Pet Grooming

Okay, I out of all people should know how tough dog grooming is. When my Shih-Tzu Tokyo gets all wacky haired and stinky, it's my duty to bathe her. The bathing part I say is the easiest of them all. The hard part about grooming a Shih-Tzu is the brushing/combing of hair. Sometimes you'll even have a worse time if your little pooch is all matted up. My dog really doesn't get matted up too often, but when she does it's usually around her paws and hinds of her legs, or merely around her vagina area EWW! Well this is because I tend not to brush her often, they say a Shih-Tzu doesn't shed a lot, but TRUST they do! It varies on the Shih-Tzu though. My dog sheds most of the time when she's nappy. I hate the hair so I try not to brush her until I give her a bath. 

You might say well, take her to the groomers; then it would make no sense to take her for the light hair she has grown back since her last visit to the groomers. I take my dog to the groomers when she has a full long coat of hair. So when she has short hair, I just tend to take matters into my own hands. Most of the time Tokyo isn't up for it, basically she doesn't like when I give her a bath. I do use a bathtub and some nice warm comforting water. Tokyo still acts paranoid. For a full shampoo, dry-off and brush it takes me a good hour and a half. A tip I've learned when washing a dog is to always use oatmeal shampoo, it's good for their skin and coat.

I don't know how the groomers do it, but I sure can't handle it at all. I just want to ask those of you who do have pets, have you ever done your own pet grooming? How do you go about it? What tools do you use? And is there any calming techniques you use on your pet? How do you like pet grooming? Let me know.