# Daily Grooming for a Havanese in Full Coat



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Here is a video of Ducky during his "every day" grooming. For @gabbygool


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## Pucks104 (Aug 16, 2012)

Please post a link to the spray bottle you used grooming Ducky. Also how much Ice on Ice to water? It seems heavy on Issac’s coat though it works well on Leo’s.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Pucks104 said:


> Please post a link to the spray bottle you used grooming Ducky. Also how much Ice on Ice to water? It seems heavy on Issac’s coat though it works well on Leo’s.


There are a TON of options on Amazon. This is a pack of three I bought recently. You can buy one at a time, but that's 1 for $12, instead of 3 for $16...

I just go by the bottle directions (more or less... I eye-ball it) on Ice on Ice. Maybe you are spraying on too much? It is about the lightest product I know of. But you can ALWAYS dilute it more...


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## gabbygool (Oct 27, 2021)

krandall said:


> Here is a video of Ducky during his "every day" grooming. For @gabbygool


Thank you so much, Karen and Ducky! ❤


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## anna7 (4 mo ago)

Thank you! Great video.


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## anna7 (4 mo ago)

Nina and Mollie should be getting some Amazon deliveries soon. I also ordered a grooming table.


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## KristenC (Sep 20, 2021)

krandall said:


> Here is a video of Ducky during his "every day" grooming. For @gabbygool


This is so helpful Karen. I’ve watched so many you tube videos and the dogs are like statues. glad to see another wiggly havanese getting combed.

Charlotte is in a puppy coat and hates her bum combed to but loves loves loves her ears and her back feet combed. It’s so soothing to her and I can see her eyes close when I comb them.

ps he’s so cute.


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## Candfood (2 mo ago)

Ducky doesn't seem to be enjoying that very much. You make him do that every day!?

You should just cut his hair medium-short every 3 months and let him live his best life.


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## KarMar (Jan 14, 2016)

BrettFrederickson said:


> Ducky doesn't seem to be enjoying that very much. You make him do that every day!?
> 
> You should just cut his hair medium-short every 3 months and let him live his best life.


Oh good grief. If you took the time to know ANYTHING about Karen, you'd know there is no room to insinuate that her dogs are living anything but their best lives.


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## gabbygool (Oct 27, 2021)

BrettFrederickson said:


> Ducky doesn't seem to be enjoying that very much. You make him do that every day!?
> 
> You should just cut his hair medium-short every 3 months and let him live his best life.


Lmao, did you seriously _just_ join to say something that goofy? 😭😭


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

KarMar said:


> Oh good grief. If you took the time to know ANYTHING about Karen, you'd know there is no room to insinuate that her dogs are living anything but their best lives.


Thanks, KarMar.❤


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

BrettFrederickson said:


> Ducky doesn't seem to be enjoying that very much. You make him do that every day!?
> 
> You should just cut his hair medium-short every 3 months and let him live his best life.


You clearly don’t know much about body language in dogs. While he moves around, (and I allow him to) he never seriously complains. I am VERY careful never to pull on a mat. I never hurt him. He is a show dog, and honestly? He loves showing. He is VERY disappointed on the days that his mother goes and he gets left home!!! He cannot show in a short coat.

If you owned a Havanese, you would know that even a Havanese in a “medium-short“ coat would need to be combed out at least a couple of times a week, or risk serious TIGHT mats close to the skin. And they would need to be cut down much more often than every 3 months. My two that are in puppy cuts get cut rather short, and are cut down at 6 week intervals. They definitely need regular combing by the second half of this period.

If you don’t want to groom, don’t get a coated breed. If you get a coated breed, do your job and TEACH your dog that grooming doesn’t hurt and is just part of life! It’s pretty simple! If you want a Havanese and NEVER want to groom, be prepared to keep them in a VERY short puppy cut and either pay to get them trimmed every 6 weeks MAXIMUM, or do it yourself. And I GUARANTEE YOU that whether that is out of your sight or not, the time they spend at the groomer, and the process of getting clipped is no more pleasant than getting groomed. For someone who doesn’t properly train your dog to accept it, AND who doesn’t regularly groom their dog at home, so that they arrive at the groomer with mats close to the skin, it is an uncomfortable, and unpleasant experience all around. And they are likely there for several hours. Ducky has never once spent any time at a groomer.


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## mudpuppymama (Mar 24, 2012)

Teaching a dog NOT to lIke grooming is what is cruel. And I am not a fan of dropping dogs at the groomer. Sorry just my opinion. My dogs are groomed in the comfort of their own home.


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## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

Perry IS kept in a short puppy cut and gets groomed probably every 8 weeks. Like Karen said by the time he gets to the 2nd half of that period he definitely needs to be combed out more often though not every day and then yes, at the groomers, he needs to be combed/ brushed/ bathed/ blow dry, etc before getting cut.


