Swank Pets Dog Blog

I’m going to make this a several part series on how to groom a Yorkie or Maltese. In this series, I’ll start with this intro, preparing to bathing, dealing with the ears, how to tape a Yorkie’s ears, nail trimming, actual bathing, drying, hair trimming, and the finishing touches. Yorkies and Maltese have similar hair, which is why you can apply these techniques to both breeds. Grooming your dog is an important step in keeping a healthy dog. Other than aesthetic reasons, bathing and grooming your Yorkie or Maltese can help prevent sickness and disease. Your dog probably does a fair amount of licking their body, which is their natural way of cleaning themselves. However, if your Yorkie or Maltese is dirty, they can be licking up harmful bacteria and germs. Furthermore, regular grooming helps deter matting of the hair. Matting irritates your dog’s skin, and causes them to itch like crazy. You don’t want to torture your Yorkie or Maltese with mats. Anyhow, here we go.

To begin, you’ll want to have all your products accessible BEFORE you start. I’m talking about any neccessary dog combs, dog brushes, dog shampoos, dog conditioners etc. I use dog before each product because there are products specific to dogs. Some people argue that you can use regular human shampoo and conditioner for dogs. Personally, I don’t believe in this. I’ve spoken with several vets that believe this also. The reason being that most dog shampoos and conditioners have a different pH balance than human products. Using shampoo and conditioner for humans may dry out your dogs skin or cause rashes and itching. Another word of advice is to keep your cordless phone close by if you have one. You never know if an important call is going come in the middle of your grooming. Keep posted to this blog to see the rest of this series on “How to Groom a Yorkie or Maltest”