-2 inch area along each side of the part
the whole length of the dog. Make a new part, 1-2 inches up from
the original part and about 4-6 inches wide. Put your hand
behind the new section and begin to brush. First use a bristle
brush. If it will not go into the coat, graduate to the next
brush in line, which should be a large pin brush. If this too
encounters thick spots and will not easily penetrate the coat
reach for the long narrow pin brush, which allows you to attack
smaller areas. If this is still a problem reach for the ‘ever
gentle’ slicker and if that won’t do it, use the ultimate ripper
and go for the Universal slicker. If this will not undo the
area, you are left with evaluating the whole dog. Is this a
small area that is alone in its condition or is it indicative of
the whole dog. If it is the whole dog, please, put down all your
tools, go get the clippers and clip your dog down. You can use
a #4 blade if all is pretty loose but you will need a #10 blade
if the mats are at the skin level.
There is another choice. If the dog has been out in the weather,
the mats have been wetted, are tight to the point of not being
able to get a comb into them, or lie close to the skin, you
might consider this. If the dog can be dried out in a warm
place, and is otherwise in clean condition, you can put off
grooming for 2-4 weeks. Keeping the dog dry, often no more
damage will be done. In a 4-week period, the mats will have
grown up off the skin level by about 1 inch and you will be able
to split or separate the mats and save some coat. Or clip the
coat using a thicker blade (4 is thicker than 10) thus leaving a
fuzz behind. If the dog is dirty, really completely matted from
total neglect or has sores or external parasites, do not even
consider this and go ahead and clip this dog down and give it a
bath.
Now that the dog has relaxed as I tested the condition of the
coat, I move back to the head (unless you have had to shave the
dog) and do the area from the "part", up over the top including
the ear as far as you can comfortably reach. It is at this
point that you clean the uppermost ear. Pluck any necessary
hairs out of the ear canal, I save the part of the ear cleaning
which calls for the use of a liquid cleaner until I am ready to
turn the dog over. That way, the liquid left after the cleaning,
can drain out onto a towel when I turn the dog over. Now check
the eye and scale the uppermost teeth.
Using the tools in the order mentioned above, finish the entire
upper side of the dog as far across the dog as you can
comfortably reach. Part an area about 1 - 2 inches up and
carefully brush the hair sideways and then down, being careful
not to hold on to the hair from above and so back comb or tease
the coat instead of brushing it out straight. If the soft brush
will not go through the coat, pick up the section and brush it
against your hand. In this way you can evaluate the area and if
necessary graduate to the harshest tool you need to "clear" the
area. Remember that if you are grooming to keep a full coat
that you are only straightening and pulling the undercoat upward
through the guard coat, not pulling it out by the roots.
If you are show grooming do not put your thumb on the back of
the brush and use it as a comb or you will remove more coat than
you desire. Your brush should be grasped loosely and not
forced down through the coat. Use caution when using a slicker
brush. If you repeatedly scrape the skin you risk introducing
the normally present staph germs into the scratches which can
lead to large infected areas. The brushing action should be a
lift and pull not a push and scrape thus the reason for not
putting the thumb on the back of the brush. By turning the dog
(if the table is big enough), moving your chair or turning the
table, move around the dog, grooming as you go.
When it is time to start the legs, have the legs toward you, and
start with the pad area. Trim all the hair out from between the
pads and clip the nails. If you are using a grinder it might be
best to get help until you are confident in using one. Wait
until you have the dog dry before standing the dog up, and using
a grooming loop or assistant to hold the dog, do the nails with
a grinder. If you are comfortable using clippers, go ahead and
clip out the hair from between the pads. I also clip or scissor
1/2 inch behind the largest pad. Feet are usually the part that
most of the dogs do not like, and as soon as the feet are taken
care of they relax again, knowing the rest is not going to be so
unpleasant for them.
Start with a comb and carefully comb all the toes and in between
the toes in the webbed pocket. Switch to the brushes in the
order above and begin by brushing all the hair against the grain
up the leg, using a bristle or pin brush, leaving it all
pointing as much upward as it will do. Then continue the 1-2
inch parts around the leg as you did the body of the coat. Do
the inside of the leg on the bottom when you do the top of the
upper leg. Do not rush your job and you will both enjoy it
better. I use a comb in the arm pits and in the groin areas.
The less undercoat left there to mat the better. Use a comb on
the edges of the ears, the lips and chin areas. Clip a half
circle area in front of the sheath. (Do not remove the tassel
on the end of the sheath as this aids in directing the flow of
urine away from the legs and chest.)
If I am grooming at a Dog Show, I will often reverse the
direction of my line brushing to leave the coat going up on the
sides, forward on the back, and up on the legs and head. If you
do the show side first and leave the coat in it’s UP direction,
when you turn the dog over it will "iron" the hair into place
for you. If you wish to remove coat, reverse the order of
grooming tool usage. If you hold a molting comb by the toothed
area as you would a pencil you can work on a mat in a piecemeal
method. Hold the mat tightly with the fingers of your left hand
and insert the end tooth of the comb in the middle of the
outside edge. Pull toward you in a picking motion. Do not
insert your comb and pull for all you are worth. This is not a
fishing trip. Remember what you are doing.
