Keeping Fido Clean and Healthy On A Budget

Times are tough all over right now and many people have to cut back on dog expenses. Thankfully, there are many things you can do at home to keep Fido healthy and in tip top shape while saving money. Here's a few suggestions:

1. Inspect your dog. Fido can’t tell you if he’s under the weather, or even if he's uncomfortably dirty—you have to discover these problems yourself. An inspection allows you to gather, track, monitor, and assess the state of your dog’s health and cleanliness in a systematic and thorough manner. Moreover you’ll discover medical and grooming issues well before they become painful to your dog and your pocketbook. Once a week, using your hands, eyes, ears and nose, give your pooch the once over. Fido's eyes, however, require daily inspections. Be sure you check every nook and cranny. The entire process takes about five to ten minutes, and your dog will appreciate the attention. If at any time you see, feel, smell, or sense trouble brewing, call your veterinarian immediately. Your inspection may save your dog's life (and your bank account).
2. Dog-proof your house. Many household items are dangerous to dogs as poisons, or as choking/obstruction risks. Spending a few minutes a day clearing your counters, closing drawers and doors, and putting away medicine, cleaners, food, and small objects will safeguard your dog. It’s easier to clean up than to pay a huge a vet bill or replace chewed or swallowed items.
3. Brush, brush, brush! Brushing saves time, money, and is an excellent opportunity to bond with your dog. Brushing also extends the time between professional grooming appointments, loosens and lifts dirt, and keeps skin healthy. Brushing removes the dead coat before it can fall off your dog or cause mats, which can increase professional grooming costs. For most dogs, a slicker brush is all you need. If your dog has extremely short hair, such as a Boxer, Doberman, Dalmatian or a Pug, you can use a rubber curry. You don’t even have to brush the entire dog every time. Brush a quarter of your dog each day and by the end of the week, he’ll have been completely brushed twice. Besides, more fur in the brush means you'll spend less on lint rollers and dry cleaning!
4. Be smart about products. Most people use far too much product when bathing their dog at home, which wastes money and makes rinsing difficult. Dilute shampoo in a bowl or separate bottle. Don’t dilute it in the original bottle because adding water can spoil the product. All you need is one quality hypoallergenic CANINE shampoo and one CANINE conditioner. Although they’re fun to use, you don’t need fancy spa products. And there is no reason to purchase a shampoo for every doggie dirt situation—a proper wash with a regular dog shampoo followed by a regular conditioner is sufficient. Make sure you rinse thoroughly because product left on the skin can cause painful and costly skin infections.
5. Ask for a shorter haircut. When your dog gets a haircut, ask your groomer to cut the coat a “step” (or slightly) shorter. The shorter haircut can stretch the time between professional appointments, but make sure the cut isn’t too short since exposed skin is prone to sunburn. And because you’ll extend the time between appointments, brushing becomes critical—the coat on some dogs can mat up overnight.

In our next post, we'll talk about the most efficient way to spend your dog care dollars.

Why Groom: Before and After Photos

As part of our continuing effort to improve your dog's body, mind and spirit, we wanted to show you some real-life examples of how grooming can change a dog's life.

A few years ago, Jill was searching Petfinder to find a new dog to adopt. She came across this dog, a Miniature Poodle named Shadow, at Small Dog Adoption in Plantation, FL a small rescue run by a loving and dedicated couple Barbara and Bob Malina. Like any shelter/rescue dog, Shadow desperately needed a hair cut and some grooming TLC. As you can imagine, most shelters and rescues have little money to allocate to grooming, and instead rely on volunteers.

Luckily for Jill and Shadow, Billy had already taught her that all a shelter/rescue dog usually needs is one grooming session to bring out the true essence of that pooch. With this is mind, Jill fell in love and brought Shadow home, scraggly coat at all. (Shadow's foster mom had brushed him regularly so he had no mats, which is unusual for a rescued pooch). The photo on the top shows Shadow on his first day with Jill's family. After a day of pampering at Uncle Billy's salon, Shadow looked mah-velous. (See photo on the bottom).

In our book, Happy Dog: Caring for your Dog's Body Mind and Spirit (coming 9/1/09), we teach you how to groom and care for your pooch. Once you learn how, we are counting on our readers to visit local shelters and spiff up the dogs there too. After all, a dog that looks like a pet instead of a stray is more likely to be adopted.

Today, Billy along with his able-bodied assistant Jill, friend Sue Naiden, grooming students including Jus Erickson and some of the wonderful volunteers from Friends of Chicago Animal Care and Control spent the afternoon at Chicago Animal Care and Control to groom the shelter's dogs. We hope we made the dogs feel better and more adoptable, since they'll be beautiful and smell nice. Sheri Berliner of Petraits, an extremely talented pet photographer and friend of the shelter, was on hand photographing the dogs, so we'll post many before and after pictures. Maybe you'll fall in love and adopt one of the dogs! At the very least, we hope you'll be inspired to spend some time helping dogs in need.