Grooming Dogs and Other Animals
Grooming is done on animals for a variety of purposes, including:
- Aesthetic -Horses have plaited tails and manes for competition Practical instance. Poodles were
- originally clipped to allow them to swim without pulling themselves down with wet fur, but leaving balls of fur around joints caused problems.
- Matted fur can trap burrs, parasites, and become unclean.
- Bird beaks may have sharp tips removed to prevent them from hurting other birds.
- Rhinos’ horns have been removed to deter poachers.
Lesson Structure
There are 10 lessons in this course:
- Scope and Nature of Grooming
- Introduction to grooming behaviour
- Why do humans groom animals?
- What animals are groomed?
- Generic grooming tasks
- Common tools and equipment
- Combs, brushes, rakes, blades and other equipment
- Confidently handling animals Introduction
- The industry and workplace opportunities
- Workplace skills
- Accessing the right information online
- Animal Biology
- Skin – Epidermis & Dermis
- Claws, Nails and Spurs
- Hair
- Horns
- Hooves
- Physiological control – Homeostasis
- Thermoregulation
- Caring for the Skin and Coat
- Animal nutrition
- General nutrition
- Micronutrition
- Water requirements
- Common skin problems in dogs and cats
- Ringworm – fungal infection
- Flea and flea control
- Ticks and tick control
- Lice and control
- Mites (mange) and control
- Treating skins problems in dogs and cats
- Common skin problems in equines
- Caring for the coat – brushing, bathing, blow-drying, dematting, clipping, trimming
- Removing burrs from fur
- Caring for cats – combing, brushing and bathing
- Specialised Grooming Tasks
- Risks of working with animals
- Selecting a suitable grooming location
- Understanding animal psychology and behaviour
- The flight or fight response
- Environmental Influence on behaviour in zoo animals
- General considerations when handling animals
- Pre-restraint techniques
- Physical restraint
- Medical restraint – sedation
- Safely handling different animals when grooming: dogs, cats, cattle, poultry, rabbits, captive wildlife
- Handling Horses: Safe and Respectful
- Catching, releasing, leading, tying up and working around the horse
- Indicators of pain, mild fear and extreme fear
- Transporting horses
- Handling Animals
- Risks of working with animals
- Selecting a suitable grooming location
- Understanding animal psychology and behaviour
- The flight or fight response
- Environmental Influence on behaviour in zoo animals
- General considerations when handling animals
- Pre-restraint techniques
- Physical restraint
- Medical restraint – sedation
- Safely handling different animals when grooming: dogs, cats, cattle, poultry, rabbits, captive wildlife
- Handling Horses: Safe and Respectful
- Catching, releasing, leading, tying up and working around the horse
- Indicators of pain, mild fear and extreme fear
- Transporting horses
- Grooming Dogs
- Communication in dogs
- Use of scent
- Barking & body language
- Grooming different types of dogs
- Long Coat types
- short coat types
- single coat types
- Double coat types
- Smooth coat types
- Wire haired coat types
- Woolly or wavy coat types
- Corded coat types
- Bald or hairless coat types
- Brushing and bathing care
- Clipping and styling
- Grooming procedures that can go wrong
- Cutting toenails too short
- Cuts or nicks when clipping
- Overheating
- Water trapped in the ear canal
- Grooming Exotic Animals
- Grooming birds
- Handling birds
- Beaks
- Feathers
- Bathing birds
- Grooming rabbits
- Handling
- moulting
- Transporting
- Grooming captive wildlife
- Bathing small and large mammals
- Handling large animals and exotics
- Dangerous animals
- Fear of humans
- Issues with handling animals
- Psychological effects of different handling techniques
- Grooming areas
- Safety in Grooming Workplace
- Safety for people and staff – workplace health and safety
- First aid
- Legislation and duty of care
- Safety of animal owners and visitors to the premises
- Protective equipment
- A groomer’s personal protection
- Equipment and workplace safety
- Storage and disposal of chemicals
- Handling Tools and Machinery
- Safety with tools and equipment
- Safety audit
- Example of an audit checklist
- Safety for animals and people
- Transportation
- Safety of the animal at the salon
- Electrical safety – at home and the groomers
- Slip risk – wet surfaces
- Cat and dog allergies
- Preparing for Showing
- What is animal showing?
- Why do people show pets?
