Pet grooming tips for Golden Retrievers are important so you groom them easily without having problems.
Here is a description of the Golden Retriever coat, a list of the tips and steps on how to groom a Golden Retriever, and the tools used to groom them.
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Golden Retriever coat
The Golden Retriever coat has a dense water repellent outer coat and also has a thick undercoat. Their coat is of medium length. Some Golden Retriever’s coat are wavy while others are straight.
As for their color, Golden Retrievers come in different shades of gold from light to dark gold. They tend to shed lightly during the summer and winter and heavily in the spring and winter.
Pet grooming tips and steps on how to groom a Golden Retriever
Brushing your Golden Retriever’s hair
Step One: Brush your Golden Retriever coat
Brush your dog’s coat from head to toe. By doing so, you ensure that there is no matted or tangled hair in your Golden Retriever.
This also helps in decreasing the amount of shedding of your Golden Retriever.
Step two: Remove matted hair that is can’t be brushed out
Use scissors to cut out the matts that your dog have that can’t be brushed out. However , it is important that before you cut the matts out to try brush them out.
To do so, begin by holding the fur above the matt close to the dog’s skin to prevent excessive pulling. Then brush the fur gently. Then start at the very tip of the matt working you way up to the skin.
Bathing your Golden Retriever
Step one: Bathe your Golden Retriever with high quality shampoo and warm water
If your Golden Retriever is dirty, bathe them before you brush their hair. If they were bathed recently, then groom them first and then bath the afterwards.
To bathe your dog, first, put the shampoo over all your dog’s body. Rub it thoroughly throughout your dog’s coat. Second, rinse with warm water so all of the shampoo is gone. Third, dry with a large towel.
But how many times to bathe a Golden Retriever? The answer depends on each owner. Some wait until their dog is dirty so they will bath them. While others choose to bathe them on a regular schedule such as twice a month.
Step two: Brush your dog’s hair again after a bath
This step is crucial so your dog’s hair are straightened and don’t have any matts. Consider using an undercoat comb to get all of the the undercoat before trimming your Golden Retriever’s hair.
Trimming your Golden Retriever’s hair
Step one: Use scissors or a pair of grooming shears
Avoid trimming your entire Golden Retriever’s coat because the combination of the double coat helps their temperature in any season.
To trim your dog’s hair, use scissors or grooming shears to do necessary hair trimming.
Step two: Trim the hair on your Golden Retriever’s feet
Trim the hair around the bottom to the feet. Next, trim in between your Golden Retriever’s toes by brushing the hair first and then trimming it away. After that, comb it back again.
The hair on your dog’s feet should be short. It should be around 1/2 inch long. Also, you should check out your dog’s pad for any crackness in them. If you do find their pad to be cracked, then apply vaseline.
This could result from having long nails so make sure to cut them too.
Step three: Use grooming shears to cut the hair on their legs
In this step, use thinning shears to cut the back and front of the legs. Keep the hair in the back of the legs a bit longer than the front. Make sure to only cut away the fuzzy hair.
Step four: Cut the undercoat around the Golden Retriever’s chest and neck
The chest and neck is a location that has excess hair. Begin by thinning the hair in the chest and neck of the dog.
Make sure that when you finish their coat is laying flat on their body.
Step five: Trim your Golden Retriever’s ears
Using thinning shears, thin the hair around the front and back of the ears. Then trim the hair on the ears.
Step six: Trim the tail
One of the important pet grooming tips is to don’t make the tail too short. Trim it enough that it looks of medium size using a grooming shear.
Cleaning their eyes and ears
Using a cotton balls and mineral oil to wipe and clean your dog’s ears and eyes. But be careful to not put the mineral oil inside your dog’s eyes.
Cutting their toenails
Cut your dog toenails using clippers or grinding tools. You should cut them so they are not of long length while not cutting the quick.
Positively let you dog associate nail trimming with rewards such as treats.
Best grooming tools for Golden Retriever
The best grooming tools for a Golden Retriever are a brush, comb, scissors, and grooming shears.
Brushes
Slicker brushes are the most common type of brush used by dog groomers. This type of brush is also called pin brush. It has a wide surface covered by pins.
Slicker brushes are great to untangle the matts in a medium to long coated hair of Golden Retrievers.
Also, you can use bristle brushes to additionally comb the Golden Retriever. This type of brush is suited to short haired dogs but can also chosen for Golden Retrievers.
Comb
Choose a good quality steel comb for your dog. Combs are great for putting the finishing touches on a Golden Retriever after brushing and trimming.
Scissors and grooming shears
Both tools are used to remove hair from areas such as ears and feet. They trim the hair and cut them neatly.
How often do you groom a golden retriever
Brushing their coat
Golden Retrievers should be brushed and combed two to four times per month to reduce shedding and prevent matting.
Bathing
Wait until your dog is dirty so you can will bath them or you could choose to bathe them on a regular schedule such as twice a month. It is important to not overbathe them so their skin doesn’t become dry or their undercoat becomes damaged and lost.
Nail trimming
Nails should be trimmed at least once per month. It must be done correctly so it doesn’t cause your dog any pain.
Cutting the coat
Whenever the hair is long, you should cut the coat. Make sure to cut areas such as hair on the paw pads, tail, chest, neck, and ears.
Conclusion
Here are the pet grooming tips that are important and used for your Golden Retriever. These pet grooming tips help keep your dog clean and tidy. They also prevent problems from happening to your Golden Retriever such as matted hair.
To know more information about grooming a German Shepherd, check Dog Grooming Tips for German Shepherds .
