Grooming your pet helps to keep them clean and happy, but not all dogs enjoy grooming. Quite a lot of our furry friends would be just as satisfied if we didn't try to make them sit in one place for so long. However, if we don't groom them, our dogs will start smelling like they live in a dump.

It's a fine line between keeping your pets happy and keeping them clean. But is there a way you can do both? Pets, like humans, have certain things they enjoy. By creating a more enticing grooming process, you can make your dog want to be washed, brushed, and kept as a pampered pooch. Here, we look at some ways to make the grooming experience more enjoyable for your pet.

Most Dogs Don't Like Baths

A few dogs enjoy getting wet out in the rain, yet they're the same ones who really hate having to take a bath. Part of this reason is that many owners don't pay that close attention to their furry friends when they take a bath. The scent of soap can be overpowering for their sensitive noses. If any bit gets in their eyes, it could be painful for your dog.

The very first thing you should know about bathing your dog is to be careful. Unlike humans, your dog can't tell you when something gets in their eyes. All they can do is whine and hope you notice. It's not a pleasant feeling for any pet. So you need to be paying particular attention to what you're doing while bathing them.

Baths shouldn't be too long and too frequent either. Sure, human beings should have a shower every day, but dogs' needs are different. The buildup of oils in their fur is good for keeping them warm and their hair fresh. Bathing them tends to remove that layer close to their skin and might make them feel cold. Ideally, it would be best if you bathed your dog once a week. Anything more than that is just too much for taking care of your doggy friend.

Many owners also have a special bath soap for their dogs. Avoid using any commercial bath soap for humans and consider a bog shampoo instead. These shampoos are formulated to be easy on your dog's skin and fur.

Brushing Your Dog's Pelt

After bathing, you should brush your dog. Many dog owners have a specific hairbrush that they use for their dogs. The hairbrush is a brilliant touch since it allows you to control your dog's shedding. It's better to have a hairbrush that collects all their shed fur than having to pick it up all over your house afterward.

When choosing a brush, you should be looking for something with soft bristles that gives a massaging effect to your puppy. Ideally, you'd want to cuddle them up in a comfy dog bed before setting to work on getting their fur sorted out.

How often you brush your dog will vary by the breed you have and how often they need maintenance. Short-haired dogs usually only need brushing every so often. Long-haired breeds can be labor-intensive since they need brushing every few days to ensure that their hair doesn't become matted and coarse.

If you neglect to brush your dogs, their hair starts clumping up and becoming difficult to manage. Also, your technique is vital to making it an enjoyable experience. Always brush outward from your dog's skin and never inward. The natural grain of the hair flows in that direction. Going against the grain may cause the hair to bunch up and hurt.

Pedicures

You're able to perform a pedicure on your pet, but this procedure could go wrong quickly if you don't know what you're doing. Dog nails are different from human nails, and you could hurt your pup inadvertently. Trimming a dog's nails is necessary for an indoor breed, but it isn't so crucial for outdoor breeds.

Nail trimming doesn't have to be as traumatic for you and your pup as many people make it out to be. The best way to learn is to approach a professional groomer and have them train you in the best way to deal with your dog's nails. Having their nails trimmed may promote anxiety in your pet. To avoid this, you should start socializing them to getting their nails done as a puppy.

Under no circumstances should you ever use toenail clippers designed for humans on your dog. These devices aren't built for use with a puppy. Rotary trimmers are safe for dogs, and you can ask your veterinarian or local dog groomer for advice on getting one.

While you can do it yourself, many owners don't like the anxiety it causes them and their pets to go through the process. They usually end up asking a professional to step in and take over since it's the most time-effective way to groom a dog's nails.

Haircuts

Just like humans have particular styles, so do dogs. In recent years, boutiques have opened up to help pet owners get their dogs' hair cut and styled to be more alluring and attractive. You could quickly get a pair of scissors and style your dog's hair yourself. However, if you intend to do anything more than just trim your dog's fur, you might want to consult a professional groomer. Dogs with long hair need to deal with these haircuts regularly to avoid hair matting and dropping. They may find it easier just to do a utilitarian style and cut their dogs' hair themselves.

Additional Tips for Grooming

A safe and successful grooming session depends on having an owner that knows their pet. Many times, grooming is a bother because dogs pay too much attention to the details. Getting your dog a pet toy that they can distract themselves with while you groom is a good approach.

