Eyes

Keep the hair under the eyes and on the bridge of the nose between the eyes as short as possible. This will help with the “tears” from the eyes, especially on the shorter faced dogs. This area can be kept clean and odour free by using a soft old toothbrush daily. Just moisten it with water and gently brush the area and then dry.

Ears

Check your dogs ears and handle them regularly. When bathing put some cotton in them to keep water out. To clean the ear we use a product called "Bio Groom Ear Cleaner" or you can dab some alcohol on a Qtip and wipe the inside of the ear, do not probe deeply into the ear. Some groomers will want to pull the hair that grows inside the ear, unless there's a problem I don't do that. I've found that once you start doing that all of a sudden ear infections start. If there's a problem then, yes, go ahead. I keep that hair trimmed as short as possible as well as the hair under the ear flap on the side of the head, that way more air can get through and keep the area dry. If your dog has a curly coat and some of the hair is curling down into the ear canal then it may be necessary to pull that hair, your groomer will know.

Feet

When the puppy is lying or sitting with you handle their paws all the time. We can’t stress this enough. On each paw, (some people ignore the back paws), rub the pads, separate the toes, rub the top of the paw, just generally get your puppy used to his paws being handled and played with. This makes grooming them so much easier. When handling your dogs paws notice if the nails need trimming. Are they hooked? Do they look like they are really curving downward? If so they need to have the tips trimmed off. Don’t forget the dew claws, some of these little guys have dew claws front and back, so check to make sure they get trimmed as well as they can grow right around in a complete circle and grow into the puppies skin. Very painful. Also keep the fur on the pads of the feet and between the toes trimmed back as this can become painful for the dog if it builds up. It can become matted and will collect dirt and mud that clumps and makes it painful to walk on.

Tail/Rectum Area

Don’t forget to brush or comb your puppy’s tail when brushing her body. These dogs have beautiful full tails that curl upwards and they can become tangled and matted so brush them out regularly as well. The fur around the rectum under the tail should be kept very short to avoid blockages. You may not like the idea of trimming this area but you really won’t like trimming and cleaning it if you’ve avoided it and then end up with a dog that is constipated and blocked. Yuck!

Bathing

There are different opinions on this subject; some people say bath regularly, some people say no, it dries out their skin. With a young puppy we recommend once every couple of weeks for the first month or two to keep them accustomed to the bath process, blow dryer, etc. After that, at most, once a month. Make sure you totally dry the puppy before going outside. Cotton balls under the ear flaps, just resting in the ear, not pushed in, will help keep water from getting in the ears.

Put the shampoo on your hands and then spread it over the body in a massaging type motion, do not rub as it will tangle the hair, smooth it over the entire body, abdomen, genital area, legs, and feet. Rinse with a hose/sprayer attachment if possible as they really do a good job getting all the soap out. Use a gently cream rinse if you like, applying the same way and rinsing well. Then I wrap the puppy/dog up completely in a towel, hugging and squeezing to try and get most of the water off, then comb and brush before using the blow dryer.

Tools Required

Treats (if you want)
Two or three big towels
Gentle pet shampoo and conditioner
Comb, brush, slicker brush, rake
Scissors – good time to trim around eyes, under tail, etc as fur is wet and clean
Blow dryer
Small battery operated trimmer – these are great for the eye area and under the tail and can be found in most pet sections of department stores and are quite inexpensive

Using a Clipper/Shaver

If you want to try clipping your dog yourself it is certainly doable. Just resign yourself to the fact that it is a learning process and puppy may have a couple of “bad hair days” until you get the hang of it. These are couple of the things I learned as I began grooming my dogs.

First of all, when you only have one or two dogs that you will be doing as opposed to a breeder who has many, I recommend the Oster Lucky Dog Clipper Set, this is a smaller, fits in your hand nice, clipper that is perfect for doing one or two dogs and will pay for itself within two uses. If you can't find it any of the Andis clippers work great as well. As they come with one blade that takes the fur down very short you may also want to purchase additional blades or “combs”. The combs are very inexpensive and fit on the end of the blade and come in different lengths so you can leave your dogs coat longer if you want.

So, to start, decide what length you want the fur to be, I use a longer (#4) on the body and face, then switch to the shorter (#10).

move the clipper in the direction that the hair grows
using smooth strokes, start on the middle of your dogs back moving towards the tail
then go down the outside of the legs, then the sides of the legs
when doing the loin area and the armpit areas use downward strokes, being gentle as this area is very sensitive and prone to "razor burn"
do the throat and chest
on the top of the head start in the middle and go back towards the shoulders
on the face go from the outside of the eye towards the ears, trim the beard under the chin, I also trim under the ear flap and around the back of the ears as this area is prone to matts. Trim the long hair on the bottom of the ear flap with scissors, hold the bottom of the ear leather with your fingers so you don't cut it (much like a hairdresser picks up hair between their fingers to cut it)
if you have been using a comb or longer blade on your trimmer now change it back to the shortest one and do the abdomen, the inside of the legs, the genital area, and the rectum area. Trim the fur from side to side around the rectum. After doing the genital and rectum area disinfect the blade
do the pads of the paws, trimming the fur as short as possible and finish off the feet with scissors

If you buy a clipper that has removable blades always remember to have the clipper turned "on" when putting a new blade on.

Also the larger the number on the blade the shorter the coat will be. The Lucky Dog Clipper comes with a #10 blade which is very short, think summer! I use a #4 on the bodies and faces of my dogs.