What Every Dog Owner Must Know About Professional Dog Grooming

As the weather continues to get colder across the country, including here in the St. Petersburg area, properly grooming your furry companion is becoming more important.

If you think through the impact the change of weather has on your own hair, keep in mind it will impact your dog in the same way. As the weather gets colder and the humidity drops, the scalp and hair become drier. This can cause an increase in your dog itching and increased dander around your home and on your clothes.

Adding a regular visit to a professional groomer is as essential as the home bathing and grooming for the health of your pet and for your sanity.

Why Invest in Professional Dog Grooming

While it is an investment, professional dog grooming can help save both your dog's health as well as your sanity. Before closing the door completely, think through why you should consider a professional dog groomer:

Your Furry Companion's Health - While the first thing anyone thinks about is how clean good looking a professionally groomed dog is, the primary reason any dog owner should consider professional dog grooming is for the health of their furry companion. Professional dog groomers, like those at Advantage Pet Center, are trained to look for signs of health problems in the skin and on the coat. These can be mild skin irritations, abrasions, lumps, bumps, and patchy baldness, just to name a few. This advanced warning can help save your pet's health, and possible life, not to mention your medical costs when you can address a problem early. This training also helps the dog groomer to identify what kind of shampoos and products are best suited for your pet and his or her particular coat and skin type.

The Right Grooming Equipment & Expertise - When we want to look our best, we forgo the $5 hair cut special, and invest a little more into a well-respected hair stylist. The quality of the experience and service is enough to justify the extra expense. Professional groomers are akin to respected hair stylists. They can help make the experience for your dog much more enjoyable, and your dog will look, and feel, much better than when most of us try to groom them at home.

Don't Forget To Clip Those Nails

The grooming process is more than baths and brushes, and should include attention to your dog's nails as well. While many people think of the nails when they start scratching people or snagging clothes, they actually have a huge impact on your dog's health as well. If the nails are let go too long, they can cause problems for your dog walking, cause sores on the bottom of the paws, and thereby cause infections to start, which can quickly become a serious, if not life-threatening, condition. While you can cut your dogs nails at home, and there are many products to help with it, are you causing your dog or yourself injury in the process while trying to hold him or her for the clip? Are you equipped and trained with how to deal with an exposed blood vein if you cut the nail too short? What seems like a simple task can actually be quite challenging for those who aren't equipped and trained.

Find A Professional Dog Groomer

If you need to find a professional dog groomer, either as a first-timer or to replace a partner you're no longer satisfied with, be sure to do a little research. Directories like Yelp or DogGroomerDirectory.com are great resources for not only locating those providers in your area, but also seeing what other's have thought of the service.