Another decent angle is to offer them special grooming treats. These should be of a higher quality than the regular treats you use for training. Your pet might change their mind on how they see grooming if they get rewarded with these beautiful treats after. Thinking creatively will help you come up with ways that you can keep your pet happy while they're being groomed.

Dog owners run into problems with their dog's behavior, but two stand out as being the hardest to break them of: jumping on people and stealing food. Both of these behaviors focus on the fundamental nature of a dog, but as a pet, they should be trained to avoid these primal instincts. Because dogs are resilient and smart, high counters usually pose no problems in getting a bite of your food. For aggressive breeds, this type of bad habit can lead to terrible effects. Aggressiveness combined with the draw of free food could lead to a pet attacking someone else. Additionally, if you have a large dog, they can just as quickly jump on someone and knock them down, potentially leading to injuries. Combine them, and you get a recipe for disaster. These behaviors can become a problem, but you can deal with them early on with the right kind of training.

How to Deal With Food Stealing

Food stealing is an insidious habit that makes its own reward. If you've tried training dogs before, you know that the prize is an essential part of the training regimen. A dog will do anything for a treat and feel as though he or she has been rewarded. What if the behavior offers a treat itself? Dogs that steal food from the top of tables or counters see it as a "good" behavior because they get rewarde3d with a treat. Even yelling at them may not get them to stop. Dogs see loud exclamations as praise primarily and may mistake your arguments for telling them they did a good job. Luckily, an owner has a few tricks up their sleeves to help dogs unlearn this behavior.

Get Rid of the Chances

Your dog can't steal anything if there's nothing to steal. While technically, it doesn't stop the behavior, it does remove the temptation. If you have stuff on top of your counter, the best way to make sure the dog doesn't get access to it is to keep him or her out of the kitchen. You can do this by putting up a baby gate to keep your dog out of the kitchen area. Alternatively, you can put them in their safe zone and keep them separated from the rest of the house. A fur dog bed can help to keep them calm while you're letting your pies cool on the kitchen counter.

Use Behavioral Prompts

If you see your dog hanging around in your kitchen, it's not in your best interests to yell at him or her. Instead, just tell them to "go to your place" and reward them when they do. The draw of a reward is the most thrilling part of their countertop capers, and by replacing the food on the counter with a treat, you can help to circumvent their behavior. However, even if your dog is trained, you should be careful not to leave food lying around. Even the most well-trained of dogs will give into temptation if it's strong enough. Try to keep your pet out of those situations where their training gets strained because of available food.

Besides sending them to their "safe spot" in the house, you can also teach your pet to understand the command "Leave It." If you catch your dog getting into something that they shouldn't have, you can get them to put it down by using the command. This command has the bonus of being useful in situations where your dog may have something poisonous in his or her mouth. Getting them to understand the "Leave it" command can come in handy in many different situations. As a behavioral prompt, it's one of the most versatile tools a pet trainer can have in his or her arsenal.

Dealing with Jumping on People

Jumping is a behavior that comes from a pup's need to get attention. When they were puppies, leaping and barking was about the only way they'd get you to notice them. However, as they get bigger, leaping on you can be a negative behavior and one you need to break them of. When they're only a handful, jumping up can seem like a fun sight. When they cross 100 lbs. and are taller than you are, leaping could knock you down and injure you. Teaching your dog how to stop jumping is a more straightforward process than most pet parents think it is. It would be easier to teach a puppy not to jump, but by the time their jumping becomes a problem, that ship has sailed. So, how does a dog owner teach their fur baby some manners when it comes to jumping on others?

Prevent Jumping Through Proactive Methods

While this is the most straightforward approach, it's not really a very helpful one. Keeping your pet in an enclosed area where they can't get the opportunity to jump on others is a viable solution. Many dogs have their own places within their homes that they use as a safe space. Keeping them in this safe space may help them manage their jumping urges while keeping them comfortable and happy. If they're walking, you may need to keep them on a tight leash. This approach can control their jumping, but if you have an incredibly energetic dog, it could injure you in an attempt to keep their behavior in check. While these methods are viable, they aren't usually the best way to stop a dog from leaping on others.

Teach Polite Greetings

Polite greetings are those that don't result in damaging someone else or pushing them over. When choosing a polite greeting, make sure that your dog can't both jump and perform the greeting action. Typical greetings include standing on all fours on the floor with tail wags or rolling onto their pet bed. One of the more people-friendly greetings is rolling over to expose their tummy for scratches. These polite behaviors are an excellent method of replacing the jumping behavior with one that's more conducive to meeting and greeting people.

