​Why dog grooming is important and what you need to know

Introduction
Have you ever noticed how wild animals will groom each other?  And, if you have, have you wondered why they do it?
In groups of animals, like packs of wolves, it is likely that the grooming process helps to strengthen the social bonds between pack members.
In addition, in the wild, a well-maintained coat can be a valuable asset in harsh conditions.  Keeping the coat in good condition is therefore time well spent as it may make the difference between surviving ant not.
So, what does this mean for our canine companions?

Bonding
Your dog doesn’t have his own pack.  He has you!
Whilst I’ve yet to come across anybody that gets groomed by their dog (notwithstanding the odd tongue in the face) you should absolutely spend time performing grooming.
Most dogs love being groomed and receiving human attention.  Many even prefer attention to food. 
When we take our Labrador, Harvey, to St Peter’s Garden Centre he likes the fact that most of the staff know his name and will give him a treat.  But he LOVES the fact that if he rolls onto his back many of them will give him a belly-rub! (*)
Spend time grooming your dog and strengthen that dog-handler bond.
* If your dog isn’t well socialised, or if you are just starting out on your dog ownership experience and haven’t done any socialisation, speak to Sandra about the process first as it may be too much stimulus otherwise. 

Cleanliness and Health check
Dog grooming gives us the opportunity to help keep our dogs’ coats in good condition.
The grooming act will help remove old and damaged hair in a way that enables you to put it straight in the bin (thus helping to minimise that fur tumbleweed scenario that many of you will be familiar with!. 
This helps to prevent matting that, if not dealt with, will get worse over time and can lead to skin irritation.  It particularly bad cases it can lead to nasty sore patches which may become infected.
The grooming process also provides the ideal opportunity for giving our dogs a good overall inspection to spot any potential problem areas; fleas, ticks, seeds embedded between toes or in ears, damaged pads, lumps and bumps that weren’t there previously etc.
You can also look beyond just an inspection of the dog’s coat and decide to incorporate a quick check of his eyes and teeth too. 

Appearance
I’ve put this last because:
Vanity is a human trait.  Your dog doesn’t care how he looks!
That said, if you enjoy working on your dog’s appearance (and can incorporate the points above), and your dog enjoys it too, then who am I to judge?  Carry on grooming!
​
How to groom – tips and equipment guide
OK, so you’re sold on the benefits of grooming and want to know what you should and shouldn’t do.  Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Don’t force your dog to do something that he isn’t comfortable doing.  If he is uncomfortable with the grooming process then you need to work on making it a pleasant experience.
• Linked to the above point, you need to be comfortable, calm and relaxed so that your dog will pick up on this.  If you have had a bad day at work, run out of your tastiest single malt, or your favourite Eastenders’ character has just been killed off then leave the grooming until another time.
• If you have a puppy then start the grooming process early with lots of praise and reward (treats or toys) so that it is enjoyable from the start.
• Some dogs need more frequent grooming than others.  An Afghan Hound is going to need more regular grooming than a Beagle, that’s just the way it is.
• Be very careful when it comes to cutting nails.  If you cut into the quick then not only will it be painful for your dog but it also bleeds – a lot!  If you are in any doubt ask your vet or experienced groomer to do it for you.
• If you’d like to ‘watch and learn’ before brushing, cutting, washing your dog then book a session with a professional groomer and watch what they do.  Show an interest and ask questions.
• Get the right tool(s) for the job.  Your basic tool will be a good brush but, depending on your dog and your enthusiasm, you may also want shampoo, scissors and/or clippers, nail clippers, toothpaste and brush, and maybe even a dryer!
• The ‘best’ brush will depend on your dog’s coat type.  Check with your dog’s breeder or previous owner to see what they use.    For Harvey we use a hand-sized rubber brush similar to the Kong Zoom Groom. 
• Don’t use human products for dogs.  Shampoo and toothpaste that is fine for us may contain substances that are toxic to dogs.

 
Author: Richie Sills
Richie is the author of Richie’s Room, a blog primarily dedicated to his love of and interest in dogs.  Richie is a client or Worcester Dogs and you’ll see him and his dog Harvey on our Facebook page doing scent-work with Sandra.

In the dog world, possession of objects or perceived valuable resources such as their food is the law.  Food guarding is not in any way related to a dog being 'dominant ' although many people do use this terminology when looking for the 'why' answer. Any dog or puppy who may appear very quiet or even calm most of the time,  can ferociously and successfully guard a food item from  a larger dog or from you approaching anywhere near them. 

