Taking Care of Your Dog's Nails

Taking care of your dog's nails is just one of the four main thing to consider when it come to grooming your dog. This one can also be one of the hardest, simply because of nail trimming. This can be one of the hardest thing for most dog owners to deal with. That is also why it so hard though, because your already in a bad state of mind there's a cloud that hangs around the whole activity. A cloud that we have to get rid of!

Taking Care of Your Dog's Hair

Taking care of your dog's hair is just one of the four main thing to consider when it come to grooming your dog. Depending on your dog there could be many different things that this step entails. I, however, have a pitbull so it's not that intensive, but I do take great pride in doing a great job and making sure Max looks good all the time!

Grooming

Grooming is a very important for all dogs, and a grooming is a great way to develop your pet-owner relationship. Although there are some staple and basic needs, all dogs have very specific and very different needs when it comes to grooming. That can mean lots of time spent working with your dog to keep them beautiful! That's why I always stress that people look into everything that it takes to raise their specific breed of dog. Don't be upset when you have hair everywhere because you didn't research that your dog shed pounds of fur every year! You take showers, cut your hair, and trim your nails..... why can't your pup look as good!

That said, that's why I chose pitbulls. I am, believe it or not, allergic to dogs. So when I was looking for what type of dog I would get I was looking for short-haired, non-shedding dog (amongst other things). Pitbulls have fantastic smooth, short, soft hair and is very easy to take care of. That beautiful hair is easy to take care of but there are many things that encompass 'grooming' your dog. When it comes to dealing with some of the other facets of grooming, well... let's say they took some practice, and teamwork!

The four main things to consider when taking care of your dog:

• Hair
• Nails
• Body
• Teeth

Lay Down

Getting your dog to lay down is another command that should be in every dog owner's arsenal! It's also another easy one to teach and you'll find it comes in handy in many situations. This is also the base for many other tricks!

Shake & High 5

Two of the most common dog tricks in history; shake and high 5.  These two tricks are a lot of fun and a great starting place for new trainers and a new pup. Being able to complete some of these simple tricks as a team is a great way to build trust an understanding between you, important for future training and tougher tricks!

Walking WITH your dog!

Walking your dog essential for good behavior. It is how you get rid of all that energy they have, and if you are dreading going for walk that probably means you also aren't going as often as you should because you hate doing it. Walking you dog is the basis for training, the easiest time to teach a dog something is after a walk and they have all the crazy energy gone, and all the pay attention energy left! It also makes your life inside much easy since your dog won't have all that energy to be bouncing off the walls. So take your dog on a walk everyday! At least 30min, and more the bigger the dog!

Socializing

Socializing your dog is a very important part of owning a balanced dog. You must start early and promote good social interactions. You do this by throwing your young puppy into the mix with a lot of different experiences so that they are not scared by new things. Scared dogs turn into dangerous, nervous dogs. You have to expose your dog to people and dogs at a young age so they learn to play nice, before they get older and bigger to the point when they can damage.