Once you chose a particular behavior, you need to pick your training times. You can't try to replace their behavior with something else when they're stressed or agitated, so choose a time when your pet is relaxed. You won't have much luck trying to train them to stop jumping if they're already jumping. When you start training, use high-value doggie treats as rewards. These are far more rewarding than the attention they'd get and are a tangible way for them to experience performing the right action. Since engagement is what these behaviors focus on, the added benefit of making eye contact with your dog to show them you're giving them attention helps reinforce the polite greeting behavior.

Use Negative Reinforcement

A lot of pet parents hear negative reinforcement and start thinking about punishing their dogs. This stereotype isn't exactly the case. Training jumping out of the dog using negative reinforcement requires a dedicated effort on your part. It does take time, but it's well worth the effort. You don't need to introduce anything that will hurt your dog. This training method relies on the most simplistic of principles - if you do what we want, we'll give you what you want.

Training using negative reinforcement starts with approaching your pet slowly while inside their enclosure or safe space. Say hi to them, and if they jump, back away and leave. If they keep all four paws on the floor, you toss them a treat to let them know that was what you wanted them to do. Add in some praise to let them know that they did well. If at any time during the treats and the recognition, they jump, turn around, and walk away.

You should consider repeating this training method a few times a day. Eventually, your pup will associate your attention and the treats with this polite behavior. However, while they may start realizing that this behavior is better, they might still become excited when in the presence of an enthusiastic person. To deal with this, you'll need to increase the intensity of the training. Approach them while talking in a more excited tone and with immediate actions. You're trying to teach them that no matter how eager the person approaching them is, there's no call for them to jump. This behavior will carry through to all of their interactions and make them a more obedient pup as a result.

Teaching Them To Be more Respectful Pets

Your dog needs to respect those around them. Jumping on someone or trying to steal food are destructive behaviors that can result in terrible fallout. If your dog is an indoor dog, especially, this sort of behavior can cause trouble with you and others within the household. The only way to approach this problem is to examine the best way to guide your pet away from this type of behavior gently. The sooner you deal with it, the more acceptable your pet's company will be to everyone.

Puppies, like the humans that adopt them, are social animals. They need the interaction with other puppies to function in regular society. Unfortunately, a pup you may obtain from your local pet store may not be socialized. In fact, depending on where the puppy comes from, they may not have been properly brought up. It's sad to see unsocialized puppies trying to make their way in the world. They don't get along with other dogs and can be loud and aggressive because of it. If you're someone who walks their best animal friend every day, having a socialized puppy is among the most important of your considerations. But why is socializing a puppy that important? Here we seek to answer that question.

Understanding Puppy Socialization

Socialization is the process where a puppy learns that other dogs aren't threats and that they're safe to interact with. Things like sniffing each other and engaging in play that doesn't harm the other dog are learned at this stage. Typically, the window for socialization in puppies lasts between the first three and twelve weeks after they're born. They're strong enough to play with others at three weeks, and up to twelve weeks, they figure out what counts as socially acceptable and what isn't. This fundamental understanding helps them to be more social without the fear of them losing their tempers and getting aggressive with other dogs or humans.

Vets and animal behavioral experts have known for some time that intensive breeding programs tend to impact the socialization of puppies significantly. These breeding programs supply pet stores with dogs and puppies for sale, with breeding going on at a massive scale. The downside of this mass-breeding is that the puppies are removed from others and kept in small cages for an extended period. After this, the puppies are shipped out to the pet stores, where families usually adopt them at around eight weeks old. Unfortunately, this leaves very little time for socializing the puppy, and the result is a grown dog that is psychologically damaged.

Research on the topic shows parallels between humans and dogs. As a human baby that isn't comforted and nurtured at the start of their lives develops deep-seated psychological problems, so too does a dog that isn't socialized. In many cases, if the puppy is adopted after their socialization learning period has elapsed, they may end up showing off lousy behavior in public and might even attack other dogs or humans on sight. If you're walking your dog every day, your furry friend may turn into a deadly hazard for other people. Socializing your puppy is an integral part of raising them to be obedient and faithful companions.