Generally the higher quality of food such as fresh bones, pig's ears or rawhide chews, the more pronounced the aggression. However, the tendency to guard varies from dog to dog but some breeds do have a higher inclination to guard than others. It can also run in families and it can be learned  by pups by their mother or by having to defend food in the litter.  Most importantly they can learn it from us 

WHAT DO YOU SEE
Every dog is an individual so so may see different responses from each dog and not all are obvious so you need to record and watch carefully to see them. You may only see one or two behaviours or all of them:

• A low level growl , often very quiet
• Lip curling or/and mouth tightening 
• The behaviour may proceed to snarling , snapping, lunge to bite
  
• As you approach they stiffen and 'freeze'- can be a split second or longer 
  
• Sometimes as they look sideways you can see 'white eye'  as they stare at you without moving their head

​NEVER EVER take Food away from your Puppy or dog as a 'training exercise'  as this tends to teach them TO GUARD 
​
PUPPIES
Aside from socialisation, there are other high-priority exercises for puppies that are crucial. These are food bowl exercises involving getting your new puppy used to human involvement around their food from early days. Left to themselves, a significant proposition of dogs will become resource guarders and be difficult to be be near when they are eating. This is because they are 'normal' animals, and most definitely not because some canine individual is stubborn or vicious. 
So, when feeding your puppy, hang around while he eats and add a small amount of something tastier mid-meal. . Also practice walking up to your puppy while he is eating and dropping a nice morsel in as you walk past . The goal is that your approach reliably predicts something good for the puppy. In other words your presence is really good news as something scrummy is coming! All the family can do this but so be careful with young children so that they add the food in easily and that there is no teasing. 
At all costs do not remove the bowl when the pup is eating as this will only increase any food guarding tendencies. 

ADULT DOGS
There is a lot that can be done through a wide range of behaviour modification techniques but prevention is definitely better than cure. As their is a high risk factor in many cases of adult food guarding, we advise  that you ask your Veterinary Surgeon to refer  you to a qualified behaviourist.

Never ever punish your dog in any way , physically or mentally for food guarding. The behaviour for many dogs  is related to a FEAR of the food being taken away. Threatening behaviour from the owner ( including taking the bowl away or even grabbing the item from the dog) will increase the fear, consequently resulting in the high likelihood of the aggression rapidly escalating.

Contact your Vet or email us on sandra@worcesterdogs.co.uk  for specialist help if you are concerned

 Sandra Raw BA(Hons), Dip Ed, MRes, APBC. 

 Scott and Fuller in the 1960's published a study that offered dog owners knowledge of the existence of a sensitive period for socialisation in puppies. In the case of domestic dogs, the socialisation window closes somewhere between three and five months of age, depending on the breed and individual make-up. Easy socialisation drying up around four and a half months of age in majority of cases.  Having your puppy meet other puppies, adult dogs, other companion animals, humans of different shapes, sizes, ages and looks and exposing them to handling and equipment such as collars and leads is to prime them for the life ahead of them.

A HAPPY LIFE
The importance of a critical period for socialisation is hard to overestimate. Socialisation should be thought as priming your dog for a happy life! If for instance, a puppy doesn’t get enough exposure to men and beards, before the socialisation clock runs out, the risk for fear responses and aggression directed at men with beards runs higher for that dog as an adult. Also, as dogs are excellent discriminators, so adequate exposure to women or eight-year olds, for example, does not guarantee a generalisation to men or two- year old kids. So it is really important to expose your puppy to as wide a social sphere as possible as the more about life with us that they find normal or positive  during this period , the easier it will be to take them out and about and expose them to forms to forms of enrichment  such as walks and play and holidays and the more likely they are to enjoy them!  Socialisation really means getting the puppy used to anything it may have to encounter in later life, including challenges such as car rides, veterinary exams, cats, traffic, football games, stairs or grandma in a wheelchair.