- Showing dogs
- Training your show puppy
- Preparing for show – dogs
- Days and evening before the show
- The day of the show and in the ring
- Showing – dress to impress
- Showing poultry
- Getting started – selecting your breed and buying your birds
- Preparing birds for show
- The day before the show
- The day of the show
- Showing cattle
- Preparing cattle for show
- In the show ring on the day
- The Business of Grooming Planning a new grooming business
- The business plan
- Financial planning
- Long term goals
- Medium term goals
- Annual financial plan
- Financial records
- Commonly used finance related terminology
- Cash flow
- Make the business a success – know your market
- Insurance and risks – risk analysis and managing risk
- Groomers insurance
Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school’s tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.
Aims
- Describe the breadth and nature of animal grooming, such as the animals that are commonly groomed, the conditions in which they are groomed, the equipment utilised, and the tasks performed by a groomer.
- Explain the exterior anatomical features and physiological processes of animals that are involved in grooming.
- Explain how to care after the coats of various animals.
- Discuss tasks done in animal grooming that are not related to coat grooming.
- Explain a number of strategies for controlling various species of animals when grooming.
- Compare grooming practises for various dog breeds.
- Explain a number of procedures used to groom animals other than dogs.
- While grooming different sorts of animals, develop protocols to ensure the safety of both the animals and the groomers.
- Show how to groom dogs, cats, horses, and other animals for a show.
- Describe how to start or develop a grooming business to make it more profitable.
Being well-groomed is not just a luxury!
Animals naturally groom themselves. It is sometimes seen as an inherent behaviour, which denotes activity that happens even in the absence of clear environmental cues. Throughout animal groups, grooming also helps to develop and maintain relationships and hierarchies.
Coordinated motions and behaviours in response to stimuli are regarded as instinctive acts and innate behaviour.
Cats’ scratching on posts (or furniture, or trees), licking, preening, and dust baths are a few instances of natural grooming. Animals in herd or group settings are frequently seen grooming one another. Monkeys examining one other’s coats for parasites is a well-known example. Each of these processes preserves the health of the integumentary system, whether it be by sharpening or maintaining claws, removing parasites from coats or features, or smoothing the coat.
The animal’s system that includes the features and variations of its skin, hair, and nails is known as the integumentary system, which is covered in detail in lesson two. Regular care of this system will help to improve the animal’s health because it is essential for protecting the interior structures.
Why are animals groomed by people?
Every regimen for caring for animals must include grooming. It can also add aesthetic value and is crucial to the health and welfare of animals. The genetic potential of an animal may be promoted through the exploitation of this aesthetic value for societal or commercial objectives. Animals, including pets, cattle, and wildlife, are frequently groomed. Animals that cannot directly access their natural grooming systems and processes must be groomed by humans.
In effect, we have reduced an animal’s capacity to carry out these activities on their own by holding and raising them outside of their natural habitat. Hence, we must do it for them in order to retain maximum health.
It is expected that you are aware that there are several variations in the size, colour, and texture of animals. Although some have scales or feathers, some have long or short fur. These physical and structural variances might be visually pleasant in addition to serving distinct purposes for animals. Yet, these variances mean that in order to keep the creatures under their care, humans must carry out a range of grooming duties.
On the other end of the scale, certain services could be more about marketing than they are about actually helping the animal’s health and wellbeing.
While most grooming methods were created to address a functional need, other methods were created for aesthetic purposes. This primarily pertains to grooming companion animals, notably dogs, as canines may be styled to meet breed standards or to the preferences of their owners. For instance, the traditional poodle clip differs greatly from the way poodle fur naturally grows. This further exemplifies the psychological function of grooming in some companion animals, as it speaks to the owner’s appreciation of their social standing.
To demonstrate their fitness for breeding and the excellent features that may be kept by breeding with this stock, these improvements are also applied to animals in display conditions.
HOW CAN THIS COURSE HELP YOU?
A booming business opportunity is pet grooming.
More than just good grooming skills are required to run a successful grooming business. You must choose the services you’ll provide, how you’ll package and transport them, how much you’ll charge, and how you’ll handle the firm itself.
Managing a grooming salon requires overseeing every aspect of the business, including accounting, administration, marketing, client relations, and well-groomed animal care. Each firm that wants to succeed must turn a profit; as a result, all components of the business must be integrated fairly.
You can acquire this information by taking our course.