Grooming  Your Samoyed

Samoyeds are not difficult to groom. Dogs that are difficult have extensive trimming or you need to be a sculptress to do it well!

Samoyeds are essentially just a lot of handwork and combing.

I often comb dogs on my bed at night while watching the news. It's relaxing and a rewarding time with them.  Cookies all around and cuddles and kisses!

To do that right you need to set up a good relationship around the grooming experience.

I really only comb them between baths when I feel like it, and more on easy maintenance later....

Training Puppies for Grooming

I take light slickers or paddle brushes and do a couple of swoops at them a day as babies.  Then eventually a comb.  A little bit goes a long way. Two minutes a day in the beginning.

To acclimate them to bathing I begin quite young. I like clean dogs so they have to put up with this, but I have never had a Samoyed who 'liked' it!

As babies I put them in the tub.  And out. First day that is it. I make sure the floor of the tub was wet.

Next day I put a little splash from the nozzle on the toes.  In and out, 3 seconds flat.

Then I build that up over time until I am getting their entire feet wet, drying that off, and eventually build up to a few seconds with the blow dryer.

Little bits at a time is the best.

Every day I touch them everywhere, but particularly the feet and head.  More dominant dogs do not like their heads controlled and if I get a lot of head shaking I know I might have a dog who will always need to know who the REAL leader of the household truly is! In my mind, if that is a puppy I end up placing in a pet home, I make sure it's one who has had experience with the more manipulative aspects of Sammydom!

Touching the feet is crucial.  No Sammie really likes someone playing with their feet. So they have to learn to tolerate it!  Ditto the tail!  Tail brushing seems to be universally disliked.  Remember who is making the decisions here, but basic grooming simply needs to be done. For feet we will clip toenails, and be VERY sure not to do too much. Better a little bit at a time, for after a while, the quick will pull back.  Don't make it a big production. This is basic.

The best approach with puppies is not to fight with them!  Just have a 'we're doing this now' sort of attitude.

I always ask pet puppy people to come back for a grooming lesson when the baby gets dirty.  I do it so they get to see exactly HOW to groom, but also so they can see what a no nonsense approach gets you for cooperation.  I usually get these surprised looks when I easily get what they have to fight for at home.  The dog KNOWS that is not going to fly with me.  (Partially because I raised them and we probably already had that 'discussion.') We are not going to fight about it.  I will win.  "We're DOING this now...." End of story.

Keys to Good Grooming ..... Greyhound comb, lots of soap and water!

There's actually a scissors for trimming feet and a nail clippers, but the essential thing I use all the time is called a Greyhound comb. Imitation combs often discolor fur over time, and my greyhounds last for years.  They only cost a couple dollars more, perhaps $11-14, but are well worth it.  They nicely slide through the coat.

I line-comb inch by inch all over the dog, parting the coat back with one hand and combing in the direction the coat grows with the other. COMB ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE SKIN. To check, slide the comb deep into the coat at random and see if it pulls out easily. The dog will tell you if it does not!  Be gentle. Pulled fur hurts.

It's wonderfully fulfilling to have a beautifully groomed dog, and to put my hands all over them is a treat!  I guess it's a personal thing.  In years past when I had only one Sam, I often thought of it as work.  That seems strange now.  I have more dogs, and I think it's less work. In fact, it's relaxing and a wonderful time to spend with one of my beloved dogs.

The B-A-T-H

Secret #1.  Take a no nonsense approach. This is what we're doing now.

Secret #2. Get a good shampoo and use lots of it.  PurePet and 1st in Line are both created by Samoyed owners and highly recommended.  One big difference in shampoos is the pH factor.  You'll probably find dog shampoos better in pH than human ones. Cheaper, too! (Many people use dog shampoo on their own hair.)

Secret #3.  Use a conditioner.  Conditioners keep the coat moisture in and THAT helps stop staining. Forget what anyone tells you about 'getting stains out.' Everything that works will damage the fur more and set up deeper and worse staining.

Use a conditioner unless you are showing your dog.  THEN, and only then, you want the coat as harsh as possible, for a harsh coat is desirable in the breed standard.  Good, harsh coats shed snow and ice.  Conditioners make the coat FEEL softer, so that is not what you want in the show ring.  Condition show coats IN BETWEEN shows. Take a diluted conditioner and spray around feet and elbows or anywhere you see staining try to start!  That includes the underside of Sammie boys.

Secret #4.  Lots and lots of water.  Get out all the shampoo. Then condition and rinse some more!!!

Secret #5.  Invest in a dog blower.  Good ones go from $200-$300.  That will do your dog in the least amount of time.  I have K9 II dryers, but 1st in Line has one as well.  Another company, and a bit cheaper one, is the Double K, which is what I often recommend for most people with one dog.  They run in the $150 range.  Don't get anything smaller than that.  We're talking the difference of 2 hours or 4 to do a dog bone dry. Halfway through you will wish you spent the extra dollars!

The difference in dryers is easy to explain: Good dog dryers blow the water off the coat as opposed to human dryers that heat up.  Human dryers damage Sammie coats, and take hours and hours as well. Cheaper dog dryers don't have enough power to blow the water off.  Stick with the recommendations above.

Dry the dog completely, let him/her cool down, and check for 'cool' spots which might not be completely dry.

There are serious problems from 'hot spots' in Samoyeds, and some lines are more prone to it than others. These are bacterial infections that can grow at amazing speed (half the dog overnight is possible), and are extremely painful. After a hot spot the fur may never grow back properly. DRY THE DOG COMPLETELY!

I was hiking on the North Shore of Lake Superior a couple years ago and woke up to this weird smell. It was sort of sweet. As I hiked along, I saw in my dog's tail a sort of 'mush.'  It was his skin!  A hot spot literally dissolves the skin, leaving the same result as a serious burn. It has a distinctive smell of dissolving or decaying flesh.  I was mortified!  I do not believe in any home made treatments for this. Get medical attention and now!  I have never found anything over the counter to help much.

Hot spots are a strange occurrence, and happen more in certain lines than others. I'm breeding it out myself, but compared to blindness and debilitating hips that make the dog crippled, it IS less of an issue.  It seems to stem from an over active response of the immune system, when it literally attacks the dog itself.  It can happen from stress, but more often from inadequate drying, and often won't show up for a couple days.  DRY TO THE SKIN.

Do the nails as they are softer after a bath, trim the foot fur, and voila!  One of the most beautiful creatures on earth!

The easiest dogs to groom are those with good coat genes!

I've had them all, including the one that had to have his ears brushed every day or they mat!  I never bred that dog!  Who can spend that much time?

People are going to disagree with me, but this is my SYSTEM.

Groom the dogs between 4 and 6 weeks. Never longer or you have a MUCH harder job to do and the pulling of old coat makes it a real negative for the dog.

Do all the secrets above; comb to the skin, wash in lots of soap and water and conditioner, dry well, and comb while you're drying to get really down deep.

If you have good quality coats (and I do!), then NOTHING needs to be done in between.  I have lots of dogs.  I only comb them if I want to, or they are shedding.

Doing nothing in between WILL NOT WORK if you let it go more than 6 weeks.  Things start happening then in dead undercoat collecting.  Combing must be complete and down to the skin all over the dog for the 4-6 week program as well.  The ONLY time I ever have a mat, and it's VERY RARE, is puppy coat coming out or shedding when the released coat is not getting out fast enough and starts collecting into a mat. The live coat never mats.  Good coat genes.

There is absolutely NOTHING more beautiful than a stunningly clean and combed Samoyed!