​BENEFITS
There are many benefits to heavy and planned socialisation.  First one is obvious in that the more you do the fewer things you’ll miss. The second advantage has a wider effect in that the more your puppy encounters novel situations and gets over it, the more he has an underlying trait of stability and his overall confidence grows.  The more puppy hood experiences your puppy must draw on, the more resilient the overall character. With this character even if you miss something with your socialisation they will be handled more easily by your adult dog. A much more passive approach to socialisation, just a few visits to a local park and maybe outside a supermarket, is inadequate for some dogs. Aim for a systematic approach which is written down and is varied each week in terms of locations and stimuli and does NOT end at week 16!! Socialisation especially for some breeds is part of their life long after the critical period ends. It is beyond beneficial for your dog as you end up with a dog who is at reduced risk for fearfulness and biting, but one who is also much less chronic stress as an adult. Your aim is to get a relaxed, confident, solid adult temperament by actively increasing the number of strongly positive experiences. It is like putting money in the bank!!

TOP TIPS 
Two of my top tips in any socialisation involving people, is hand feeding. Rather than just exposing your puppy to young children, have the young children feed the puppy small tasty treats. Each little treat builds up more money in the bank for young children. Also, if you have a predatory type of dog who are addicted to toys or balls, is to have people in the category you’re trying to cover (say men with beards) then engage in favourite games with your puppy.
 
Remember you re aiming to put money in the bank for your puppy’s future!!

GETTING A SECOND DOG
We often begin to think of adding to our canine family when we get to the adult stage with our first dog and he or she seems the perfect dog!!. You are having lots of fun and you love each other to bits!  Surely it can’t be too much work to add to your canine family or can it?
First, you need to stop and consider what you would need to be able to offer your second dog, so they had the opportunities that your first dog experienced. 
Secondly, what is the real impact on us and what do we need to do differently in those early months.
 


Top five rules of owning a second dog
 
1. Pretend this is your only dog
This is always the most surprising of rules about adding a second dog to your family. Research suggests that second dogs are much more likely to develop a dog-dog aggression problem than ‘only’ dogs in the home.  We often assume, and assumption is the cause of many of the problems we experience when we add a second dog, that this dog will gain social confidence from its buddy at home. We follow that assumption through with thinking that leads us to believe that they will need less socialisation with other dogs outside the home. Sadly, the exact opposite seems to be true. A new canine addition to your home where an older dog already exists means that your puppy needs more socialisation with other dogs, not less.  But most importantly he needs to do this on his own, without his new friend there to support him. He needs to learn his own coping strategies in a wide array of social situations.
2. Cuteness is not a rite of passage
All puppies need to learn how to respect older dogs. If you have a strong-minded, mature bitch already at home, this rarely proves a problem! These kinds of dogs offer you the opportunity to relax a little and let them act like strict Aunts – telling the puppy off when they are out of line. However, it is a different story if you owner an all-tolerant male, or a young and playful female, then you need to take more care and a different approach. Just as children need to learn that they cannot always get their own way, so puppies need to be taught restraint and respect and learn the canine signals that mean ‘back off’. Also continually biting their new bestest friend all over is not doing them a favour!  Cuteness and age do not give them permission to pester an older dog that won’t tell him off. The outcome of this exchange is that your is simply telling your puppy that this is acceptable behaviour with all other dogs – and is going to get him into trouble in the park before he’s too much older.
If your existing dog can’t or won’t tell off the new puppy appropriately, then you must step in and break up the action when it gets too much.
A positive intervention approach needs to be frequent and consistent – and the urgency for your pup to meet less tolerant dogs in the big, bad world is dramatically increased.
One of your main priorities is to not only protect your pup from learning bad habits, but to maintain your older dog’s routine and bond with you as close as possible., Many older dogs are less than happy when a new puppy comes into the home. Unless carefully manged they often find themselves coming second in their owners’ attentions and affections. Maintaining time and contact with your older dog is of the upmost importance as your first dog is the reason your just got another one!!
3. Tough Times
One of the pleasures delights of getting a second dog is that you will be able to enjoy exercise and being out and about together, as a family.  However, it is essential that you get your puppy out for exercise, training and socialisation without your older dog being present and often this does mean walking them, training them and socialising them separately!  This is because you need build your pup’s social confidence as an individual dog – out from under the shadow of their new companion. We have seen many new puppies on the first night of puppy class without their older canine friend and they are nervous and fearful of other dogs.  This is because their pup has an older dog to rely on at home, and that he or she cannot cope without him.
4. Remember your new pup is a one off
We often get another dog because we are utterly addicted to the breed of our first love! Many second-dog owners that we see in puppy classes have chosen to get another dog of the same breed as the first and in many cases, they have returned to the same breeder. We often say to ourselves that this has the advantage that ‘I know what to expect’. But here is the absolute truth about this strategy.  You must treat each dog as an individual – and to try not to compare them against each other, any more than you would compare your children.
If your second dog is of a different breed or type from your first, it is also important to recognise the differences between them. While puppies often do pick up the habits of older dogs that they live with, individual breeds will inevitably develop in ways that they are driven to by their genetic potential. So, if you do choose to get a Terrier after owning a herding breed remember you may have to learn new training skills and ways to motivate you new dog!
5. Play means you need rules
Human sanity can often be sorely tested by the play of two canine companions enjoying each other’s company! Play between dogs is a form of arousal – and as such it can easily tip over the top into aggression and quickly. More practically, but just as important, is the fact that it is also highly enjoyable – even addictive. The consequence of this, is that playing with their new canine buddy may become your new pup’s focus – and that can be to the exclusion of you.  Building a real bond with your new pup, and not just acting as a poor substitute for your other dog is your initial goal. To build a good relationship with a second dog we must overcome the natural laws of social animals where they will choose to play with their own species first. This means making ourselves more important than another dog – so interrupting and even limiting the amount of play they have together is essential. Stairgates make control and management strategies easier.
 