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## anna7 (4 mo ago)

mudpuppymama said:


> Teaching a dog NOT to lIke grooming is what is cruel. And I am not a fan of dropping dogs at the groomer. Sorry just my opinion. My dogs are groomed in the comfort of their own home.


We are hoping to make that transition. It has been hit or miss depending on whom is working and good groomers seem to be gone next time you ask for them.


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## mudpuppymama (Mar 24, 2012)

anna7 said:


> We are hoping to make that transition. It has been hit or miss depending on whom is working and good groomers seem to be gone next time you ask for them.


I certainly am glad I decided to start grooming my own dogs. It seems scary at first but learning anything new is always a bit scary. It turned out to be way easier than I thought. Good luck!


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## anna7 (4 mo ago)

mudpuppymama said:


> I certainly am glad I decided to start grooming my own dogs. It seems scary at first but learning anything new is always a bit scary. It turned out to be way easier than I thought. Good luck!


Thank you. I am just setting up their table in the laundry room and organizing the grooming tools.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

anna7 said:


> We are hoping to make that transition. It has been hit or miss depending on whom is working and good groomers seem to be gone next time you ask for them.


I go to smaller groomers wher there IS only one groomer. (Or a couple) in the whole time I’ve had dogs I’ve worked with only three groomers.


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## anna7 (4 mo ago)

krandall said:


> I go to smaller groomers wher there IS only one groomer. (Or a couple) in the whole time I’ve had dogs I’ve worked with only three groomers.


It was like that before covid but now there seems to be a much higher turn over. My older dog had a very bad experience, at a place we had taken her for years and my friends take their dogs, my husband and daughters happened to walk in on the groomer. My husband just paid and took her home not even half way done. The last two times we had a lovely young gal at another place. Hopefully she will stay. It is worth the extra drive for us.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

anna7 said:


> It was like that before covid but now there seems to be a much higher turn over. My older dog had a very bad experience, at a place we had taken her for years and my friends take their dogs, my husband and daughters happened to walk in on the groomer. My husband just paid and took her home not even half way done. The last two times we had a lovely young gal at another place. Hopefully she will stay. It is worth the extra drive for us.


If you find a place that is owned by the groomer (which is what I use) there won’t be any turn-over unless the place closes down. I have changed twice in 13 years. The first time because the place I was going(NOT) owned by the groomer) started insisting on vaccines I won’t give, and would not accept titers. Then I moved to a mobile groomer who groomed my dogs in my home, until she moved to Florida. I have now been using a WONDERFUL gal who has her grooming salon in her home.


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## Tere (Oct 17, 2018)

That was quite the first (and probably only) post! Wow! 
Probably the same person who thinks Ducky is unhappy being shown.


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## Tere (Oct 17, 2018)

BrettFrederickson said:


> Ducky doesn't seem to be enjoying that very much. You make him do that every day!?
> 
> You should just cut his hair medium-short every 3 months and let him live his best life.


Is it April Fool's day?


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Tere said:


> That was quite the first (and probably only) post! Wow!
> Probably the same person who thinks Ducky is unhappy being shown.


LOL! I am not losing any sleep over it! (Ducky… the abused show dog, says he and HIS ducky aren’t losing sleep over it either!)


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## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

krandall said:


> If you find a place that is owned by the groomer (which is what I use) there won’t be any turn-over unless the place closes down. I have changed twice in 13 years. The first time because the place I was going(NOT) owned by the groomer) started insisting on vaccines I won’t give, and would not accept titers. Then I moved to a mobile groomer who groomed my dogs in my home, until she moved to Florida. I have now been using a WONDERFUL gal who has her grooming salon in her home.


Perry has been going to a groomer in a salon owned by my cousin - but the groomer has now moved and has opened her own place. I will be taking him to her (still have to make an appointment) rather than going back to the new person. Perry was fine the last time he was there but I wasn't completely happy with it - the only reason we did go was because we already had an appointment and didn't know "our" groomer had left. But I'll be making an appointment with "our" groomer now that she's on her own.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Melissa Brill said:


> Perry has been going to a groomer in a salon owned by my cousin - but the groomer has now moved and has opened her own place. I will be taking him to her (still have to make an appointment) rather than going back to the new person. Perry was fine the last time he was there but I wasn't completely happy with it - the only reason we did go was because we already had an appointment and didn't know "our" groomer had left. But I'll be making an appointment with "our" groomer now that she's on her own.


The specific groomer makes a HUGE difference... not only in how they handle your dog, but also in the groom you get! I'm VERY picky about both! It was YEARS (with each new groomer) before I would leave my dogs alone with them!


