how often do you brush?

[babydungeon]

just wondering how often everyone brushes their babies? what do you use and how long do you brush for? do you get any problems out of them. any special techniques?

my wife and i try and brush dungeon at least twice a week with a double-sided brush, using both, for about 15-20 minutes. usually we have to give him a bone to have something in his mouth or he will try to bite at the brush. -kevin

[Vivianne]

Hi Kevin,

I groom once a week with a shedding blade until that comes out pretty clean and then use a brush and comb to put all her hairs back into place. My girl has a wave to her coat all along her back.

In obedience she was taught the stand and stay command so, I take advantage and reinforce it during grooming. Otherwise she is a brush biter and won’t let me groom her easily.

She’s an inside dog so I groom mainly to keep the shedding down it all takes about a good 25 to 30 minutes. And we do nails at the same time.

[babydungeon]

dungeon has a wavy back too. i've never tried a shedding blade but i want to get one, i have white furniture. -kevin

[RottiMomCT]

Originally posted by babydungeon
dungeon has a wavy back too. i've never tried a shedding blade but i want to get one, i have white furniture. -kevin

HA - white furniture - not for long!! Soon it'll be 'speckled' with rottie fur, whether you like it or not!! Hard to keep hair off of anything!

I brush Ben weekly when I do his nails. If I'm hanging out waiting in line for ice cream I usually run my hands down his back to get a little more fur off him (hey, I'm an equal opportunity hair-sharer - makes the ice cream taste better). Of course, I don't do it if it's really windy - that'd be gross!

Seriously - Ben is brushed a minimum of once a week, more often if I think about it. Good idea to reinforce the stand/stay command while brushing! Ben usually see's the brush and gets all excited until I start brushing him, then he stands still for me....I guess it feels really good to him! ;) :D

[Carnals]

My "Cane" used to have a wavvvvy coat too. I started brushing him and blow drying his coat after every bath and now it is straight.

I do comb about twice a week, especially during the summer when it is hot and he needs to get that extra hair off.

[CarolineS]

Dresden has a couple of cowlicks on her neck and no amount of brushing or blowdrying will straighten them out. My daugher refers to her as "Mo" because of the Mohawk hairdo she sports. ;)

I brush my dogs once a week as well. I have a soft rubber brush-type thingy (that's the technical term) that I bought at Old Navy, of all places. It's similar to a horse-grooming product called a "grooma". It fits in the palm of your hand and has very long, fat, rubbery teeth that really get down into the hair and pull the loose stuff out. After I do that, I go over them with a very fine comb, paying extra attention to behind the ears, the elbows and the "pants" at the back. I then take a rubber grooming mit and go over them with that, which pulls out some more hair. To finish, I dampen a towel and wipe them down.

During the shedding season (June to Sept), I will sometimes vacuum them as well. They both love being groomed, whether by brushes or vacuum. In fact, I have to shut the one not being groomed away or she will try and push the other one out of the way to get her turn.

[IRIE'S MAMA]

Vacuums and hair dryers WOW. Irie would not allow that. We tried a hair dryer 1 time and she tried to attack it. She has gotten better though. Now she at least lets me blow dry my hair in peace. The vacuum however is a whole new thread....lets just say she has to be outside while I vacuum. Anyway I brush her a lot. It's nice in the smmer, b/c I will let her play in the sprinkler and then brush her. It seems to get rid of a lot of hair that way.

[CarolineS]

For those dogs that don't mind noisy machines like vacuums, I've found one of the best ways to get rid of hair is to take them to a U-Groom shop for a bath. The one here in town has a monster blowdryer, that's louder than my vacuum. This dryer doesn't use any heat, it literally just blasts the water right off the hair. It also blows a ton of loose hair out with it. The idea behind doing this at a U-Groom shop is that they have to clean up all the hair. :p

[babydungeon]

that's really cool, the u groom shop. sounds like something any one of us could start ourselves in towns that don't have it. i usually spend the longest amount of time brushing him after we bathe him. we always take him out to the ocean before bathing him too. he loves it.

[Miabella]

I actually brush Mia everyday, but that's because she is a long coated Rottie. Also, she loves it, so it's a nice bonding time.