Kelland's Yorkshire

The first time or two should be a "puppy introduction to grooming"! Whatever can be done with minimum stress and maximum "happy". NO de-matting and NO owies. Provide some micro-treats for your Groomer also. Be sure to stress that to the Groomer! Don't expect much in appearance. Maybe he'll get clipped a little, maybe he won't, maybe he'll be patchy, whatever. Give the Groomer permission to clip or snip off the mats if she can. The coat will grow back and by the time it starts tangling again he'll be an old hand at grooming. After all, you're setting him up for a lifetime of easy grooming, so looking a little "funny" for a few weeks is not a big deal. Set the next groom for maybe a couple weeks, and it may well take a third "baby" groom before he is used to the process enough to go to a normal groom and schedule. Once he's been clipped/snipped free of his mats, you can continue the "table-training" at home, but adding a comb or brush, running it gently all over his body, teeth against the skin, until he at least resigns himself to that to, it will make it that much easier when enough hair grows back in to actually comb.

                    In Between Professional Groomings:

Shampoo Time: Thoroughly wet down the coat with warm water. Never use human shampoo or conditioner on your Yorkies as the PH levels are different, too harsh and could dry out you Yorkie’s skin and coat. Never shampoo your Yorkie like you do yourself, he may love all the rubbing, but his coat won't. Apply the shampoo and gently work from the body down. Never rub the shampoo into the hair to shampoo it. All that does is cause tangles and your dog isn't any cleaner, just squeeze (don't rub) the shampoo through the coat, let it soak a few minutes, rinse thoroughly and a LOT with a sprayer, always in the direction his coat normally lays. Lift his tail and rinse, lift him up gently by the front legs and rinse his belly. I often but not always use a diluted conditioner after the shampoo. Again, be sure to rinse, rinse, rinse and rinse more! For the face I'd stick to a warm soapy washcloth for the beard, and "rinse" the same way. If you don't "scrub" him, the coat won't get much more tangled than it is now anyway. Be sure to remove the eye goobers! Squeeze out the excess water and then wrap him in a towel for a bit and let it absorb most the water without rubbing or heat.

Toenails: I do this after bathing because the toenails are softer and easier to trim. I keep them wrapped up in the towel for better control. Check the toenails, if they are too long, cut them. There are products called "Kwik-Stop"or “Medi Styp”, be sure you have this on hand prior to attempting any toenail clipping. If they bleed, "don't panic", just dab a little of the powder on the toenail and it stops the bleeding right away. A good guide is the curve in the nail. I hold the clippers flat against the upper part of the nail and whatever curves down into the clippers gets cut off. Again, if this is too much for you to handle, then have your Groomer or Vet do it. However, you need to learn to clip toenails as Yorkie nails grow very fast!

Drying the Coat: I apply a no tangle spray to the entire coat and gently run a human plastic hair pick through it to remove any tangles. I have two hair dryers that I use on my babies. A Professional Groomers dryer and a regular hand held human dryer. Depending on the coat determines which dryer I use. I dry the coat thoroughly but not completely on the medium heat setting leaving it just very slightly damp as not to dry out the skin and coat from the heat of the dryer. I aim the dryer in the direction of the growth occasionally stopping the dryer, bushing or combing the coat a bit and then starting the drying again. Also check the tips of the ears if they need to be shaved or not and trim around the feet and pads.

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Email: skellandyorkies@eastlink.ca