Finally, having two dogs can be a wonderful experience, but only if you treat them as separate entities at the start. Only once your puppy has built a strong bond with you, they have learned to cope with all the daily challenges of our big world and has discovered how to stand on all four paws when meeting other dogs, do you deliver your vision of owning two dogs!

How many times have you had to spell out the 'W' word rather than say it? Every time you say the word 'WALK' or 'WALKIES' you dog has the zoomies and proceeds by careering around the house with you unable to get the lead near the dog! You might even on occasion get knocked over by your dog but certainly it is true that saying the word transforms your  5 stone canine family member into a fuzzball of intense excitement. Sometimes your dog begins to react sooner than the certainty the presence of their lead gives, as they have learnt the sequence of your actions preceding a trip to the local park and beginning to look for your shoes or the coat that is only worn for dog walking. 

Why do dogs love their trips out with us so much that they work out a whole list of clues that they may be about to depart on one? Why does the promise of going out virtually anywhere excite most dogs?  Because it provides them with opportunities that they highly value and are fun such as sniffing, playing, peeing, pooing, exploring , eating an array of gorgeous other poo, meets and greets with other dogs, marking opportunities to leave their scent. These are ALL activities that are not easily or not at all available at home. it is thought also that for domestic dogs outings may be particularly exciting because unlike historically where dogs were much more free ranging, domestic dogs on the whole only go out when they are taken by their family. Their human family might take them to highly enriching environments  they rarely go to such as forests ( the ultimate smell pit for some dogs), beach, lakes,  rivers, picnics, doggie play areas where again there are exciting stimuli present in these areas they don't encounter at home. 

It is often a complete mystery to us owners that we can visit an area again and again  but every time our dogs demonstrates  the same urgency to sniff, run, roll and socialise as on every previous visit. The opportunity to engage in these activities is obviously highly reinforcing for them, although some of them baffle us humans.  Sniffing the neighbour's lawn 100 times a week in the same area must surely be boring!!

So, it might come to us as a light bulb moment that it is not actually the grass that is so enticing but in a world that is mostly smells for dogs, rolling might be a way for your dog to spread it's odours for others to pick up, or to release odours held in that vegetation to collect information about another canine's activities.. Or your dog may love to explore the tactile nature of different grass varieties and hence explores seven different neighbour's  lawns in your street. Some dogs do this and we all know one!  

It is definitely worth a ponder on the ways your dog finds certain activities inherently rewarding and why this may be so. We also need to accept that sometimes we may never truly understand why this is the case. But it can help and explain some of the troublesome behaviours dogs display as well. Sledding breeds such as Huskies, were bred to run and pull, so for them running and pulling may be innately rewarding. Terriers might find hunting around in bushes for small animals innately rewarding , whilst Border Collies and other herding breeds can find chasing moving objects innately rewarding. Dalmatians and Boxers were expected to be engaged in active pursuits for much of the day on a regular basis.

Many dog breeds have historically had jobs that required long periods of intense activities but today's dogs who live with us, have to adapt to less exercise in active pursuits for much of the day that they may have bred for.. Many do and can adapt to less exercise but ignoring their activity history is at our peril.  So when you pick up that lead, or use WALK , the promise of performing an activity they were bred to do results in the zoomies you know  WHY!!!!!