Hygienic Grooming | fluffyjoypom

HYGIENIC GROOMING

Contrary to popular belief, grooming Pomeranians is
simple and does not require much time.
You can entrust the beauty of your Pomeranian to a
professional groomer. But those who prefer to look after
their little friend themselves may benefits from some tips
from our kennel.
Pomeranians need to be brushed daily to prevent matting.
This doesn't need to be a big job, it requires no more than
5 minutes of care and fuss while you're watching TV in the
evening.
It's a good idea to regularly trim or file the nails and trim
the fur between the toe pads on the bottom of the paws
and the fur around the anus.
Every owner decides for themselves whether to wash their
dog and how often to do so. We wash our Pomeranians
once a month.

CLAWS
It is believed that the paw of the Pomeranian should be "catlike".

This means that the claws of the Pomeranian should be short,and

the fur of the paw should be rounded to resemble a soft cat's paw. When the claws are short,the

Pomeranian walks on tiptoes,

keeps his toes in a fist and

holds his legs straight.His

ligaments will stay springy

and it will help prevent the

joints from being injured.

His gait is light and quiet,

and his claws do not clink

when the Pomeranian

walks across the floor.

If you don't trim the claws or trim them rarely, the dog's
toes will start to lengthen following the growing claw and
will start to resemble

a hare's foot. The dog

won't be able to walk

on tiptoe. The claws

will slide on the floor

and will force the toes

apart. The dog will be

unable to hold its
toes together in a fist.

Long claws will prevent

the dog from holding

its legs straight. All this will negatively affect the shock absorption function of ligaments and joints and cause damage.

A small nail trimmer for

rabbits is suitable for

Pomeranians.Hold the

claw in place with two

fingers (over and
under the toe). This

will enable you to

control the movement

of the toe to prevent

injury.

There is a blood vessel inside the claw. It is located in
the opaque part of the claw. To see it more clearly,
shine a flashlight behind the claw and take note where the
transparent part ends. You should only cut off the
transparent part of the claw. If you accidentally nick a
blood vessel, the claw will bleed. To help stop the bleeding
you can use a hemostatic powder, which is applied to the
cut with a cotton bud.

1 The more frequently you trim the dog's claws, the
further back this blood vessel will go inside the nail
bed, reducing the chance of bleeding.
2 The claw should be cut where the blood vessel ends.
3 The correct shape and length of a well maintained claw.

A round catlike paw is shaped with scissors. The

fur is trimmed following theround shape of the paw.

An untrimmed paw A trimmed "catlike" Pomeranian paw

EYES
Cleaning a dog's eyes is essentially cleaning dried tear
stains under the eyes. Bacteria cause the brown colour
of the tear stains. The tears seep deep into the fur, down
to the skin. Then when they dry, they stick to the individual
hairs and dry onto the skin, turning brown.
Contact lens solution works well to remove tear stains.
Apply the solution to the fur under the eyes, make sure to
get the fur wet all the way through so that the dried tears
can soak in the solution. When it gets soft, you can lightly
scratch the skin under the eyes with a fingernail to remove
the remainder of the stain. After this, dry the eyes and fur
with a tissue.

EARS
We need to clarify straight away: healthy ears do not need
to be cleaned. However, if the dog has a black or brown
deposit inside the ears, they need to be cleaned using an
ear lotion. Warm the bottle in your hands or by submerging
it in warm water until it reaches the dog body temperature
(38 degrees).

1. Open up the ear clearing the fur out of the way. Insert
the tip of the bottle inside the ear and pour the lotion until
you see the liquid sitting in the ear like in a cup.
2. Squeeze the ear shut from two sides and gently massage
for five minutes to dissolve the deposit. After this, release
the dog and allow it to shake. This will remove the lotion
from the ears.
3. Use cotton wool to thoroughly clean out the softened
deposit from the ear using an upwards motion, i.e. going
from inside the ear to the outside.
4. If there are still spots remaining in the folds of the ear,
you can remove them with a cotton bud, using the same
upwards motion. Never insert cotton wool or cotton buds
inside the ear canal, and only clean the spots that you can
clearly see.

ANAL GLANDS
The anal glands automatically clear themselves every day
at around 9pm. We can notice this by the strong odour
coming from our dog at this time of the day. The glands are
also cleared during defecation and when the dog is stressed.
But sometimes, as a result of infection, poor diet, an inactive
lifestyle, or because the dog has to frequently hold its
stools, the anal glands don't get cleared. To make sure
that everything is all right with our dog, once a month we
clear the anal glands ourselves.
If we imagine the anus as the centre of a clock face, the
anal glands are located at the 5 o'clock and 7 o'clock
positions.
You need to massage these points as shown in the
picture using three to five soft pressing motions

Then, pushing the glands from the bottom as if scooping
them from inside the body, the contents are pushed in
the direction of the anal opening.
The released secretion may spray out of the anus, so this
is best done in the bath. The anal glands might take 2 or 3
tries to clear completely, but usually they are ready to clear.