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## Martine (Jun 13, 2020)

krandall said:


> Here is a video of Ducky during his "every day" grooming. For @gabbygool


Great to watch you groom Ducky! Thanks for the helpful video. 
My Dash, 8 months old, gets a bath once a week and daily grooming , 2 x day, am and pm. When I brought him home at 10 weeks, I started combing him 30 seconds with treats multiple times a day. I was going pretty good on nail trimming until he hit adolescence, then that got more challenging. I've take him to a groomer just for nail trim twice , thinking that will help until he gets a bit older, but maybe I just need to start again at square one, doing just a few nails each day. I noticed the groomer had as much trouble as I did. Any suggestions? 
My other question is about doing the topknot. Ducky is so good while you comb and put in his top knot. Dash's head hair is still relatively short and he does not like me to put in a top knot. I had to have my husband hold his head. I don't think that was good. Should I just wait until the hair is much more grown out? And also give treats? I'm using the same kind of Terry knot. 
One last question, I've started giving him distilled water hoping that will get rid of the stains on his beard. Any other tricks for that? 

Thank you,

Martine


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## mudpuppymama (Mar 24, 2012)

Are you talking about your dog drinking distilled water or just using it to wash the beard? The problem with distilled water is that it has no minerals in it so drinking it on a regular basis could be a problem. It also is typically stored in plastic bottles which can leak nasty chemicals into the water. I am wondering if you can just filter your water? That is what we do.


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## Tere (Oct 17, 2018)

Most vets will say not to give your dog distilled water to drink. But you could use it to wash his face especially if your tap water contains a lot of iron. Otherwise, a wash of tap water on a paper towel or wash cloth is good enough.
I think you can drive yourself crazy trying to avoid plastics though. Water is going to pass thru plastic at some point.


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## mudpuppymama (Mar 24, 2012)

Tere said:


> Most vets will say not to give your dog distilled water to drink. But you could use it to wash his face especially if your tap water contains a lot of iron. Otherwise, a wash of tap water on a paper towel or wash cloth is good enough.
> I think you can drive yourself crazy trying to avoid plastics though. Water is going to pass thru plastic at some point.


Avoiding plastics altogether is almost impossible. However, water in plastic bottles that is transported in trucks or stored where there are super high temps is asking for it IMO. However, filters supposedly can filter some of this out. However, running distilled water through a filter seems sort of crazy.


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## Martine (Jun 13, 2020)

mudpuppymama said:


> Are you talking about your dog drinking distilled water or just using it to wash the beard? The problem with distilled water is that it has no minerals in it so drinking it on a regular basis could be a problem. It also is typically stored in plastic bottles which can leak nasty chemicals into the water. I am wondering if you can just filter your water? That is what we do.


Yes, I was talking about his drinking water. I didnt know that. Thanks for sharing. I'll try just washing his face with distilled water. 
What sort of filter do you use?


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## Martine (Jun 13, 2020)

Tere said:


> Most vets will say not to give your dog distilled water to drink. But you could use it to wash his face especially if your tap water contains a lot of iron. Otherwise, a wash of tap water on a paper towel or wash cloth is good enough.
> I think you can drive yourself crazy trying to avoid plastics though. Water is going to pass thru plastic at some point.


I agree, there's no avoiding plastics. 
Thanks


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## mudpuppymama (Mar 24, 2012)

Martine said:


> Yes, I was talking about his drinking water. I didnt know that. Thanks for sharing. I'll try just washing his face with distilled water.
> What sort of filter do you use?


There are many different opinions on water filtration and depending on what the problem is with the water different methods are recommended. We use a Berkey water filter, however some disagree on how effective they are. Some people use reverse osmosis which removes pretty much everything from the water including minerals. Some people account for this by adding minerals to the water. Others say it doesn’t matter and you can just get minerals from food. We find the Berkey to be a good solution for our particular situation. I think it is a good Idea for people to get their water tested to see what they are dealing with and go from there. We are now on well water and had ours tested recently. When we were in the city we had to deal with chlorine and fluoride and other contaminants in our district.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Martine said:


> Yes, I was talking about his drinking water. I didnt know that. Thanks for sharing. I'll try just washing his face with distilled water.
> What sort of filter do you use?


You can use a refrigerator filter or any of the “pitcher” type carbon water filters, where tou just pour the water through. You can pick up a Brita water pitcher at the grocery store, and they are cheap, but I don’t think that will take out iron, so it depends on what is in your water. Zero water pitchers are more expensive, but they even remove heavy metals, so are the best option if you have things in your water that you are worried anout, or if you have hard water.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

mudpuppymama said:


> There are many different opinions on water filtration and depending on what the problem is with the water different methods are recommended. We use a Berkey water filter, however some disagree on how effective they are. Some people use reverse osmosis which removes pretty much everything from the water including minerals. Some people account for this by adding minerals to the water. Others say it doesn’t matter and you can just get minerals from food. We find the Berkey to be a good solution for our particular situation. I think it is a good Idea for people to get their water tested to see what they are dealing with and go from there. We are now on well water and had ours tested recently. When we were in the city we had to deal with chlorine and fluoride and other contaminants in our district.


