How to Choose the Right Brush for your Dog
We all want to do what is best for our furry friends, but choosing the right brushes for them can be overwhelming. So in order to guide you on the right path, let’s give this very key brush a quick breakdown.
When caring for any type of long-coated dog, the slicker brush is an essential tool in your arsenal. They are typically rectangular, with densely-packed, angled wire bristles. The bristles are at an angle, as to not scratch the skin. Slicker brushes come in a variety of sizes and bristle lengths. While it doesn’t hurt to go with a standard, medium sized-bristle slicker and call it a day, finding the right fit for your dog can save you both time and frustration.
Size Matters
If your dog is on the larger side, choose a large brush. For smaller breeds a small-sized brush makes things so much easier. Also available are teeny tiny, very adorable, but very useful slicker brushes for detail work on muzzles and ears. I highly recommend adding these little brushes to your collection, especially if you own breeds like shih tzus, yorkies, and bichons.
Coat Length = Bristle length
The longer and denser the coat, the longer the bristle. The long-bristled slicker brushes are best for double-coats, as well as long, fluffly, and/or curly coats. Having multiple brushes at your disposal to use on different parts of the a single dog is also useful, especially in the case of double-coated breeds.
Coat density= Bristle strength
And lastly, how dense or hard of bristles you choose should depend on how thick your dog’s coat is. You won’t want to run a hard brush through a dog with a thin or fine coat, as it may scratch their skin. It’s not a bad idea to keep one harder-bristled slicker around for help when the coat gets tangled, but try to be gentle. Make sure to only use hard-bristled slickers in the area needed.
Stay well, and happy brushing!
