I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! Mine involved a plane trip so I decided to leave Kip at his daycare over the span of 4 days. I was extremely happy that the daycare I send Kip to has dog-cam’s installed so I could keep a watch on Kip while I was away. When I picked him up, Kip’s fur was thoroughly matted with dog slobber and other dog’s fur. He was also exhausted from running around with the other dogs for 4 days straight. I took advantage of this and did three things when we got home.
1. Bath time!
While Kip doesn’t enjoy his bath, he doesn’t particularly seem to hate it either. But sometimes he can be stubborn and refuse to turn or move. Today he seemed too tired to do either. He seemed to be saying: Might as well get it over with. Hurry it up already.
2. Paw-dicure
I must confess I haven’t done a good job taking care of Kip’s nails. Today I could hear them on the sidewalk as I was walking him. Trimming his nails is rather a scary task. Kip has black nails so it’s hard to know how far to cut them. To make matters worse, the small animal/puppy nail cutter just seemed so bulky and made it feel like I was breaking his nails rather than cutting them. So when I couldn’t find them I decided to try human nail clippers. As Kip’s nails are a bit thick to fit completely in the clipper, I had to clip off a corner here and then a corner there and slowly take off a millimeter at a time. It worked for the best though. Since the cuts were smaller with far less pressure, Kip didn’t seem to mind as much. It also felt safer since I was essentially chipping off a little bit at a time. In any case, I had the easiest time cutting his nails because he kept nodding off to sleep because he was so tired.
3. Brush your teeth!
If your puppy does not enjoy getting his or her teeth brushed, I recommend two things. Try it when they’re tired, and try a different type of toothpaste. Right now I am using Petrodex Natural Toothpaste. It’s a peanut butter flavor but with no artificial preservatives or additives. Kip likes it far better than the poultry flavor and doesn’t bolt when I pick up his toothbrush anymore. I let him lick the toothpaste before and after I brush his teeth as a treat and so that he brushes his own tongue in the process. Even so, he hates getting his front teeth and his back molars brushed. His exhaustion made it a snap to go in and do some extra brushing.
