How to Groom Your Lhasa Apso When Your Time is Limited

If your like me and have a million things to do each day you may feel you don't have time to take care of your dog. A Lhasa Apso can take a lot of work to take care of. Caring for your dog is a regular event for this type of dog, especially if you let your dog outside often and you have young children in the house. Your puppy can get dirty very fast. The following are easy steps to follow on how to groom a Lhasa Apso with limited time.

Things You'll Need

• Shampoo- any brand will work
• Conditioner (optional)
• A small bowl
• A towel
• Warm water
• Scissors
• Dog brush
• Dog Nail clippers
• Tooth brush and if you want toothpaste for dogs
• Cotton swabs and alcohol
• Puppy treats
• 1 hour or less of your time
• If needed flea treatment

Instructions

1. 

   Bathing:
   Once you have on your old clothes or an apron fill up your bath tub/pool/sink with warm water. Not too hot and not to cold, but just right. If you have a small dog make sure not to over fill the tup/sink/pool. You do not want your dog to be totally immersed in the water.

2. 

   If your dog frequently goes outside your dog should be bathed two to three times a week depending how dirty they are. An indoor dog will not get dirty as fast and should be bathed at least once or twice a week.

   Take your puppy in your arms and talk too him/her in a reassuring tone (puppy talk). Place your puppy in the tub/sink/swimming pool. Gently pet him/her so your puppy will calm down. Use the small bowl to gently pour water on your dog. Saturate his/her whole body.

3. 

   Rub the shampoo all over the puppy. Scrub the entire body of your Lhasa Apso. Including under the ears, in-between the paws, the hind area and the entire facial area. If your dogs hair is long make sure you scrub extra well, just as if you were washing your own hair.

4. 

   After you have lathered up your puppy. Take your small bowl and fill it with water. Slowly pour the water over your Lhasa Apso while using your hands to aid in washing away the soap. Be care full in the facial area because most dogs don't like water being poured up there snout. Rinse all of the soap off of your puppy.

   It is up to you if you want to use conditioner. If you do, spread the conditioner on your puppy and let it sit for the time recommended on the back. Then rinse your puppy off the same way you did for shampooing the puppy.

5. 

   Use your nails to pick out any extra eye buggers. Wet your hands and clean the eye area using your fingers. Check over your puppies entire body for any foreign matter. If you find any remove it or use scissors to cut it out.

6. 

   Remove your puppy from the water and wrap the towel around him/her. Don't cover your dogs face with the towel. Hold your puppy like it is a baby and talk to your puppy if they are scared. Use the towel to dry your puppy off. Then let him/her run in a dry clean area until they are completely dry.

7. 

   Nail Cutting:
   Inspect your puppies nails. If they are long and sharp you should probably cut them. Light colored claws are easier to cut than dark claws because you can see where the blood vessels start.

8. 

   In lighter nails the tip will be a different color than the vessel area. The tip of the nail is the part that needs to be trimmed. You should leave at least 2 millimeters of tip from the vessel area.

9. 

   It is difficult to see the vessel area of dark colored claws. You should cut the claw in small cuts to reduce the chance of cutting into the vessel area. You will know when to stop cutting the dark nail when you see a gray to pink oval appear at surface of the nail. Then you can file the nail down to smooth out any sharp edges.

10. 

    Brushing hair:
    Try to brush your dogs hair at leas once a day. This will help keep knots from forming. It should not take very long for a good brushing. Usually 10 minutes or less will do. Pull out your dog brush and start brushing your puppies hair. I usually cradle my puppy like a baby and start with the stomach and legs. Make sure you brush the paw area, both the front and back legs, the arm pits, the tail and the hind area thoroughly. Inspect the paws for any knots or burs. Remove them if you have found any. If you run into a large knot that can not be removed by a brush you will have to cut it out.

11. 

    Once you have brushed your dogs underside turn your dog over. Let your puppy sit in your lap. Start with the tail and work your way up to the head. Once again if you run into a large knot that can not be removed by a brush you will have to cut it out. Make sure to brush under your Lhasa Apsos ears and around their snout and eye area.

12. 

    Ear Care:
    Inspect your puppies ears. Make sure there is no built up discharge or infection and that the ear hair has not over grow. If the ear hair needs trimming use a pair of scissors to carefully cut out the excess hair. You can remove earwax with a cotton swab dabbed in a small amount of alcohol. If your puppies ears are infected see a veterinarian.

13. 

    Tooth Care:
    Take some water and an old tooth brush. Dip the tooth brush in the water and gently brush your puppies teeth. You can also use specialized toothpaste found in the dog section at your grocery store. Do not use regular toothpaste.

14. 

    If your dog has fleas use a flea treatment as recommended by your veterinarian.

15. 

    Your puppy is now in tip top shape. After completing these steps spoil your Lhasa Apso with a doggy treat and a bit of love.

Tips & Warnings

• Every once in a while it is recommended to get your puppies hair trimmed.

• Take extra care when trimming your puppies nails to not cut into the vessel area. It will be very painful to your puppy if you do.

• Do not use regular toothpaste when brushing your dogs teeth.

Resources

• Steps to grooming your dog