ears and feet

ears and feet

By bakalo.com

EARS
If your dog grows a lot of hair in the ear it will help to pluck it out.You can use your fingers,blunt ended tweezers or haemostats.To avoid too much discomfort only take out a few hairs at a time.Don’t poke down the ear,only take out what you can see.A little ear powder on your fingers really improves grip.Most dogs don’t object too strongly if you only take out a little at a time.If you use a grooming parlour make sure your groomer is doing this.If your dog produces a lot of wax which is not being lost regular cleaning can help.There are some excellent ear cleaners available from your vet.Epi-Otic by Virbac and Logic by Sanofi are both very good.(Be kind to your dog and make sure it’s not straight out of the fridge).Instructions for use are on the bottle.Use a cotton wool ball or swab and once again don’t poke down the ear as you could do a lot of damage.How often you do this will depend on the individual dog.





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FEET

The Shih Tzu grows a lot of hair between the pads.If this is not trimmed off it can mat and form balls which will force the toes apart.Small stones and all sorts of debris can be picked up and make walking painful.It’s easily trimmed off with scissors or small clippers.Trimming nails is easy, ask your vet or groomer to show you how.Be careful not to cut the quick,this is very painful for your dog and is guaranteed to give you problems in getting your dogs co-operation the next time you want to trim the nails.Be extra careful with black nails as you won’t be able to see the quick.A puppies nails grow very quickly,a small pair of round ended scissors or human nail clippers are often easier to use on a small puppy.Don’t forget to check the dew claws.They soon grow round in a circle and into the pad.Rear dew claws are particularly prone to this.The Chinese considered these lucky, but they don’t seem lucky to the unfortunate dog that has them.

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