Timesaving Grooming Tips - Groom often: You can actually save time by grooming your dog more frequently. Keeping him clean in five- or ten-minute segments daily can prevent the need to spend hours grooming him once a week. These short, daily cleanings will also reduce the stress that your dog feels when being groomed, since it will become part of his routine instead of being a prolonged and potentially difficult occasional event.    - Deodorize: Don't bathe your dog when all your dog needs is a little deodorizing and fluffing. Although frequent bathing does not necessarily harm your dog's coat, it may not always be necessary. If your dog is otherwise clean but has a slight doggy odor to his coat, use a deodorizing product available at your pet supply store to freshen him up. If you choose not to use a commercial product, baby powder or baking soda massaged into your dog's coat can produce the same effect. Make certain to thoroughly brush your dog to remove all traces of the powder.    - Waterless Shampoos: If your dog is clean overall, but has a bit of dirt on isolated portions of his coat, using a waterless shampoo can save you both the trouble of a bath. Waterless shampoos are sprayed directly onto the coat. The area being treated should then be gently massaged to loosen the dirt. The excess moisture, along with the soil that stained the coat, should be combed dry.     - Sprayers: Use a sprayer attachment in your sink or in your tub for wetting and rinsing your dog. Dogs adjust quickly to the use of a sprayer. In addition to covering your dog quickly with water, the force of the spray also rinses the coat thoroughly and efficiently. In addition to these timesaving benefits, using a sprayer on your dog's coat helps strip dead hairs from the undercoat. Dogs also seem to enjoy the gentle massage that a sprayer can provide, once they have learned to relax and enjoy it.    - Cotton balls and petroleum jelly: Rather than wrestling with your dog to keep soap and water from irritating his ears and eyes, take steps to prevent them from getting in. Lightly insert cotton balls at the very outside of his ear canals to keep water from getting inside. Do not pack the cotton in tightly, as it will be difficult to remove. Help protect your dog's eyes with an application of petroleum jelly on the fur around them, particularly at the corners of his eyes. Wash his face with a washcloth dampened with water after his bath.    - Dilute the shampoo: Diluting the shampoo before use will allow it to spread through your dog's coat more easily. Diluted shampoo will also rinse away more quickly and more thoroughly than thick shampoo. Using the original amount of shampoo, simply diluted, should not reduce the cleaning properties of the product.    - Prevention: One particular area in which the prevention of messes, tangles and mats comes at feeding time. Dogs with long ears may drag their ears through their food. If their long ears have long hair, then canned food or water can dampen, soil, and tangle their fur. Using a snood is an effective method of preventing this problem. A "nood" is a length of elasticized fabric, usually secured into a circle, which contain your dog's ears. Even if the snood is only used at feeding times, it will reduce the amount of gunk you need to remove from your dog's coat at grooming time. "Cling" bandage wraps, applied to your dog's ears and other hairy areas, also perform similar functions.    - Cut it short: Cut your dog's coat short, that is. You might think that show quality Maltese is the most gorgeous things on four legs, but your pet will probably never have the opportunity to look like that. The floor-dragging show coat that you are drooling over spends most of its time secured in protective "clothing" and rolling papers. Unless you plan to show your dog, have his coat trimmed to an equally attractive, but far less time-consuming length to groom.    - Grooming Table: Consider using a grooming table with a grooming arm to keep your dog in a standing position for grooming. A noose or a harness attached to the grooming arm above his head gently restrains him, keeping your hands free. In addition, you have access to all sides of his body at all times during the grooming process. Your dog is also incapable of wandering off when you want him to stay still. You must train your dog to stand quietly on the grooming table, but once you have, the grooming table becomes an invaluable timesaving device. - Praise: Praise for your dog can be one of the most effective tools in your grooming kit. Dogs love to earn their owners' praise, as it confirms their place in the pack, which is why praise reinforces good behavior. Your dog will soon be standing still more often, because it earns your approval. Even after he begins to relax and enjoy being groomed because he knows it makes you happy, keep the praise coming. It will ensure that both you and your dog will have a pleasant--and speedy: grooming experience.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you are a business owner get listed at Best Dog Care Site, part of Localwin Network.