Long haired dog grooming question?

[Wcross]

I have three that are long haired, all American Eskimo/ mutts with eskiee in them. I have had no prior experience with dogs prior to these guys moving in.

Here are the questions;
How often should you get them groomed? What types of haircuts do you ask for depending on the season? How often do you groom their rear areas? Is there ANY way to do the grooming yourself?


The dogs are left outside during the day, they have 2x the doghouse space they need for shelter. They are able to stay inside the house at night if they want.(often on my bed) Plenty of fresh water and food, no health issues. They also do some hunting, they have 300+ acres to roam.

I have been getting them shaved for summer, in Tennessee it often hits in the high 90's with high humidity.

This is Angel in her winter coat.

Angel after she was shaved.

[skygazer]

1. How cute!

I had no idea their ears were round! :rofl:

A friend of mine had an Alaskan Eskimo - good dog though he had some issues - he'd come from an abused home.

I think what I'd do is ask my vet - you could go to a groomer and ask but they might advise seeing them more often than needed. But the vet should know a lot and could no doubt recommend a groomer. (I've always had shorthaired dogs so I don't know myself)

[Wcross]

2. Angel is a sweetheart.

It's funny how she came about living here, I actually tried to run her off two months before she moved in! She lived down the road, her owners house burned to the ground and they had to move to town. They asked me if I wanted her before they took her to the pound, I couldn't let her go there. She delivered two pups a week or so after she moved in. Kept them too!

[skygazer]

3. Did you post about that?

That sounds familiar. Very cool of you to take her in and her pups too. You're a good person. :hug:

[Wcross]

4. Yes I have, still trying to figure out how to care for them now.

I had never had dogs before they came along, I am not so sure about the grooming thing yet.

[Roon]

5. Shaved Angel looks like a teddy bear!!! eom

[China_cat]

6. We have Bouviers

A long haired, double coated breed. We have them groomed every 6 weeks and brush and comb in between. That seems to take care of the rear end pretty well, but if there's a situation with the runs, you could need to at least wash the area more often.

You could do it yourself. Start by finding the breed club website and it will probably have an area about grooming or links to grooming tips, etc. But you are NOT doing Angel any favors by shaving her for the summer. The double coats serve 2 purposes...warmth in the winter, of course, but insulation from the sun and heat in the summer. Shaving her down can also put her at risk for sunburn.

Here's some that I found for you:
http://www.bestfriendspetcare.com/dog_grooming/dog-grooming-American-Eskimo-Dog.cfm
http://www.americaneskimo.net/eskinfo.html
http://www.eskiedog.com/grooming_your_american_eskimo_dog.htm (this one is especially good)

[radfringe]

7. dogs cool off

by sweating through their paws and/or panting...

in the summer you may want to consider getting one of those hard plastic kid pools and putting it in their doghouse space

we shave our airedale down two-three times a year - not because of heat, but because she's easier to keep groomed that way

airedales are an "HAIR-DOG" - they don't shed, but it still matts

[driver8]

8. We used to shave our Border Collie during the summer.

He always looked like a puppy after we had it done.

That is such a cute picture!