Greyhounds are renowned for their racing prowess. In fact, Greyhounds can reach speeds of 40 to 45 miles per hour, resulting in them being known as the Ferraris of the dog world. Even though Greyhounds made a name for theirselves as racing dogs, they started their existence as hunting dogs hunting hare, foxes, and deer.
Greyhounds are also known for their lean beauty, being shaped like an inverted S thanks to their deep chests curing gently into their tightly tucked waists. Also of note is the Greyhounds’ narrow, aerodynamic skulls. If you are in need of help with Greyhound grooming, you will want to keep on reading down below.
The Greyhound Grooming Process
1. Brush Your Greyhound’s Hair
Greyhounds have short, smooth coatings and so matting isn’t really something that you have to worry about here. Even so, you will still want to brush your Greyhound’s coating at least once per week.
That is because, despite your Greyhound’s short and smooth coating, he/she does in fact shed hair and so any shed hair will end up on your floor or furniture unless you remove them manually from your Greyhound’s coating by brushing them out of it.
Plus, brushing your Greyhound’s coating will help to spread his/her natural oils throughout his/her body and that will help to nourish his/her skin and coating. The Hertzko Self-Cleaning Slicker Brush is popular among dog owners.
The brush’s fine bent wire bristles will allow you to brush your Greyhound’s coating without scratching his/her skin in the process. The brush also comes with a self-cleaning feature that will allow you to easily clean your brush to get rid of the dead hair that you collect from the brushing.
Once you have the brush, you are ready to start brushing your Greyhound’s coating. In order to have the best results, I would brush your Greyhound’s coating in the direction that his/her hair grows.
2. Brush Your Greyhound’s Teeth
Brushing your Greyhound’s teeth is an important part of the grooming routine. Brushing your Greyhound’s teeth is important because his/her teeth can become breeding grounds for tartar buildup and that can cause tooth decay if left unaddressed.
So, you will want to make sure that you are brushing your Greyhound’s teeth regularly – ideally on a daily basis. Veterinarians often recommend the Virbac toothpaste to dog owners for brushing their dogs’ teeth. So, you will want to go along with it.
You can use a toothbrush to brush your Greyhound’s teeth.
3. Bathe Your Greyhound
You can bathe your Greyhound once every two to three months. But, be careful not to bathe your Greyhound too often because that can drain out the natural oils that helps to nourish your Greyhound’s skin and coating.
Once it is time for you to bathe your Greyhound, here is how you can go about doing that. First, take your Greyhound to your bathtub. Now, fill a cup with warm water and then pour it onto your Greyhound’s coating in order to get it all wet.
Once that is done, thoroughly apply the shampoo onto your Greyhound’s coating, taking care not to get it into his/her eyes. As far as shampoos go, from what I have seen so far, the Burt’s Bees Dog Shampoo is a great choice as far as Greyhounds are concerned.
As soon as you are done shampooing your Greyhound’s coating, be sure to rinse it until every trace of the shampoo is gone. With the bath over, use a bathing towel to dry your Greyhound’s coating and then re-brush it.
4. Clean Your Greyhound’s Ears
Like all dogs, your Greyhound needs to have his/her ears cleaned out. That is important because your Greyhound’s ears can become breeding grounds for wax buildup which can cause ear infection if left unaddressed.
So, be sure to check in on your Greyhound’s ears periodically and clean them out as soon as you notice them getting dirty. You will want to get the Virbac ear cleaner for cleaning out your Greyhound’s ears as that is the one that veterinarians often recommend for a dog’s ears.
You can apply the ear cleaner onto cotton balls and then use them to clean out your Greyhound’s ears.
5. Clip Your Greyhound’s Nails
Your Greyhound also needs to have his/her nails clipped in order to keep them short. You don’t want your Greyhound’s nails to be too long as that can cause paw pain for him/her. That in turn can cause your Greyhound to experience discomfort when he/she is walking around.
So, be sure to keep an eye on your Greyhound’s nails or listen for any clicking sounds while he/she is walking around. That way, you will know for sure when it is time for you to clip your Greyhound’s nails short.
You can use a nail clipper like Millers Forge Dog Nail Clip to clip your Greyhound’s nails. Be careful not to clip the quick part of your Greyhound’s nails as that can easily result in bleeding.
Greyhound Grooming – Conclusion
There you have it for what you can do about Greyhound grooming. If you are wondering if you should trim your Greyhound’s hair, given that your Greyhound has a short and smooth coating combined with the fact that he/she sheds hair, I wouldn’t trim his/her hair if I were you.
If you trim your Greyhound’s hair, you run the risk that you will shave off his/her coating and cause him/her to go bald. If you are in need of help with getting your Greyhound to cooperate with you while you are grooming him/her, this post will help you with that. So, be sure to go and give it a read if you do need help.
What are your thoughts? Have you groomed a Greyhound in the past? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
Speaking of the intelligence of greyhounds, we must not lose sight of the fact that greyhounds are late
they mature both physically and mentally.
Namely, the greyhound is fully physically and mentally developed only at the age of 3. age. Therefore
their unusual character and their pronounced individuality must not be combined
with non-intelligence, but we have to look at it a little wider. We must not lose out
he didn’t even see how old the races were as a race and what they were for.
Thank you for sharing some insights into the background of Greyhounds.
Greyhound owners, as well as all dog owners can benefit from this informative post on how to groom a greyhound. I never thought that a greyhound would need to have his coat brushed, as it is so short in any case. But it makes so much sense that you will be removing hair that the dog will shed on your furniture and carpets.
Trimming a dog’s nails are so important to keep them comfortable when running. And that is applicable to all breeds of dogs.
I am glad that you have come across this post. As I am sure you will have already seen by now, just because a dog has short hair doesn’t mean that he/she won’t shed hair at all.
As for trimming a dog’s nails, I couldn’t agree more with you on this. It’s not just the Greyhounds who need to have their nails clipped, all dog breeds need this. It certainly isn’t fun for a dog to walk around with his/her paws in pain.