1 What equipment will you need?
You will need:
A bath tub for a pet
A Greyhound-style medium or coarse steel comb
A fine-toothed comb with a handle
A well-balanced grooming shears, about 7" long. Maintain it well so that it remains sharp and has a good balance
5 A slicker brush and a pin brush
6 A nail clipper and a product called "Quik Stop"
7 A spray-on coat dressing and a conditioning shampoo.
by using yours as dogs need a shampoo with a different pH balance
8 A blow dryer—you could use either the handheld variety for your Chow Chow or the hi-powered ones.
2 Bathing: With your tools in hand, you can begin the grooming procedure. Bathe your dog monthly or oftener, if you like. If you choose to give him a bath once a week, don't worry about his coat drying out because if you use good shampoos, this won't happen. Usually, Chow Chows are bathed once a week.
Before you bathe him, check for any large mats in his hear or dead hair that he is shedding. Remove these, wet his coat thoroughly and apply shampoo, taking care not to let the liquid enter his eyes. Rub hard to work up a good lather. Remember, the soap or shampoo has to go all the way down to his skin, traveling all the way through the thick maze of his coat. Rinse well, and lather again. Now, use a washcloth to wipe his face, once again taking care to keep the soap or shampoo out of his eyes and ears.
Rinse once more for the last time.
Now, blow-dry his coat by laying him down on one side on a table.
Part his coat in small sections, and brush within these sections as this makes reaching the skin easier. Use a slicker brush or pin brush, and then comb his coat to ensure that all his dead hair has been removed. Now, turn him over and repeat the above process on his other side. When you dry his ruff and bib, let him stand up or sit, if he likes.
Being long-coated, you will need to brush his hair a few times each week. To hasten shedding and prevent hairy tumbleweeds from finding their way into your house, comb out his dead hair often enough.
To get your dog into the groove of grooming, you need to first teach him to accept all the attention he gets. Begin when he is still a pup by letting you touch him all over his body, to stand and lay on his side as you command him to. He must grow used to your touch, the use of a soft brush and a coarse washcloth.
If his coat is tangled, work gently weaving your hands and brush through the tangles and trying hard not to irritate his skin. Comb out the tangle by working your way inwards, but if it is badly tangled or matted, do it little by little, praising him as you go along whenever you hit a rough patch.
Alternatively, you could shave his matted areas, but do it carefully so that he doesn't get nicked and the skin inflamed. But if you can't go through it yourself or can't bear to cause him pain, hand him over to a professional groomer to do the needful.
Your Chow Chow may shed hair continuously, particularly in the household heat of a dry winter. But double-coated dogs are known to shed a lot of hair twice a year, with undercoat shedding beginning on his haunches and going up to the rest of the coat. His hair may look dull even before the new hair begins to grow back. It may take a month or more for the entire coat to shed completely.
