Brushing and combing your dog should be made into a pleasant ritual. Select a place to do the grooming-a chair, table or bench will be satisfactory. Lift the dog onto the chair or table, talking to him, reassuring him that all is well. Let him know that he’s in for a treat, not an ordeal. Let him sniff each tool; the comb, brush, nail clippers and scissors. It’s very important that he learn to associate these tools with a pleasant experience. Handle the situation with tact and care, and the pup will look forward to it. Botch the job and you will be looking for the pup the next time you bring out the grooming tools.

When brushing the puppy, stroke the brush with and against the lie of the hair. This will help to loosen dead hair and stimulate the skin. Use a brush with the correct bristle length; short for medium- and short-haired dogs, long bristles for long-haired dogs. If you do any combing, use a fine comb for the short-haired dog and a comb with widely spaced teeth for the long-haired, medium-haired and wirehaired dogs. You can bring out the gloss in your dog’s coat by polishing with a flannel cloth or one of the commercial grooming gloves. These grooming gloves are available in pet shops or pet supply stores.

Matted hair

If you have a short- or smooth-haired dog, you will not have to worry about matted hair. But medium- and longhaired dogs do get tangled or matted hair from burs, paint, tar, chewing gum or other sticky or prickly objects. Dried food will also contribute to matted hair, and this is common in puppies and very old dogs. Matted hair is not only unsightly, but it can pinch and irritate the dog.

If the hair is not too snarled, try combing out the mats. Do this gently. Hold the matted hair or tuft in one hand and gently comb it. If it is too tightly matted, you will have to cut it off. Use blunt-end scissors. Puppies are very quick and wriggly, so be careful not to jab your pup with the scissors. There’s very little danger with blunt-end scissors. Gently pull the mat away from the dog’s body, then carefully cut the hair between the skin and the mat or tuft. Avoid pulling or yanking the tuft; it hurts. Tar, paint, and other sticky or gummy matter can be softened with acetone (nail-polish remover) and then combed out.

Dear Mr. Katz,

I’ve read your book and it’s been interesting as well as helpful – it’s taught me to teach my dog some new behaviors and discipline.

However, I wouldn’t be writing if I still didn’t have a lingering problem.

The water garden is obviously too much fun to ignore. And there’s birds landing in there to take a bath! I’m nearly convinced it’s the birds tempting her, but I could be wrong. I don’t think she really sees the fish.

In any case, I have tried the Snappy Trainers – the devices that work like a mouse trap but just make a big noise when tripped. She does not like them at all. But either I don’t have enough of them or something else is getting her attention to the point that they don’t matter. I have also tried leaving her in the house – that works too, but in the long run, I’d rather have her outdoors. As a side note, my fiancé’s Malamute was here for a week and also thinks the pond is the cat’s meow – and she’s the last dog we thought would venture into that much water. Help.

Thanks,
Sue

Dear Sue:

It’s the same as house-proofing your dog, garden-proofing, etc…

You need to keep the dog confined to a dog run when you cannot supervise him.

Only allow him to run free in the yard when you can spy on him. This may take a couple of months or more, but the benefits will be a lifetime of reliability.

This is really the type of behavior where an electronic collar makes life easy. Instead of running outside to correct the dog, the dog instead things that the correction came from the water garden itself. This makes the training process A LOT FASTER. (Ever notice how quickly dogs learn not to play around in thorny rose bushes???)

If you don’t want to get an e-collar, then leave the training collar on the dog, and do the “No, no, no” routine that I outlined in the book. This will work just the same.

That’s all for now, folks!
Adam