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Expert Tuesday (Dog Grooming) by Emily Harper

There are few careers in the world where you can be paid to chase small animals around with sharp objects...but that is just what I do. However the art of dog grooming has been practiced for far longer than you would think.

During the renaissance era, pets fortunate enough to live with rich and doting aristocrats, were very pampered pooches. They were tended to by professional groomers called "demoiselles" (today the politically correct term is Pet Stylist). It was these groomers that used artistic ability and embellishment to create the more outlandish breed styles we see today...it was during this time too, that canine 'coiffures' were increasingly patterned after women's hairstyles. This is the case with the Continental clip that we still see on most standard poodles. In 17th century France, the poodle was the official dog at court. It was during the era of King Louis XV that has the first official records of dog grooming parlors.

The process of grooming a dog hasn't changed much over the years. In the late 1800's grooming consisted of taking your pet to a 'demoiselle' where, for a fee, the animals would be lathered, immersed in sulfur water (to kill fleas), then sent to fetch a stick tossed into a river for a quick rinse, after which they would be dried then clipped. Ok, so the process has changed a little bit. I start every groom with a pre-clip, followed by a bath. The batheing process has come a long way since sulfer water and rivers. I have numerous shampoos/conditioners at my disposal, ranging from milk baths to herbal shampoos. During the bath is when a pets ears are cleaned and thier teeth are brushed (its recommended you brush their teeth every day, I only do my dogs teeth about once a year) with a special chicken flavored toothpaste. Once the pet is dried, I give them their finishing haircut. Depending on size and coat texture, the entire groom can take 1-3 hours. For long hair breeds, grooming is usually required every 6-8 weeks.

There are currently about 150 breeds recognized by the AKC. These are divided into 7 groups (hound, sporting, non-sporting, terrier, herding, working, and toy) Every breed has a 'breed profile' or a standard for how it should look. The breed profile is determined by what that breeds original purpose was (i.e. breed profile requires that most terriers have a docked tail because they were bred to chase vermin into holes, and the owner would have to grab them by the tail and pull them back out).

If you haven't been bored enough by the above...feel free to come to the Atlanta Pet Fair during March 2005!

Posted by itzjerm at August 31, 2004 07:37 AM