Home help for humans
Looking good, feeling good
Keeping our dogs looking, feeling and smelling great relies on more than just regular parlour visits to a parlour. They need daily care at home too.
Top tools
Theres so many brushes on the market so how do you what’s useful and what’s just a gimmick? Well we’ve tried them all over the years! Heres our personal favourites for everyday pet grooming.
All-round slickers

We love a slicker brush! And there’s one for every job. For a powerful deshedder and overall firm finishing brush then an all-round slicker is the one. The bristle layout allows a more effective deshed on double coat breeds. It gently but effectively, removes dead hair from the undercoat.

These are also a great go-to brush for brushing the furnishings between toes, behind the ears and legs.

Matt slickers

The ultimate tool for Dematting! These Brushs dematt even better than all-round slickers due to the unique layout of the bristles. They do not remove as much undercoat. Designed to be used on the toughest of matts and is the first line of defence in Emergency coat situations!

Soft slickers

The soft/medium flex on these heads cause less damage to the coats of fine or soft coated breeds and more comfortable for young and sensitive skin.

Rubber curry

Removes loose hair like a magnet, stimulates skin and natural oil production for healthy skin and coats. Rubber brushes are effective for all dogs and coat types but we think they are great on short haired dogs. You can Massage your dog with these.

Metal combs

We wouldn’t be without our metal combs. Perfect for detangling and brushing out undercoat.

Can be Made in varieties of metals and also different thickness of teeth, spacing between teeth, length of teeth. So which one do you need?

  • Extra Long teeth are ideal for thick, long poodle type coats
  • Thick wider teeth for course coats, fine narrower teeth for fine coats
  • Long length combs for big dogs and shorter length comb for small dogs.
  • For a good general purpose comb choose a 50/50 or 80/20. This will give you closer, finer teeth for fine hairs and checking for little knots. Whilst the wider section also has wider teeth, perfect for general combing and de-tangling
  • For troublesome skin try rotating rounded teeth which retract and rotate with the contours of the body and the pressure applied. This helps eliminate brush burn. This also helps stimulate skin and hair follicles. The teeth rotate 360degrees to help reduce hair pull and tugging and helps glide through coats.
Shed stopper

Great for dragging out undercoat and pesky tufts of dead hair.

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Grooming top tips
Our tips to make your grooming easier
  • Try to set aside allocated time for grooming at home so it doesn’t get forgotten
  • Have a suitable area to stand your dog while you groom them. The kitchen is normally a good place so any loose hair can be hoovered up easily. Just make sure its safe so if they jump up they won’t knock anything of the kitchen sides
  • Preferably groom on a surface higher up, such as a table to protect your back
  • If your dog jumps around a lot being brushed then definitely tie them up. The more dogs get away from you then the more likely they will keep trying! Once they realise that you won’t stop until YOUR ready then they will learn to not waste their energy jumping around.
  • Talk to them lots and tell them when their being good, this is positive reinforcement,
  • Give them breaks, you don’t want to overwhelm them, especially puppies and nervous dogs
  • The best way to brush long haired dogs is to layer brush them. This way you don’t miss any sections. start on the lower back leg and layer by layer comb through the hair until you’ve worked your way to the head. Repeat on the other side then finish of with the head and tail, applying the same method of layering through the coat. It’s important you comb through the hair to the skin to make sure you brush all the way through and aren’t just brushing the top of the coat. This also enables you to potentially spot any skin problems!.
  • Do not pull on any matts on the belly. This is such a sensitive area, as is between the back legs and pulling on matts here will contribute to a dog that doesn’t like being groomed. Instead use a slicker brush gently to tease them out. If however they still won’t come out, we can scissor or clip them out.
  • If your dog hates being brushed then try to realise WHY they are not enjoying it….and act accordingly
  • normally its because they have matts which are being pulled on when brushed. 1) regular brushing will prevent them getting too matted to start with. 2) using the right tools will cause less pulling 3) layer brushing will prevent pulling 4) when you get to a matt try and tease it out, or just snip it out (so long as you don’t have a show dog)
  • If they are nervous of being touched with anything other than your hand then be gentle but persistent. The goal is to keep stroking them with the brush until they realise its not going to hurt them. This is known as de-sensitising.
  • When using a rubber curry on a long haired dog then use in the direction of the long coat, or else you could make it knottier.
  • You can Use the same technique on short haired dogs. But also try circular motions, they will love the massage!
Grooming checklist
Things to do and check when grooming at home
  • If you find little knots that you can’t brush out or it hurts them when you try it is ok to thin or cut them out if it’s not too close to the skin. Alternatively pop them in to see us and we can do it, helping you to avoid a serious matting problem until their next groom.
  • If your dog tends to get a build-up of discharge in front of the eyes then wipe away daily (or a few times a day) with warm cotton wool to stop it going hard, crusty and letting bacteria build up as this will make the skin sore.
  • Some breeds have a lot of hair grow in front of their eyes which can obstruct vision and irritate the eyes. Pop them into us for an eye maintenance and we can do it for you.
  • brush your dog’s teeth daily with canine tooth paste to avoid tartar build up and promote fresh breath. There are lots of oral products on the market to assist oral hygiene
  • Keep an eye on your dog’s nails. Some grow really quick and they might need cutting before their next groom. If they get too long they can start in-growing or catching on things and tearing, causing your dog pain. Long nails can also cause skeletal issues.
  • Certain breeds, especially with drop ears, can be more prone to yeast build up in the ear and infections. Clean their ears regularly with an ear rinse if your dog suffers. That being said, we believe that ‘if it aint broke don’t fix it’… if the inside of ears look and smell fine, don’t start poking around in them.
  • Check your dog’s feet and pads for foreign bodies that if left can migrate into the skin. This especially applies to dogs with hairy feet where things can get stuck in such as grass seeds in the summer.
  • look at the sanitary areas. Is there faeces stuck to their bottom? This can quickly cause sores? Use damp towel or cloths to gently wipe. Do they scoot their bottoms on the floor, an indicator they may need their anal glands expressing.
  • Is there any discolouration to the coat? This is often an indication they are licking or chewing the area… potentially meaning there’s an irritation there or they may have psychological issues.
  • Check for fleas and ticks, these will need removing as soon as possible