Caring for Your Guide/Service Dog: Daily Grooming, Fur, & Dental Care Routine
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- Thanks for becoming a part of our little family and sharing in our journey as a team! My name is Nicole and I am a wife, mom, sister, daughter, friend, crafter, employee, and I happen to be blind. Figaro, is my tall, dark, and handsome guide dog / sidekick! He is a black labrador retriever and sweet as could be! Here we share our adventures training and working together. I also share a variety of lifestyle videos, crafting and DIY projects, cleaning and home management topics, and shopping/hauls relevant to these areas. We welcome you to join us on our journey!!
In this video I have you join us for grooming-coat and dental care routines. Part of the care and responsibility with a guide or service dog is maintaining their health and wellbeing-in all ways-and includes daily grooming of coat and teeth. The time spent grooming your dog isn’t only good for his physical health, it’s good for your relationship and bonding as well. You have a time that is devoted to your dog alone and you are caring for them and allowing them to relax and enjoy being taken care of. I would liken it to a massage or spa day for a human-especially this human-when will it be my turn?! (Just kidding.)
As you will see in this video, the primary tool we use for daily coat care is a Zoom Groom rubber dog brush. This brush will gently lift the dead and loose undercoat fur from your dog’s coat so that it ends up in your brush, and thus in the trash or outside, instead of in your house on the floor. I also demonstrate use of the Furminator dog brush, but this brush requires careful and limited use as over-using this brush can damage your dog’s coat. During the highest shedding times of the year (when our dogs are “blowing their coats”), I use the Furminator approximately once every two weeks to once per month. Throughout the rest of the year, I use the Furminator once a month or less. I would rather err on the side of caution with my dog’s care.
When brushing my dog’s teeth you will see that I prefer to use a dog toothbrush that is shaped like a normal human toothbrush. Many people prefer to use a “finger-brush” so I will link that below as well. We also use an enzymatic poultry-flavored toothpaste.
All of these tools and products are linked here:
KONG Zoom Groom
amzn.to/2qieCvX
Furminator
amzn.to/2qTOP0Q
Enzadent Enzymatic Dog Toothpaste-Poultry Flavor
amzn.to/2rfmVh2
Dog Toothbrushes (multi-pack with two brush style toothbrushes and one finger-brush toothbrush for dogs).
amzn.to/2rymoXj
If you enjoyed this video, we welcome you to join our little family, and join us on this journey!
Social Media Links:
FacebookChronicles of a Crafty Blind Chick
/ craftyblindchick
This Guide’s Life (Figaro’s Adventures)
/ this-guides-life-17146...
Instagram:
@craftyblindchick
I loved seeing the combination of zoom groom and furminator. Fig loved his tooth brushing experience! That was really fun, nice job Nicole!
+Kathy Wentworth I LOVE the Zoom groom, and I know it's safest... but Picassa's coat just doesn't respond to it like Fig's does!
Great job multitasking. The zoom groom remind me of a currycomb for a horse.
Thanks Sydney!! It is such a useful tool!! One of my favorites. 😂. Or their favorites maybe. Lol.
+Sydney Steuernagel I've seen some combs like that that are actually sold with dogs, horses, and other animals as their audience--but I've never tried one. I'm kind of afraid of them. Do they actually cut out the fur or just pull out already loose hair??
Great video! Very informative and I am amazed at the one-handed photography. Keep up the great work, enjoy life and be blessed
+Mike Wubker Sr thanks Mike! I hope you're doing well--can you believe it went RIGHT back to dreary weather after that one day of beautiful sunshine! 😂
+Mike Wubker Sr thanks!! 😂. My husband said "why didn't you use your tripod"? And I was like..... ummm. Because I didn't think of it? 😂😂😂
Dulce it won't let me load your comment to reply for some reason! Thanks for your comment--both of my pups are so very sweet, and with their own unique personalities for SURE! Lol. Both are Labrador retrievers and they really need baths infrequently--maybe quarterly throughout the year. Some people bathe their dogs as much as once a month, but these guys really need to retain the natural oils their bodies produce for their coat and allergy protection. ❤️
I love your fury buddies. How often do they take a bath? Please keep the videos coming :-)
Awe he loves getting his teeth brushed that is so cute. I'm really liking your videos you're doing a great job. I'm very new to TH-cam and I am still learning editing with my husband. I just subscribed to you I think your videos are awesome. can't wait to watch more. Keep up the great work.