The Results of Poor Socialization

As we noted before, poor socialization as a puppy leads to aggressive behavior in adult dogs. Typically, dogs that display symptoms of anxiety or phobias are those that weren't properly socialized as puppies. While products like a cuddler dog bed might help them with anxiety, it's not a simple fix. Mental problems for both humans and dogs can last a lifetime. In many cases, the damage poor socialization does can't be reversed. No matter how long you own your dog, he or she will always display the symptoms of losing out on that critical bonding period. So how does a caring, loving owner socialize their puppy most effectively?

Puppy Preschool Options

Puppy school courses are an excellent way for your puppy to get to grips with socializing with other dogs. These programs usually run for around four (4) weeks and can be a lot of fun for your puppy. Not only will he or she have a lot of other dogs close by to play with and get to know well, but they will also bring much-needed exercise. Ask around before choosing a puppy preschool. It would be in your puppy's best interest to board with a school that has a good reputation. Several veterinary centers have their own puppy preschool. Ask your vet if they offer one or if they could recommend one for socializing your tiny fur baby.

Planning The Socialization Process

Since you're on such a tight time budget, you should plan out as many experiences as possible to help with socializing your puppy. It would help if you got as many different interactions as possible, and the best way to do so is to develop a checklist for your puppy's socialization. Ideally, you'd want them to get used to:

• Many different breeds and sizes of dogs
• Household noises that might scare them or give them anxiety (the doorbell, the vacuum cleaner, etc.)
• People of different sizes and ages
• Potentially dangerous items like balloons, plastic bags, etc.

You can develop your own checklist or download one online. Several places offer an in-depth explanation of the things you should include in your socialization plan.

Take The Necessary Precautions

When you start socializing your puppy, the chances are that you'll be doing so before their initial vaccination period is completed. While this isn't a serious worry, you should be careful about the situations you put the puppy in before they're ready to deal with them. To be safe when socializing your puppy, you should pay attention to a few tips, such as:

• Avoid taking your puppy to public dog parks. It might seem like the best place to encourage socialization, but many of those dogs haven't been vaccinated. It's not likely that you'd be able to ask an owner for their pup's vaccination papers, and letting your puppy play with an unvaccinated dog before they finish their course of treatment is a risk. It's safer to avoid these parks altogether.
• Puppy School is an excellent option for pups after their first vaccination. It offers the depth of play and interaction that you expect while being home to dogs that have also completed their course of vaccines.
• Avoid parks and anywhere that has shade and dirt. It's not just because your puppy could get really dirty (and we know how much they hate baths). Parvovirus can survive for a long time in shady areas or in the soil, but it's less likely to remain viable on sunny concrete footpaths. Having your puppy play on shaded areas, whether it's a park or the lawn of your friend's home, introduces infection potential.
• Beaches are okay. The amount of sand and sun makes it difficult for dangerous viruses to remain viable for any significant length of time. You may have to carry your dog in your arms through any park areas to make sure they stay safe, however. Stick to the sand as much as possible. Try to avoid taking your puppy into areas with shade or dirt.

Additional Tips for Socializing Your Puppy

Puppies tend to be more open to new experiences during socialization. Even so, you need to pay attention to their behavior, so you can spot any problems before they occur. A bad experience during socialization may color their perception for the rest of their lives. To help your dog be more successful in socialization, you may want to keep these in mind:

• Watch your puppy's behavior and body language. If you find that the activity is making them anxious or they have an adverse reaction, you may want to consider toning it down or taking a break. Typical tell-tale signs are if your puppy is cowering or you can see the whites of their eyes. This sort of fear is not suitable, and you should rescue them from their anxiety.
• If you have friends that have dogs with all their vaccinations, you should take your puppy to meet them. Meeting many different sizes and breeds of dogs is a good practice for socializing a puppy. If they have kids, let your puppy meet them and learn to play with them. Keep a close eye on these interactions, though. It would help if you made sure that nothing happens that will cause your puppy to start being afraid of humans or other dogs.
• Get your pet used to being cuddled and touched. This interaction helps with their communication in the future with others who want to play with them. It also allows them to feel genuine love and connection with humans so that they can learn that we're not all scary.

Socialization Is a Small Window

When you get a puppy, regardless of where it comes from, you may need to figure out your socialization plan very quickly. You have a small window to ensure that your puppy learns how to behave in public with others. Ensuring that they get the right kind of socialization makes it easier to go out for walks with them as they grow older. A socialized puppy won't get scared or anxious and will be less aggressive with other dogs and humans. The foundation you lay down during socialization will impact your pup for the rest of their natural lives.