If your dog is dragging its bottom on the floor, biting and
chewing the tail area as if looking for nonexistent fleas,
jerking its back legs, if the anal glands feel like peas
sticking out to the touch, if the anal area looks red, this
could be an indication that the dog has an inflammation
or very thick secretion that is difficult to clear.
If your attempts at clearing the glands unsuccessful, it
will be necessary to see the vet.

BATHING
It is best to brush your Pomeranian prior to washing him. If
you did this the night before that should be sufficient. We
wash our Pomeranians in the kitchen sink. To wash our dog,
we will need shampoo, a bowl, and a sponge. Pour some
shampoo into the bowl, dilute it with a bit of water, scrunch
the sponge to create a lather, and apply to the dog's dry fur
so that the entire coat is soaked through with shampoo. You
can use the sponge to squeeze foam into the fur. Don't rub
the shampooed fur too vigorously so as not to tangle it. Use
the soapy sponge to thoroughly clean the paws, genitals and
anus. After the first shampooing, wash away the shampoo
and repeat the process with a fresh portion of shampoo. The
fur behind the ears can be more greasy than the rest.

Usually we take a drop of undiluted shampoo and gently rub
it into the fur behind the ears.
If you want to wash the dog's face, be sure to apply the soap
very carefully to avoid getting it into the eyes. Alternatively
you can use baby shampoo for the face.
When rinsing off the shampoo with water, press the ears
closed to prevent any water from getting into them.
Now we need to dry the dog. We like to use special sports
towels found in sports shops. They are sold in plastic
containers and are stored damp. We find that they absorb
water very well. You can pat dry the Pomeranian with such
a towel by pressing it into the fur and squeezing out the
water two to three times, letting the dog shake off in
between. After this, we wrap the Pomeranian in a towel and
go to dry it.

DRYING

Drying a Pomeranian is done with a blow-dryer. This is a
requirement. When we dry the dog with a blow-dryer, we
can inspect every inch of our pet's skin. We get a chance to
immediately notice cuts, dandruff, eczema and fungal
infections. This will help us catch such issues early and start
treatments straight away. The air temperature of the
blow-dryer should be warm or cold, depending on how the
hot your blow-dryer gets and how warm it is in the room.

We will need a comb when drying our Pomeranian. Start
drying from the tail and going towards the head, combing
the fur at the same time. Using this method ensures

that we thoroughly dry

each hair right to the

skin. When drying the

legs, we brush the fur

upwards.The tail also

needs to be dried.

To make sure it ends
up as beautiful and

fluffy as possible, we

comb and dry going from the tip towards the base of the tail.

TRIMMING
The fur on the ears of the Pomeranian is trimmed so that
its ears resemble those of a bear. In other words, they
should have a rounded shape rather than triangular.

Hold the ear with two fingers. Feel for the tip of the ear
and hold it in place with a fingernail to prevent injuring the
ear with your scissors. Trim the fur along your fingernail
giving it a round shape.

The fur around the anal opening needs to be trimmed so
that it doesn't get dirty when the dog defecates. The fur
in this region needs to be trimmed twice a month. Trim out
a groove 2.5 to 3 inches long from the anus downwards,
so that the length of the fur gradually transitions from very
short near the anal opening to the long fur on the "trousers".

1 View from the back - groove from the anus going down
2 View from the top - the length of the fur gradually
lengthens from anus to the "trousers".

The chest, side and back fur is cut to give the
Pomeranian a round shape, like a ball. It's
best to use thinning haircutting scissors for
this fur.

Pomeranians have a double cost consisting of the top coat
and the undercoat.
The top coat is the outer rough brighly coloured fur. The
tips of the the hairs of the top coat are typically very tough.
These rough tips are usually trimmed off slightly. This
helps to stimulate the growth of the undercoat.
The undercoat is the inner soft and gentle fur, it usually
differs in colour from the top coat. The undercoat is what
makes the Pomeranian fluffy by lifting the top coat.
The hair follicles will be healthy when they feel the weight
of fur on them.
If a Pomeranian's for is shaved or trimmed short, the
follicles can die.
This means that the Pomeranian's fur may never grow back.

A well-groomed Pomeranian is his owners pride and joy.
Spending a little time and effort to look after our much
loved pet will rightly let us feel like the best owner
in the world!

FUR BETWEEN TOE PADS

Fur between the toe pads causes the Pomeranians to slip.
When Pomranians

slip and fall they can

injure heir joints.
The fur should be

trimmed level to

the toe pads. It is

not necessary to

remove the fur

between the toes.