Basic Corgi Grooming
The good news is that Corgis do not require a lot of grooming and you can do it at home if you want.
Your puppy was introduced to basic grooming while under our care. If you continue teaching your puppy to accept grooming your puppy will grow to accept the process. Successful stress-free grooming starts with desensitizing.
Taking the time to work with your puppy on desensitizing now will make vet visits, groomer sessions, bathing, ear cleaning and tooth brushing much easier when your puppy becomes older. None of these activities should be traumatic for puppies or owners. You will want to touch your puppy all over its body including its toes and nails, feel between its toes, check its teeth, rub and gently pull on its legs and look in the ears. Work in short sessions of 1-2 minutes. Perform a check like looking in its mouth then give a treat and praise your puppy for being so good!
Brushing
- First, you will need to teach the puppy to accept you touching its body. Rub the puppy all over its body. Some puppies will love this while other puppies will want to play. When the puppy allows you to do this, praise them and give them a treat.
- Once the puppy allows you to stroke its fur with your hand switch to a brush. I normally start with a soft bristle cat brush or pin cat brush. Young puppies will start losing their baby fur so you will be surprised how much hair you may get.
- Once your puppy gets older replace the cat brushes with a greyhound tooth comb or rake. Keeping your puppy and dog brushed will help with shedding and prevent matting of hair which is difficult to get combed out.
- Corgi puppies normally go through their first major shedding or molting around 6 to 8 months of age. When this happens, they will have a major shedding of hair and you will wonder where it is all coming from. Don’t give up, just keep brushing daily.
Sometimes it helps to dampen the hair with water from a spray bottle before brushing. As adults expect daily shedding and major molts in the spring and fall as they shed their undercoats
Nail Trimming
Nail trimming is important to prevent the rotation of bones in the dog’s foot however this is a process that most dogs hate. We started clipping your puppy’s nails weekly so they have been exposed to the process. If you continue this routine every week to two weeks not only will you ensure that your pup’s nails will be the proper length but it will help acclimate your pup to the process and hopefully they will not hate the process.
- First, you will need to teach the puppy to accept you handling its feet.
A couple of times each day focus on one foot. Hold it, pull gently, and check out the toes. Do not release the foot if the puppy pulls away. Instead, hold the puppy’s body so it cannot get away, use your voice to calm it and hold the foot firmly until it stops struggling. Then praise your puppy for its tolerance. When the puppy allows you to hold the foot, give a treat with lots of praise.
You should trim your puppy’s nails every week or two. Once it is comfortable with you holding its foot, start clipping the nails on one foot in a session. Don’t try to do all the nails at once if the puppy struggles or you will just teach the puppy to hate the process. It is fine if you only do a nail or two in a session. Just do multiple sessions each week.
- For small puppies, I use human fingernail clippers. When you look at your puppy’s nails, you will see a white area on the tip of the nail. That is the area that you will trim. Just trim approximately half to 3/4 of this white area off. If for some reason you trim too much and the nail begins to bleed, rub a bar of soap on the nail to stop the bleeding or dip the nail in styptic powder. When you are at the vet’s office ask them to show you how to clip nails or view videos on YouTube if you need help.
- For adult dogs, I use scissor-type nail clippers or a dremmel tool.
If you are hesitant to trim your pup’s nails, ask your vet to show you how to trim nails.
Teeth Brushing
Visit with your veterinarian about brushing your puppy’s teeth. There are many different types of brushed and dog tooth paste on the market. Dental chews, rinses or oral care dog food may be another option.
Most vets will be more than willing to give you their thoughts.
Baths
Baths are another important activity to get your puppy used to early on. Your puppy had at least one bath before leaving our care.
You should give your puppy a bath every two weeks while it is small just to get it accustomed to the process. You don’t actually need to bathe your pup, just go through the motions of getting it wet, pretending to apply shampoo, rinsing, etc. Again, be sure to use lots of praise and treats.
Using a licki mat with suction cups smeared with peanut butter stuck to the side of a bathtub or sink will distract your puppy. The puppy will spend time licking the peanut butter off the mat and not fretting about getting wet.
The point of these baths is not to get your puppy clean but rather to teach it to tolerate baths.
- Puppies and dogs actually need oils that are secreted by their skin to keep their skin and hair in great condition. Bathing more than once a month will remove these oils and can cause your dog to have dry itchy skin.
- When bathing, use warm water and shampoo formulated for dogs.
- Wet your puppy thoroughly. Start lathering from the shoulders and move backward and down. Lather the neck last since water on the head and ears are most likely to make your puppy shake, getting you all wet.
- Carefully wash its face with a washcloth so you will not get soap in its eyes. Be careful not to get water in its ears either.
- Rinse with more warm water and dry thoroughly with a towel.
While the puppy is damp, work on combing your puppy’s hair. If you have a hard time combing through the hair applying a small dab of conditioner to an area of your dog’s coat can help you comb through it. I like Cowboy Magic or Furminator conditioner
