An often over looked task, that is a necessary part of maintaining the health of a dog, is daily brushing and combing. As well, taking time to brush and comb your dog’s coat will also give you an opportunity to bond with your dog, while identifying any problems (such as fatty lumps or bumps and matted hair) early on, before they may become more serious.
Make sure that your grooming sessions are as pleasant as possible by choosing the right tools for a Norwich Terrier and their type and length of coat. You will need minimal brushes and combs to keep your dog’s coat in good condition, including a slicker brush and a bristle brush.
As well as one or two brushes, and a comb, it’s always a good idea to invest in a mat splitter, a rake and a flea comb.
Equipment Required
A slicker brush has short, thin, wire bristles arranged closely together and anchored to a flat, often rectangular, surface that’s attached to a handle.
A slicker brush is an ideal grooming tool for helping to remove mats and tangles from a dog that has a longer coat. Slicker brushes are often used as a finishing brush after brushing with the bristle brush to smooth the dog’s coat and create a shiny finish.
A bristle brush can be used to help remove debris and dead hair from the coat and also to help distribute natural oils to keep the coat looking healthy and shiny.
A metal comb is a very useful tool for grooming a Norwich Terrier. Most metal combs have a combination of widely spaced and narrow spaced teeth and are designed so that if you run into a tangle, you can switch to the wider spaced teeth while you work it out, without pulling and irritating your dog.
Some combs have rotating teeth which makes the process of removing tangles from your dog’s coat much easier on them without the pain of pulling and snagging.
Mat splitters are, as the name suggests, designed to split apart matted fur or hair so that you can then comb out the areas. Mats can quickly occur underneath the belly, in the armpits and tail area or around the neck.
A rake (which looks like a tiny rake) is very helpful for removing dead hair when your puppy is changing from their puppy coat to the new adult coat or during twice yearly molting when the dog may blow their undercoat.
Flea combs, as the name suggests, are designed for the specific purpose of removing fleas from a dog’s coat. A flea comb is usually small in size for maneuvering in tight spaces, and may be made of plastic or metal with the teeth of the comb placed very close together to trap hiding fleas.
A Tick Twister, is a simple device for painlessly, easily and quickly removing ticks that have imbedded themselves in your dog’s skin.
Nail clippers or scissors (and/or a slow speed pet Dremel) will be tools you need to use every couple of weeks or more, depending on how quickly your dog’s nails grow and what types of surfaces they may be walking on.
Skin Care
Keeping your Norwich Terrier’s coat clean by regularly bathing with canine shampoo and conditioner and free from mats, debris and parasites, as well as providing plenty of clean water and feeding them a high quality diet free from allergy-causing ingredients will go a long way toward keeping their skin healthy and itch-free and their coat shiny and healthy looking.
Between bath times, there are many moist doggy wipes on the market that are especially formulated with the correct pH balance to help keep your dog clean and their skin healthy. Consider getting into the habit of wiping down your dog with one of these moist towels every night before bed.
Pest Control
Fleas: every dog usually picks up a flea or two sometime in their lifetime, so you should be prepared for this inevitability by ensuring that you always have a good flea shampoo on hand.
If you notice your Norwich Terrier biting, scratching or chewing at his or herself, the chances that they have picked up a flea or two is quite high, so it’s time for a flea bath.
Ticks: if your dog goes roaming freely through wooded and bushy areas with large trees, they may also pick up the occasional tick and you will have to carefully check as it won’t be easy to find ticks underneath all those heavy cords.
Always carefully check through your dog’s coat and ears after they have been romping through the woods, and make sure that you also have a solution on hand that will kill a tick or the proper tool that can easily and safely twist any size of tick out of a dog’s skin.
A very effective product, which is 100% safe for humans and animals, that will kill ticks on contact, is a natural pest control product made by CedarCide called “Best Yet Organic Bug Spray”.
Ticks can also be quickly and easily removed with a simple to use “Tick Twister”.
