Grooming

Do you clip your dog’s nails regularly or does the thought of doing it at home yourself make your heart palpitate and your underarms sweat? 🙂

When we got Teton at 8-weeks old, one of the most important things we did for his training was teaching him to be comfortable with us touching his feet all the time. I can’t remember who I’d heard that tip from or where I’d read it, but as I’m sure you know, most dogs don’t like having their feet handled. I knew we’d have to clip his nails regularly and, being that we live in the rainy Pacific Northwest, we have always been sticklers for wiping his paws when he comes in from being outside.

Teton has had his nails trimmed professionally just once at the veterinarian (he had torn a dewclaw and they trimmed ’em all since we were already there). I give his front nails a trim and file them down about once a month after he has a bath. Spa day!!! (We’ve never clipped his back nails because they seem to wear down nicely when he walks and runs outside.)

Back to initial question…do you clip your dog’s nails? If the thought of doing so totally freaks you out, take your dog to your local groomer or make an appointment at the vet and get ‘er done there. If you are on board for doing it yourself, grab yourself a pair of these fancy new nail clippers we received last week.

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Wagglies Professional Safety Dog Nail Clippers

On sale for $9.99 and they ship free with Amazon Prime!

Here’s what I love about these nail clippers:

Lifetime Guarantee – Seriously. So…this is basically the last pair of nail clippers you ever have to buy.
Easy Grip/Ergonomically Sound Design – These clippers fit comfortably in your hand, allowing you to clip your dog’s nails quickly and effectively without fumbling around.
Safety Guard & Locking Clip – A little built-in protection never hurt anyone! And, when the clippers aren’t in use, simply slide the orange button up to lock them closed.
Stainless Steel Raised Tip – These bad boys have a raised tip which creates an easy angle to clip at.

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Wagglies Professional Dog Nail Clippers come with a safety guide entitled “5 Step Guide To Safely Trim Your Dog’s Nails, but the basics can be found on the back of their packaging. If your dog has light or clear colored nails, you’ll may have an easier time clipping them since you’ll be able to see the kwik (blood supply). If your dog has black nails, like Teton, it can be a bit more challenging. My advice is to clip just a little at a time until you are comfortable with the length and then file them down gently with an emery board.

Teton usually looks about like this after his bath and nail trim:

Teton After Bath

Thank you to the folks at Wagglies for hooking us up with a great new pair of clippers!

Happy tails…

Disclaimer: Her Dog Blog was sent this product in exchange for our honest review and no compensation other than the product was received.

Happy Friday! What plans do you have for the evening? I’ll probably be asleep on the couch by 8:17 PM so I’m sure your plans won’t top mine. 😉 Is it just me or does the exhaustion from the whole week hit on Friday at around 6 PM?

(A little blurry but worth it since he’s such a happy puppy in this photo!)

As you know, Teton has luscious flowing locks. Surprisingly, they don’t take a lot of maintenance (thank goodness). He’s bathed about once a month and brushed no more than two times a month. We’re pretty lucky that his hair doesn’t get matted or tangled. And, bonus! His hair doesn’t smell like “dog.” Or at least, that’s what our friends tell us.

While keeping Teton’s locks in check isn’t too much of a challenge, keeping our floors dog hair free is. A Dyson was probably one of the best investments we made, but just vacuuming doesn’t always cut it. While I mentioned above that Teton is only brushed two times a month, I should specify that these brushing sessions are legit. Too legit, in fact, to quit. Seriously. We can’t stop or there would be a layer of Teton hair in every room of the house.

Are all dog brushes created equal? We haven’t tested many but this past week we got to try out the FURminator Dual Brush from Chewy.com.

A picture of a dog brush is meh enough so I won’t bore you with more photos of it.

This particular brush from FURminator is two brushes in one. One side is a pin brush and the other is a bristle brush.

Ok, just kidding. There’s one more photo.

The pin brush is for either long-haired dogs or to aid in working toward management of the undercoat, while the bristle brush is for smoothing the hair. You can use both sides on either long-haired or short-haired dogs.

The FURminator Dual Brush worked fine on Teton, but I would use it as more of a smoothing brush than one for his undercoat. To really get the loose hair out, this brush didn’t quite do the trick for us. (We’ve had more success with brushes like this one from Chewy.)

Who does this work well on?

This guy. Biju! (Teton’s bestie.)

Short-haired dogs like Biju have very different hair than long-haired dogs like Teton. The FURminator Dual Brush was perfect for Biju because his short hair took less pull to come out with the pin brush than Teton’s long hair and the bristle brush smoothed his hair nicely.

If you’re in the market for a new brush or want to try something that’s made for a specific grooming purpose like detangling, check out Chewy.com’s Brushes and Combs assortment. All FURminator products are on sale (the Dual Brush is less than $10), too!

Happy tails…