A mat is made up of tangled hair and is much like a cord your
three year old has tied up for you - knots on knots on knots and
all intertangled! What you are trying to do is straighten out
the knotted area. You should not try to pull the whole thing
out by the roots. In a normal coat the undercoat strands occupy
the spaces between the guard coat shafts and you are attempting
to untangle the guard coat and straighten out the undercoat. A
matted coat does not insulate the dog very well from heat or
cold and not at all from rain. With a pet that you want to keep
looking like a full-coated OES you must keep the undercoat
manageable. Either treat the coat as a show coat or remove the
amount of undercoat necessary for you to manage the coat.
You can keep a long coat manageable by learning to groom with a
comb and universal slicker. The biggest caution I have for
anyone is to remember what is under the coat. The skin of your
dog is the only barrier between nasty germs and your dog’s
immune system. You can cause serious injury by grooming too
roughly. You might be wise to clip your dog on a 3 times a year
schedule. With only 4 months in between clips you will not have
a coat longer than 4 inches at any time and I personally think
that OES in their ‘pajamas’ look absolutely adorable.
Bathing the OES is another matter. NEVER BATHE A MATTED DOG. You
should bathe your dog only when it is dirty. The practice here
at Blue Panda has been to bathe the whole coat of puppyhood.
Once the dog starts to acquire an adult coat we only give a full
body bath when the coat becomes too dirty to stand off naturally
(this means that the coat looks dull, droops, or otherwise does
not look clean and loose).
For most of the shows we use a very dilute shampoo and do the
whites and privates only. Soap residue is the single most
common cause of skin problems. On dogs with damaged coats we
sometimes condition the coat while doing the pre-bath brushing
and even add some conditioner to the shampoo and or use a cream
rinse or re-moisturizing type conditioner after the shampoo.
RINSE, RINSE AND RINSE AGAIN. Begin by cleaning the dog's ears
so as to remove all traces of ear cleaner and residue from the
ear area during bathing. Insert cotton balls into the ear
canal. If you know your dog has sensitive eyes or you are not
sure of the safety of your shampoo, put in some eye drops. Your
Veterinarian can suggest his favorite brand.
If you have a male, douche the sheath first in the tub. Mix
your solution - again ask your Vet what he or she prefers - and
draw it up into the bulb. Gently insert the end of the bulb
into the sheath and gently close the sheath around it. Squeeze
some of the liquid into the sheath and remove the syringe.
Holding the sheath closed. Gently move the liquid around by
lightly shaking the sheath or stroking along the sides. Remove
the liquid by releasing the sheath and gently squeezing along
the sheath from the back to the front thus pushing out the
liquid. Repeat once or twice. Your Veterinarian may instruct
you to insert some antibiotic medication if an infection is
present. Now shampoo, condition if necessary, and RINSE, RINSE,
RINSE.
After the bath leave the dog in the tub on towels to drip for
about 10 minutes. This is long enough to heat some large bath
towels in the dryer. Warm towels seem to absorb moisture better
than cold ones and feel better to your pet. You can also use a
chamois to sop up the excess. Then use a blower type of cool
(no heat) dryer to blow still more moisture off the coat. Be
careful to avoid tangling the coat by holding the nozzle too
close to the dog. Now blot again with more warm towels or even
wrap the dog in a warm blanket.
When the dog is in a non dripping state, move it to a towel
covered table, remove the cotton ear plugs and begin drying.
Leave fresh cotton ear plugs in place if the dog objects to the
feel of air in the ear canal. Be sure to remove them If they
are left in place it can lead to ear problems.
I usually start on the head. If you know your dog has a dry coat
condition you may want to spray on a conditioner as you dry
especially if you elect to use a dryer with a heating element.
Remember that hair has tensile strength. Pull it too hard and
it breaks. Over dry it and it becomes brittle. When drying,
use no heat or at best very low heat. You are blowing the water
off the hair not drying out the hair shafts. Use heat only if
the dog needs warming. Gently pull the hair out straight from
the center of the circle formed by the blowing air and let the
air blow the moisture off the hair.
Do not rush. Work around the circle and then continue to "dry"
areas of the dog. Such as head, neck, chest, rump, legs, body,
and back. Gently pulling the hair straight as it dries will
give you the most length of coat. Natural drying most often
leaves too much "break" in the hair and it often looks like the
coat is starting to cord.
Please do your dog a favor and put his hair up in a topknot of
some kind when you finish, as with a freshly done coat they are
all virtually blind. Top knots can take many forms from a simple
pull it up on top of the head and secure it with a barrette or
rubber band to devil horns over each eye or even braiding or
French braiding from the eye to the back of the skull. Be sure
that whichever method you choose will allow the dog to close
it’s eyes.
The
House of Rex
Geraldine House
1423 Rillview Court
Metamora MI 48455
USA
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