Grooming and Care
“Proper grooming is the most
important thing that we can stress
to Wheaten owners.”
Our puppies are put on a grooming table every day from the time they are 5 weeks old to get them used to being groomed. A Wheaten has to be groomed its whole life, so it is very important to get them comfortable with the process when they are puppies!
Your first step is to buy a good grooming table. Instead of vacuuming your house to pick up dog hair and getting dog hair off your clothes, the trade off is proper grooming of your Wheaten. Since they don’t shed they can develop mats in their coat if not combed out.
Daily for the first few weeks put your puppy on the grooming table every day. It will make both your and your puppy’s life so much easier as it grows up. You cannot properly groom a dog while sitting on the floor or trying to catch up with it as it runs around.
In the beginning your puppy may fight you on the table. Do not over react if this occurs. You have to be firm and loving at the same time. Remember, a Wheaten is very smart and will test you. The 10 - 15 minutes of grooming you spend daily now willl pay off greatly for the rest of your pup’s life.
TO MAKE A GROOMING APPOINTMENT WITH GREENTREE
e-mail: greentreewheatens@comcast.net
or call: 609-698-9590
BEFORE YOU OR ANYONE
USES SCISSORS
Trimming a Wheaten properly takes skill and practice, and it has been our experience that most grooming shops in the retail market DO NOT know how to properly cut a Wheaten and can actually do more harm than good. A show dog with an improper cut could take months to grow out before it can be trimmed properly for the show ring. Ask your breeder to recommend a groomer who knows how to cut a Wheaten.
GROOMING BASICS
Put the pup on the table, put its head through the loop adjusting the height with the arm to keep the dog standing. Give a light mist of water from a spray bottle to the coast before grooming. The coat should not be brushed or combed dry as this will cause damage to it. Just a fine spray will do. First brush the coat in the opposite way it grows, ensuring that all mats and tangles are out.
Then comb the coat going all the way to the body to insure that all mats are out. Note that if the comb stops, there is a mat there and it must be either combed or brushed out. A small mat will turn into a giant tangled mess that will hurt both you and your dog when you take it out.
It is very important to praise your puppy after grooming. Love and patience is essential. A Wheaten likes to look good. Tell him or her that they are stars and how great they look! A treat when they come off the table is great, though don’t try to bribe them while they are still on the table. Remember, we cannot stress enough the importance of proper grooming on the grooming table!
Our dogs love to be groomed. When one comes off the table and we praise him, the rest are trying to get on the table to be groomed next.
GROOMING EQUIPMENT
YOU WILL NEED TO BUY
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*Grooming Table
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*Grooming Arm with Loop
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*Slicker Brush
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*Pin Brush
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*Nail Clippers
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*Greyhound Comb 7 inch
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*Tweezers or Hemostate
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*Shampoo
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*Conditioner
BATH TIME
Your new puppy will need a bath every 2 weeks. A dirty coat will mat easier and a clean coat is earier to groom. Many of our puppy owners’ use their bathtubs to bathe their dogs. A spray attachment to the shower head is a great tool to use. It will keep YOU much drier. Spray the dog down with water, apply shampoo and gently rub it into the coat. Do not use the scrubbing motion so often used when washing human hair as this will cause tangles. In order to mix the shampoo and conditioner, we’ve found that an old soap bottle works well (22 oz size). Put about 3/4 of an inch of shampoo in the bottle and fill with warm water. Shake well and pour the entire contents onto the dog’s coat.
After rinsing out the shampoo, do the same thing with the conditioner. Both the shampoo and conditioner are highly concentrated. Take care to avoid getting shampoo in the the dog’s eyes.
In order to avoid the eyes we suggest that you do the top of the head above the eyes first, then do eithehr side of the head or beard. Rinse the dog off thoroughly and then soak the conditioner into the coat. Again rinse thoroughly. Towel off the dog by blotting the coat. Do not rub back and forth, instead pat dry and squeeze dry. Then put the dog on the grooming table and towel dry again. If it is a warm summer day, you can take him outside to dry or you can use a hair dryer.
As coat starts to dry use your brush, again going away from the way the coat grows, to dry the dog completely. Make sure you give him a god combing after you are done to make sure any mats are removed. When your dog is about halfway dried, this is a great time to trim its nails. The nails are softer when they are wet. Just take the tip of the nail off every 2 weeks when you bathe the dog. Also clean the ears by pulling out the hair in the ear canal with a hemostate which will minimize the amount of oils that tend to cause ear infections.