Aparna Rao, the brain and zeal behind Paw Prints, Hyderabad’s most renowned dog parlor for professional grooming services shares her knowledge, experiences, and concerns about dog grooming in a rather casual conversation with MetroMela. Aparna’s stint with the canines is a decade old now, when she relentlessly worked with the Blue Cross Society of Hyderabad for dogs. Paw Prints, the grooming parlor came up more as a result of numerous requests from friends who wanted Aparna to take care of their dogs, because of her genuine inclination towards the canines.

Basic Grooming can be done at home
Aparna opines, that basic grooming can be well taken care of by the owners themselves at home. It just needs a regular routine, some discipline, and a bit of a patience to give the pet its daily dose of care. It’s only for the more complex things that one needs to go to a professional.

Factors which define grooming
Dogs with long hair demand more care. Her suggestion to pet lovers is to either go for short haired breeds or to be willing enough to take care of them.

How often a dog requires a bath depends on several things like what kind of an area are you living in, how often does your dog get out of the house,  how clean is your house and its premises and does your dog have a bad body odor?

Tips on Grooming
•    A bath once in two weeks or once in a month could keep your dog clean.
•    For the long hair breeds, brushing their hair with a dog comb from 10-30 minutes depending on the length of the hair, helps a lot and should be done on a regular basis.
•    Never give your pet a bath if he/she is having knots in their hair. It’ll only make it worse.
•    A dog can be given an anti-dandruff oil massage before bath depending upon their individual needs.
•    Other basic grooming like haircut (for long hair dogs), nailcut, and ear-cleaning etc can be done by the vet once or twice in a month along with regular medical visits or can be brought to a groomer for the same.
•    For long hair breeds like the West Highland White Terriers and Shih Tzus, it’s advisable to give them summer haircuts by a professional groomer.
•    Aparna strongly recommends to dog lovers to go for ‘easy dogs’, which have low maintenance requirements, preferably the short hair ones. “The long hair breeds and some others are not even suited for our climate. People are trying to get all kinds of dogs from outside, and then they fail to cope with the Indian climate and die. It’s sad and not humanly to do.”
•    She also suggests that pets be given Ferminator treatment to prevent them from shedding more hair. It keeps your house free from dog hair, at least for a month.
•    Lastly, she throws some light on their nutritional requirements also by saying that if your dog looks pale, or is shedding more hair than usual, or is losing the shine for its hair-coat, you should better check on the eating habits of your dog.

So give your pet proper grooming and care and let your companion grow well-kept and beautiful.