My Blind Mamas Messy Kitchen oh my goodness GOOD for you!! I'm going to subscribe to your channel right away--it's challenging for sure, but it's been fun to work on learning! Looking forward to getting to know you better!!
+My Blind Mamas Messy Kitchen I subscribed to your channel this morning! I'm so happy for you--taking on something like this is challenging because there's just not a lot to learn (for anyone) but there's a lot to learn AND learn with assistive technology as well. It has been a big challenge for me anyway. LOL. I love cooking but I am not our primary cook in the family because I hate cooking forever and then the food being eaten in like ten minutes! I much prefer big meals and parties where I know the food is savored if that makes sense lol.
CraftyBlindChick thank you. Yes very challenging but a lot of fun at the same time. Oh and yes that totally makes sense. I love to cook but I hate the cleanup LOL.
CraftyBlindChick thank you. And best of luck with your channel as well. Looks like you're doing really good so far. Looking forward to getting to know you also. Oh and it sounds beautiful where you are. I love the birds.
Good video. I’m legally and trying to find out if I an able to handle the responsibilities of caring for a dog. Do you have a video on bathing your dog
I do not, but I could make one. It might be a comedy of errors if we try to film it, but it could be really fun 😂. We do not bathe Figaro often. I groom him often, brushing and brushing his teeth, cleaning his ears, and trimming his nails etc. but he gets baths quite infrequently. Labs do best with limited baths and keeping the natural oils in their coat and skin. Anyway, we could do it, it might be really funny!
Re the responsibilities-having a live working partner is a lot of responsibility, but Figaro gives me an awful lot and brings so much to my life that wouldn’t exist if I used my cane and that was it. It’s a working partnership and team that I feel honored to have experienced.
why did Picassa retire
+Emily Roberts Picassa decided she wanted to slow down to an unsafe (for us as a team) pace. She just didn't want to work anymore. Even a New York strip wouldn't speed the girl up. 😂. So she's our pet now and she's spoiled rotten (except she's not rotten!). She's wonderful! ❤️
CraftyBlindChick Oh. well. i live in canada on the west codt. there is a guide dog school near where i live that only does home training. i have other medical conditions too. i am uncomfortable with residential. i am kind of picky when it comes to dogs. i want either a yellow lab female. Black lab male. Yellow lab cross golden retriever female. black lab cross golden retriever male. golden retriever female
+Emily Roberts the challenge with home training really is the wait. Since it requires one to one staff time it can be a VERY long wait. I know that Guide Dogs for the Blind (based in San Rafael, California) the school I get my guides through, provides in-home training depending on the circumstances. You can request home training and explain your reasoning throughout the application process. They will take your specific preferences into consideration--and try to meet them. I understand having preferences... but at the end of the day for me it's about the right guide dog that matches my life, work, family, and needs. I really don't care about the breed or sex. I'm not sure about home training in Canada through the other US schools, but you could totally email contact each organization or make phone calls to each to find out!
CraftyBlindChick i contacted GDB before
but no answer. Do they train people with other disabilities besides blindness or visual impairment?
+Emily Roberts they do, but I believe any additional trained tasks for the dog are limited. It is my understanding that GDB also does not work with full Deaf-blindness (I know individuals who are considered Deaf blind but use a GDB program Dog because they have some useable hearing). or individuals who use a wheelchair and are blind.