Chihuahua Grooming A How To For Grooming A Longhaired Chihuahua or a shorthaired Chihuahua

Chihuahua grooming

Grooming a Chihuahua is a fairly simple dog grooming task for both shorthaired and longhaired Chihuahuas. Long haired Chihuahuas are usually kept in their natural state but if the long coat is a problem you may want to give your dog a haircut. Either a summer cut, puppy cut or a variation of one of the two cuts. The dog grooming equipment you will want to have on hand will be:

> Bristle brush

> Comb

> Thinning shears

> Nail clippers

> Styptic powder

> Ear cleaner

> Cotton balls

> Hemostats

> Shampoo

> Deshedding tool ( furminator )

Chihuahua grooming for your shorthaired Chihuahua is as simple as bathing your dog with a few additional steps.

First trim your dog’s nails. Be sure not to go back to far, just take off the tip of the nail and only if needed. Some dogs tend to wear their nails off naturally. If this is the case you can skip this step. Should your dog’s nails be white you will be able to see just where the vein is making it easy to avoid. If you have any questions please visit our nail trimming page.

Next I like to brush my dog. Being a shorthaired Chihuahua a good bristle brush like a boars bristle will work well. If you do this before the ear cleaning you won’t be trying to brush wet hair. That never works well. Now is a good time to use your deshedding tool.

You will want to clean the ears for your dog. There are two schools of thought on when to perform this step. If you are having problems with ear infections due to water getting into the ear canal during the bath you can use an ear cleaner that also disperses moisture. You will want to do this after the bath. Inserting some cotton in the ears will help to keep the water out during the bathing process. Remember to remove it afterwards.

Now you will want to bath your dog using a quality dog shampoo. Remember the shampoos we use are not the same as a shampoo created especially for dogs.

Dry your dog with a dog dryer, under a fan, or just air dry naturally. A forced air dog dryer will help remove any loose coat still left on your Chihuahua.

Now a good brushing using a nice bristle brush and your Chihuahua is ready to go. The bristle brush will also help pull some of the natural oils back into the coat.

The Dog grooming equipment needed for grooming a longhaired Chihuahua stays pretty much the same with these changes or additions

> Exchange your bristle brush for your slicker brush

> Dog grooming clippers

>#10 and a #30 clipper blades

The steps for grooming a longhaired Chihuahua are:

Nail trimming.

Remove the hair from under the feet and between the big pads of the foot using a #30 clipper blade.

Using a #10 blade attached to your dog grooming clippers do your sanitary trim . Clipping the hair around the private areas of your dog.

Thoroughly brush your dog then comb check your dog to make sure you didn’t miss any areas with your brush. > clean your dog's ears.

Bath your Chihuahua.

Dry your dog with any method you deem correct.

Once again brush your dog out thoroughly.

Using your thinning shear trim up the feet. The foot should look like a cat’s paw. You may also need to clean up the back of the hocks and any stray hair on the feathering.

Your Chihuahua grooming is done and you now have a sparkling clean well groomed Chihuahua. Our hope is that we've made your Chihuahua grooming simple and easy.

Should you want to put your longhaired Chihuahua in a summer trim or a puppy trim please see our dog haircuts page.

Leave Chihuahua grooming and return to our dog haircuts page.