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Spring Cleaning for Your Pet-What Every Dog Owner Needs to Know
posted: Oct. 23, 2018.
With the long cold winter finally behind us and the long hot days of summer still ahead, it is time to get a jump start on spring cleaning. You may have already started cleaning out your closets, clearing out the clutter that winter left behind and making room for all your summer clothes, but what are you doing about your four-legged family members?
Your pets need spring cleaning too, and now is the perfect time to pamper your pooch and get your best friend ready for the hot weather to come. Like it or not, spring is also shedding season, and if you fail to act quickly, you could find your newly spring-cleaned home filled with pet hair, matted fur and other disgusting discoveries.
Living with a dog may be great, but it also has its trying moments. If you share your home with a long-haired dog, it can sometimes seem that your canine companion is more hair than dog. Golden retrievers, German Shepherds and Huskies are legendary for their ability to leave clouds of fur in their wake, but just about every breed of dog sheds to some degree.
When the spring season comes along and the weather begins to warm, your dog will respond to the changes in temperature by shedding hair. You would not want to wear a thick fur coat in August, and neither does your dog. When the weather gets warmer, your dog will start to shed some fur.
Matted, dirty fur.
That springtime shedding process is perfectly normal, but huge clouds of matted fur an enormous amounts of hair are not. If your dog is shedding excessively, you need to identify the root cause and deal with the problem at its source.
Excessive shedding is often an indication of an improper diet, so before you grab the vacuum, you might want to check your dog's food bowl. Grab the bag of food, read the ingredient list carefully and assess the value of the nutrition your dog is really getting. Pet foods full of fillers, grains and unnatural ingredients can create lots of health problems, including issues with excessive shedding and poor hair coat. Simply upgrading your dog's diet could get you out from under all that hair and let you take back control of your beautifully cleaned home.
Regular grooming can also keep that excess hair at bay. All dog breeds, including shorthair breeds, have their specific grooming requirements, and understanding those needs can greatly reduce the amount of pet hair that reaches your floors. Treating your dog to a bath, a manicure and a shampoo is good for them, but that pampering is also good for you - and your home.
If you have not yet scheduled your dog's springtime grooming session, now is the time to act. You can use the time to vacuum your home, pick up the last of the pet hair and get ready for your canine companion's triumphant return.