One thing you need to know about RO systems is that they produce about twice as much “reject” water as they push through as “good” water. So there is a LOT of waste involved. They are absolutely necessary in some cases. We have had a very bad problem with our tap water in our town for 3 years, and have had to orocess all drinking water and water for our aquariums through an RO/DI system for that oeriod. They are ALMOST rwpeady to put our new town well on line, which should solve our water problems on this end of tipown, but it’s been a rough few years. When fish DIE every time you doa water change on a tank, you really don’t want your baby grand daughter (who was living with us at that time)

But for the average person in the US, Canada or Northern Europe, with “normal” tap water, carbon filtration will probably take out most of what you want it to without the waste.


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## KristenC (Sep 20, 2021)

mudpuppymama said:


> Avoiding plastics altogether is almost impossible. However, water in plastic bottles that is transported in trucks or stored where there are super high temps is asking for it IMO. However, filters supposedly can filter some of this out. However, running distilled water through a filter seems sort of crazy.


What do you use/ recommend for a filter. My sister uses a filter in her home however it is very costly. Any thoughts?


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## KristenC (Sep 20, 2021)

krandall said:


> One thing you need to know about RO systems is that they produce about twice as much “reject” water as they push through as “good” water. So there is a LOT of waste involved. They are absolutely necessary in some cases. We have had a very bad problem with our tap water in our town for 3 years, and have had to orocess all drinking water and water for our aquariums through an RO/DI system for that oeriod. They are ALMOST rwpeady to put our new town well on line, which should solve our water problems on this end of tipown, but it’s been a rough few years. When fish DIE every time you doa water change on a tank, you really don’t want your baby grand daughter (who was living with us at that time)
> 
> But for the average person in the US, Canada or Northern Europe, with “normal” tap water, carbon filtration will probably take out most of what you want it to without the waste.


Our water here is problematic. We have gotten notices that it is safe But that there could be problems if we drink the water long term . Of course they do not say what long term is. This is city water. Since then we have been buying bottled water. I would like to get something to use long term…. Any thoughts?
who can test the water and make a recommendation on what we should buy?


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## mudpuppymama (Mar 24, 2012)

KristenC said:


> What do you use/ recommend for a filter. My sister uses a filter in her home however it is very costly. Any thoughts?


We just use a carbon filter that sets on the countertop. The brand is Berkey but there are others out there. It is not an expensive whole house water system. They have additional filters that you can use in it for fluoride also. Cities love to put fluoride in the water which I personally think is toxic. We are on well water so thankfully no fluoride or chlorine anymore. We had our water tested by the county, however there may be some independent companies that do more robust testing. You might do a search on YouTube. The EWG has a tap water database where you can see the results for your water district.









EWG's Tap Water Database: What's in Your Drinking Water?


Look up your local water system to find out which pollutants might be of concern, and find suggestions on the best kinds of home filters to remove those chemicals.




www.ewg.org


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

mudpuppymama said:


> We just use a carbon filter that sets on the countertop. The brand is Berkey but there are others out there. It is not an expensive whole house water system. They have additional filters that you can use in it for fluoride also. Cities love to put fluoride in the water which I personally think is toxic. We are on well water so thankfully no fluoride or chlorine anymore. We had our water tested by the county, however there may be some independent companies that do more robust testing. You might do a search on YouTube. The EWG has a tap water database where you can see the results for your water district.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The EWG site will tell you what type of filtration is necessary to make your water safe, and is why we went to the RO/DI filter. Carbon filtration did notremove some of the chemicals and metals in our water.


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## mudpuppymama (Mar 24, 2012)

krandall said:


> The EWG site will tell you what type of filtration is necessary to make your water safe, and is why we went to the RO/DI filter. Carbon filtration did notremove some of the chemicals and metals in our water.


This is a great point. Depending on the water, different filtration methods may be necessary. That is why I feel that the first step is to determine what is in the water.


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## pdq_bc (Aug 10, 2019)

krandall said:


> Here is a video of Ducky during his "every day" grooming. For @gabbygool


hi 
i really appreciate you taking the time to make the video and positing it.
your routine is like mine that i do with Bella & Luca (and they too have their idiosyncrasies when getting their brush outs).
again - THANKS!
cheers,
peter


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Awww! Bella and Luca are adorable!!! 💕


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