Newbie with Grooming Questions

[RetiredProf]

Hi, all! I've got a great new merle pup, Fergus, who's 9 weeks old. Of course, he's been the adored new baby with family and friends, but the issue of grooming keeps coming up. "Good luck with that...get ready to spend $50 a month to manage the coat...beautiful dogs but sooo much work, etc."

It's such a downer. These negative comments are all from non-Sheltie people, but it seems like they all have "poodle" grooming mentality.

Can I get some realistic viewpoints from you experienced owners as to amount of time you spend on grooming, what you do yourself vs have done professionally? Any insight would help.

To be honest, I expect to manage most grooming essentials myself, using the great threads here on the forum and other recommendations. It would be helpful to have a list of basic grooming tools and some nice-to-have items. So far, I have a slicker, a pinbrush, scissors-type nail clippers (recommended by the vet), and Hy-Lit shampoo and conditioner (samples from the vet). Have a spray bottle with water and a blow dryer.

What else do I need? I want to get off on the right foot with this.

Prof

 

[Lightplum]

Sounds like your off to the right start. I always laugh at dog shows all the families who come up to see us before we go into the ring say ohh honey look at the beautiful dog but we don't want that kind because they take too long to groom and shed alot...ok if thats your thought than keep on thinking it I don't want that mentality owning a shelties anyway! Anyway I digress!
I brush mine once a week usually unless I feel a mat forming when I'm petting them than that gets attention. I mist them with water before brushing them and use a pin brush (without the coated tips on the end) and brush them out. When I notice they are blowing coat I start using the rake brush to pull out all the dead undercoat. I bath my non show dogs usually once a month or so more often is they are dirty/stinky depends on what they are up to in the yard I trim the fur on the bottom of their feet atleast every 3 weeks use can use blunt edge baby scissors for that and around the edge of the foot. I also trim the back of the hocks when I do the feet. You want to keep the hock fur longer (you don't want to cut down close to the skin) I also use straight edge scissor for that too (this step is important during mud and snow season) Then I take a slicker brush and brush up the tops of their feet and use thinning sheers to trim the fur standing up (there is a thread on here that has great photos of this) .
I also trim their ears to neaten them up with thinners and behind their ears. There is a great book that illustrates this its the Illustrated guide to Sheltie grooming by barb ross it has wonderful pics and details!
Also please remember if you find a mat its best to deal with it right away if you cant work it out with either a comb or your fingers try using child spray on detangler if all else fails use thinning shears to clip it out.
Shelties are not really that high maintenance dogs mine all enjoy their grooming times as long as you get them used to being handled and touched it is not a project!

 

[Silaria]

My Sheltie is primarily a pet though I am training him for agility and will be showing him in his first trial in about a month.

I get him groomed professionally every 2 months. I don't have a lot of room in my house to give him a really good bath and, after about 2 months, his fur, especially at the ears, looks really messy. I don't trust myself to cut it properly and my groomer breeds and shows Shelties so he's always cut to standard. (Currently he's overdue for a trip to the groomers but I wanted to get it done closer to his agility trial.)

In between trips to the groomer, I brush him once a week. I don't use a line brushing technique but the undercoat rake and brush work well - no matting issues here. (My two previous dogs were northern breeds and had thick undercoats so I'm very careful to avoid matting.) I use a Peti-Paws for his nails. I use to use a standard dremel but I kept catching my own nails with it. I like the shield on the Peti-Paws. I also have a waterless shampoo for spot cleaning; especially when I'm taking him on therapy dog visits. I use this mostly on his feet and rear end.

I try to brush his teeth but it's a fight.

 

[HopeShelties]

Really they don't require that much work, unless you've decided to show conformation, and even then, the only time it's more work is when you're close to a show.
I brush mine out once a week, trim the nails, and tidy up the feet. About once a month, I bathe them, and clean out ears.
Just because they get a lot of coat doesn't mean they are extremely high maintenance. I don't find it a burden at all grooming mine.

 

[OntarioSheltie]

People always think that sheltie's are so high maintenance but they really are not. I only brush Sadie about once a month (once a week when she's blowing coat) and I've learned how to groom her myself so I spend very little money on grooming. Neither Sadie or my parent's sheltie sheds excessively compared with other breeds that lose hair in clumps. There are always a few little sheltie hair tumble weeds blowing around the house though.

As far as brushes are concerned, different people have had luck with different brushes. Myself, I use a slicker brush, a furminator deshedding brush (which I absolutely LOVE) and a regular comb.

