What Happens When You Don’t Groom Your Dog?

Are you looking for ways to keep your dog happy and healthy?

When we think about improving the health of our pets, we often think about visiting the vet, taking long walks, and buying the right food. But, it’s important to remember that grooming is another important part of keeping your dog healthy.

What happens when you don’t groom your dog?

Check out this guide to discover why grooming your dog is so important.

Removes Dead Skin and Dirt

If you don’t groom your dog, dead skin and dirt are going to pile up on their coat.

When you brush your dog, you’re not only helping keep their coat healthy and glossy, you’re also helping remove dead skin and dirt as well as dead fur and dandruff.

Additionally, brushing your dog’s hair helps to stimulate their fur’s natural oils. When these oils are stimulated, they spread throughout the fur as you brush your dog, which in turn can help their coat look shiny and healthy.

Brushing also helps prevent your dog’s hair from matting or clumping. If hair stays matted for too long, it can lead to skin irritation, bacteria growth, and even parasites.

No matter the length of their coat, you should brush your dog’s hair every couple of days. Make sure to brush in the direction of their fur, and wait until their fur is dry in order to do so.

Brushing your dog’s hair when it’s wet can make matting worse and more difficult to remove. Also, brushes can grab at the wet hair and pull at the dog’s skin, which can cause discomfort.

While many dogs love to be brushed, not all of them do. If your dog is resistant to being brushed, there are some things you can do to make them more cooperative.

We suggest you start by placing the brush in front of your dog so they can make friends with the tool. Once they’ve familiarized themselves with the brush, reach out with it and lightly touch it to their fur.

If they allow you to touch their fur without any resistance, reward them with praise or a treat. Over time, you can increase the pressure of your brush strokes.

Flea and Tick Prevention

If you don’t groom your dog, they’ll also be more prone to fleas and ticks.

Bathing your dog is one of the best ways to prevent fleas and ticks. Although bathing alone may not be able to get rid of these pesky creatures completely, bathing will help you spot them.

Once you’ve spotted the fleas or ticks, you can then take the appropriate steps to get rid of them. To remove fleas and ticks from your pet, you can either use a flea collar, a liquid applicant, or a pill.

You’ll also need to take the appropriate steps to get fleas and ticks out of your home. Once you discover fleas on your dog, you should wash all of your bedding in hot, soapy water.

You should also vacuum all of your floors, apply an environmental flea control to your home’s surfaces, and apply a flea control spray or pellet to your yard. If the problem is really bad, you may want to call an exterminator.

Protect Joints and Feet

Grooming your dog also helps with joint and feet protection. In order to protect your dog’s joints and feet, you need to trim their nails on a regular basis.

If your dog’s nails are too long, it’ll force them to change their gait, which in turn can make them walk in a painful and unhealthy way. Walking in an unhealthy manner can eventually lead to arthritis and deformations.

Nail trimming is often the grooming step that dogs are most resistant to. To make your dog less resistant to clipping, we suggest introducing them to nail clippers in a slow manner as you would with a brush.

You can start by placing nail clippers on the ground and then placing treats around it so your dog can familiarize itself with the object. Eventually, you can touch the clipper to your dog’s feet and if they don’t resist, offer them a reward.

Eventually, you can move onto clipping the nails.

Keep Ear Infections at Bay

Grooming your pup is also important for preventing ear infections.

Dogs need their ears cleaned on a regular basis, especially if they’re prone to ear infections. When dogs are exploring the outside world, they have a habit of brushing up against things.

This habit can lead to ear mites as well as ear infections, which can cause a lot of discomfort in your dog. If your dog has especially floppy ears, they’re at an even greater risk of infection.

To clean your dog’s ears, you can wrap a cotton pad or cotton ball around your index finger. Then, wipe their outer ear as well as the visible part of their ear canal. Reward your pup before moving onto the other ear.

Helps You Spot Abnormalities

One of the biggest benefits of grooming your dog is that it helps you stay aware of what’s going on with your dog’s body.

The more familiar you are with how their skin and body feel, the more likely you are to spot something out of the ordinary. By grooming your dog on a regular basis, you’ll be able to easily spot any skin infections, underlying lumps or bumps, or spots.

No matter what the disease is, early detection is always important. Therefore, regular grooming will help you detect small problems before they become larger ones.

Are You Ready to Groom Your Dog?

Now that you know what happens if you don’t groom your dog, it’s time to start your grooming regime. Pretty soon, your dog’s coat will be healthier, as will the rest of their body!

Also, be sure to check out this article to discover the top sites that every dog owner should bookmark.