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Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom  It's really not hard to do the grooming, honestly. I'm sure my kiddos don't look as nice, by far, as those done by professionals...but what's important to me is that they are safe and not vulnerable in a grooming salon.
Btw, as far as anal glands -- those should never, ever be done unless there is something wrong with the glands; dogs' anal glands do empty themselves and messing with them is really not good or beneficial for their natural functioning. I would ask your groomers to *not* mess w/ the anal glands at all unless there is something structurally wrong w/ them where they do not function. |
I was just about to say the same. My vet explained the same thing to me. Anal glands don't need to be expressed all the time. The only time it should be is if something's wrong, for example, if you see your Yorkie scratching his bum a lot of the carpet/floor. And if so, you should have the vet do it... I wouldn't trust a groomer to do doing anything besides exterior stuff - and even that, it sounds like they're sometimes not capable of!
As for the ears, I also leave them alone. I used to pull the hair out of the ear canal of my past dog - but this is dated. People now say to leave the hairs inside so you don't disrupt the health of the ear (pulling the hairs can lead to infections). Instead, I trim the hairs down and check (smell) to see if there are any foul-type odours. If none, it's a healthy ear! Also, because Yorkies have ears that stand up, there's enough air circulation so if they're in good health, the ears should be pretty low maintenance.
For the hair trimming, I let my babies' hair grow out a little. I have never shaved them down before, so I've only ever needed a pair of scissors. If you choose to use a shaver, there are steps you can take to get your Yorkie used to it. Slow and steady and make it fun
I'm kind of excited for you to try out grooming yourself! Treat your little ones like a bonsai tree - it's really an artform
