Unfortunately we will be tempoarily closed due to a car crashing into our store Weds morning. Our construction engineers are doing their best to make it safe for our customers to enter the store. The earliest we are looking at to open will be next Weds or Thursday. We appreciate your patience and will do our best to get you a grooming appointment right away.

Here is the news footage on what happened.

Truck smashed into PetDaddy
]]> http://petdaddy.com/feed/ 0 http://petdaddy.com/ http://petdaddy.com/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:52:29 +0000 admin http://petdaddy.com/ http://petdaddy.com/feed/ 0 http://petdaddy.com/ http://petdaddy.com/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:39:53 +0000 admin http://petdaddy.com/?p=410 What we are noticing at our store are more mix poodles breeds.  Labradoodles, cockapoos, shitsapoos.  It has becoming a phenomemenon in the new dogs breeds to mix other full breeds with poodles.  The breeders intentions  to  combine great characters of other dog breeds with the intelligence and non shedding coat of a poodle.  Although postive results have resulted by creating these poodle mixes we have experienced many owners who are not aware of the grooming up keep and maintenance of these dogs with the poodle like coat.  Shedding might not be an issue but letting these dogs go ungroomed or not brushing for long periods can result in  difficult matts to take out. 

We have  seen the matts so bad that some of our groomers could not de matt but had to shave the dog down.  As a result customers were unhappy about the way their dog looked.  Dematting bad matts can be very painfull for the dogs as well.  In extreme cases we could not take the dog and recommended to the customer to go to their veterinarian.  You might be saving more money by not getting your dog groomed often but you end up paying more for a shaved dog and an unattractive non-standard breed cut.  Or worse it could cost you more to take it to a veterinarian to get rid of the matts. 

You could avoid this buy going to your groomers regularly or brushing and dematting your dog daily.  Petdaddy will have a simple how to video soon for you on maintenance for these types of poodle mixes.

What they do not realize is that it is an extensive process and that by having the Furminator tools, shampoo and conditioner is not enough.  It is an extensive process where you are getting rid of the loose undercoat with the correct brush, (not necessarily the Furminator raking tool) making sure the conditioner sets for a while, blow drying until the dog is completely dry and then you finally get to use the Furminator tool.

So it’s not as magical as some people think and just having the tools and treatment will not necessarily guarantee a good grooming job.    Some long dog hairs take up to a minimum of 2 hours to really see the benefits of a deshedding process.   If you do not have a powerfull dryer I would not recommend doing this on your own. The dog must be thourougly dry before you can finish the process and the ordinary house hold dryer and towels will take forever to get a dog dry, especially a long hair dog.

Take the time to ask yourself do you have the right tools and patience to see this deshedding process through before purchasing a kit.  If not save yourself the headaches and have your local groomer do it right.

A new puppy needs your full attention to become a good dog later.  The longer you wait to train the harder it is to break any bad habits.   If you had your full attention devoted to the puppy you can start right away on potty training, getting use to his or her bed and obeying your commands.   If you do not pay attention to this right away your puppy will create his or her own rules which could result in chaos in your household. 

Picking up poop during your holiday party or ripped up Christmas presents does not sound fun at all.

You might be saving per bag but it will cost you more depending on how fast your pet consumes the food. So on average if your pet eats around two cups of healthy all natural food they will eat about three to four cups of the cheaper bi-product to be satisfied. The average large bag of all natural pet food will be consumed in a month when compared to the cheaper bi-product brand that will be consumed in 2 or 3 weeks.

I would suggest doing a price comparison and measure the quantity of food you are giving your pet per month. You can generally gage this by noticing if your pet consumes for example a large bag in 3, 4 or 6 weeks. Some all natural brands offer the recommended cups per meal or day per weight of your dog or breed. You might discover that your foods costs are about the same or less.

And most importantly your pet consumes more nutrients with the all natural brand compared to the cheaper bi-product brand. Eating more of the less healthy food will cause other issues like bad digestion and your pet may feel less energetic. I see it as a great investment where your return is a healthy happy pet that lives for more years to come.

However for dogs to maintain their healthy digestive system and prevent diarrhea we advise either to get a more durable toy that won’t be destroyed instantly or pick up the cotton stuffings right away and let your dog chew on the outer cover of the stuffed toy.  Some dogs get to the stuffings faster than others so be on alert.

For a durable toy take a look at our Kong balls or West Paw Zogoflex toys.  They should last a lot longer and you don’t have to worry about your dog swallowing unhealthy material.

One event that comes to mind is Fourth of July where you can expect  fireworks and many loud noises.   If you know there is going to be any loud noise ahead of time there are things you can do to assist you dog so they are not scared. 

• Avoid the area and get of town where there are no fireworks being set off.
• If you can’t get out of town drive to a place where you know there is going to be the least amount of fireworks.
• Have treats or a toy to distract your dog
• Have cotton balls available to stick in your dog ears to dampen the noise.
• If you hear a loud noise cover their ears up with your hands and praise for not reacting.  

These are a few suggestions to make it positive for your dog to deal with loud noise.  Eventually your dog will not be afraid or associate the noise as a way of them getting a toy or treat.