I have guillotine style nail clippers as well as a dremmel for nails. If I let Sadie's nails grow for 4-6 weeks, which happens occasionally, then I'll cut a bit off of the ends with the clippers and then use the dremmel to sand them down and smooth them some more. Otherwise I just use the dremmel. I don't use the dremmel on my parent's male, his nails are all clear (so I can see where the quick is) and he isn't bothered by the clippers.

For shampoo/conditioner I use Mane and Tail which I think is wonderful. It's very inexpensive, not harsh and makes Sadie's white ruff shine. You can buy it at Walmart and its size is much bigger than most dog shampoos, it's almost twice as big. I only bath Sadie every 4-6 months, unless she gets into something smelly. My parent's male tends to get doggie smelling quicker and needs to be bathed every 6-8 weeks.

People on the forum have given some awesome advice about home grooming. Definitely check out some of the grooming threads. GeeRome has a great blog about trimming feet and ears and Narmowen also posted some great instructions and photos on the forum also. It can be hard to visualize with just still photos so you may want to find a groomer who is willing to show you the technique. You'll probably have to pay but I found it to be worth it. I didn't find that I got it right till a groomer showed me how to hold the scissors.

For trimming feet and/or ears you'll need regular trimming sheers and thinning sheers. Blunt ended, small straight sheers are good for trimming the fur between the pads and you can also get curved sheers to trimm around the paw, which helps with the over all shape.

I hope this helps! Have fun learning grooming! It is very rewarding once you've figured it out!

 

[Chris]

Really they don't require that much work, unless you've decided to show conformation, and even then, the only time it's more work is when you're close to a show.
I brush mine out once a week, trim the nails, and tidy up the feet. About once a month, I bathe them, and clean out ears.
Just because they get a lot of coat doesn't mean they are extremely high maintenance. I don't find it a burden at all grooming mine.

That's me, too, and I have three! I stagger the bathing depending on who's going to the hospital to work. Baths come about every two months -- they really do keep clear and fresh a long time. I always use shampoo formulated for dogs so the ph will be correct. I just laugh when people go on and on about the hair. I know people with short haired dogs that have more shedding problems than I do!

 

[TaraLynn]

That's what people used to say to me.."Have fun with that".

Caliber is 10 months...and although he is still a puppy, he has quite a bit of fur already...I spend about 15-20 minutes every two or three days brushing him out. The pin-brush worked great for when he was a baby, but I found that once he started losing the puppy fur it didn't do anything for him. I got a steel tooth comb(the teeth on it are fairly long) and I find that does a REALLY good job in keeping him detangled, and the undercoat from getting too thick. Other then that it seems like you've got all you need for now!

I'd just give your puppers a few minutes each day to get him used to it, and then progressively make them longer as he get's older. Then you'll have a well behaved puppers who thinks of grooming time as relaxation time, like mine - who actually falls asleep when I groom him! Yes, it's true, from combing him out, to trimming his paws and nails...he falls asleep like a little baby!!

 

[TaraLynn]

I know people with short haired dogs that have more shedding problems than I do!

Isn't it the truth! I can cuddle and snuggle and roughhouse with Caliber for an hour and have MAYBE one or two hairs on me - but play with my sisters Golden Retriever or my neighbors lab...forget it! Fur Central!

 

[BarbV]

Isn't it the truth! I can cuddle and snuggle and roughhouse with Caliber for an hour and have MAYBE one or two hairs on me - but play with my sisters Golden Retriever or my neighbors lab...forget it! Fur Central!

Very true! My pups only shed during blowing coat season...and that only lasted about a week or so. My parent's lab, you can't even pet - anytime of year - without having to shake the fur off your hand after!

I do my own grooming every 1-2 weeks (with touch ups in between, as required). I use a pin brush (for line brushing), slicker for the legs and feet, furminator for the heavy undercoat. When brushing I either mist with water, or if they need freshening, I use dry-shampoo and leave-in conditioner.

For feet, I use the dremmel (Peticure) on Bacca, but Indy is comfortable with clippers so I use those (its faster). Minimum every 2 weeks; weekly would be ideal. You really don't want those nails to get away with you, because the quick grows along with the nail. If you leave it too long, it becomes very difficult to get back to shorter nails without cutting the quick.

I use a lady's bikini shaver to trim the tops of feet and straight scissors to do around the pads.

The quicky grooming for two dogs is about 30-45 minutes. The more complete job is double that.

About every 2 months, I bring pups to a groomer for a full bath. The groomer knows all about the "poop chute" so she does that chore for me as well.

So you can see we're all pretty consistent. Especially in that it is a labour of love! So while sometimes I have to talk myself into getting started, once I'm there, we all love it!