Someday, the sun will come out! Call us today for your pet's spring cleaning!

Family of the month: The Chabiels, Kaleb (2 legs), Tonya -Dexter (4 legs), Abbey (4 legs)- James and Dominic (2 legs).  They get our vote for absolutely  adorable and NICE two and four legged kids!

Shop Hours: Monday thru Friday 9am-3pm, later and earlier by appointment, Sat 10am - 2pm.  Please welcome Chelsea M, from Huntington Beach CA.  She is our newest certified groomer on staff  Tues-Saturday.

Student Groomers: ask for discounted grooming by groomers in training Mon, Wed, Fri each week.  Welcome Jillian from Spokane, our newest groomer trainee.

Email appts: make your grooming appointments online at www.thepoochparlor.net.

Shop Specials for May: Tuff lock collars and leashes on sale for 40% off!  Need a new spring spruce up?  Check out these great collars.

Leslie, recent graduate of Pooch Parlor Pet Groomer Academy and Gary Gordon will be opening the newest grooming salon in Kalispell, MT.  Please tell your friends and families in Kalispell to try them out!  They will be open June 1, called "The Happy Pooch Professionals!"

Grooming Questions?Ask your questions on Facebook or the website blog http://poochparlorpost.blogspot.com
We love to answer grooming questions.

 

skin that requires antibiotics to heal.  Common hot spot areas are behind and under the ears, in the folds of the neck, at the base of the tail, and on the back and inside of the thighs where the hair is the thickest.

Solutions: For a natural coat, regular brushing with proper tools for the dogs coat will remove excess undercoat and expedite the drying process. If there are mattes present that cannot be brushed out without pain, then spot shaving those areas will give relief to the dog and the owner.  If the matted area is already red and inflamed, the clipping process will cause the redness to worsen typically within 6 hours of clipping.  Using Neosporin, Bag Balm, Emu Oil, or Castor Oil to relieve the irritation is advised (usually for 1-3 days).  After the matted areas have been clipped away, and the dead undercoat brushed out, a thoroughscrubbing bath with a force dryer and complete drying process is needed (not a human hair dryer).  This will clean the skin of bacteria or debris and promote air flow around the hair follicles.  The last step to promote a clean smelling dog is to use Listerine on the areas that were shaved or smelly - provided they are not full-blown hot spots that require antibiotics (visible oozing discharge).

Solutions for a shaved coat:  Some owners find that brushing, bathing, and spot shaving problem areas is not enough to rid their dog of the dishrag smell.  This is especially common in the summer when the dog is swimming daily. In this situation, if the dog is not being shown, I advise owners to shave their Golden Retriever down to 1/8" (or a # 7 A-5 blade).  The hair will grow back with a slightly different texture, but the average dog owner would not know or care about the difference.  The hair takes about 3 or 4 months to grow back.  Most owners that try shaving their dishrag-smelling Golden Retrievers continue to shave their dogs each spring or summer because it alleviates hot spots, cools the dog, and promotes healthy dry skin throughout the swimming season. It also cuts down on vacuuming and sweeping!  Sunburn can be a factor to consider if you have a very light-colored Golden Retriever, or the dog has no shade the first two weeks after being shaved.  If sunburn is a concern, use regular human sunscreen on your dog with spf of 15 or higher, and waterproof, if your dog swims.  Two weeks after being clipped, they typically have enough hair to avoid sunburn.

Solutions for musky-smelling back end:  If your Golden Retriever has been washed and smells great everywhere except for his back end (butthole area), then the solution is easy, but a bit gross. It is very a very common occurrence in Golden Retrievers and I don’t know why, but the anal glands are full and need to be expressed, which produces a musky, unpleasant smell. You can empty the anal glands at home, but it is foul. You will need gloves, a strong stomach, a tub, and some Listerine to do this at home.  There are lots of videos on YouTube and also at the Pooch Parlor website, www.thepoochparlor.net about anal gland expressing.  You can take your dog to the groomers, typically as a walk-in, for a fee around $10, or you can take your dog to your veterinarian for an office call fee.  Once the anal glands are emptied and the area cleaned, the musky smell should disappear.

Solutions for smelly ears:  Golden’s get ear infections very commonly, most typically from swimming.  If you notice a funky smell coming from inside the ears, and the dog is shaking his head often, check for redness of the ear tissue, and clumps of black or brown gunk in their ears.  Yeast buildup is brownish with a cottage cheese texture.  Your local vet has a great variety of solutions for your dog, but if the problem is small, you can use miconazole nitrate cream for typical yeast infections sold over the counter to women every day.  Ear mites look like clumps of black sticky pepper inside the ears and are very contagious between dogs and cats.  Ear mite solution is sold at pet stores and vet clinics.  I recommend the pest topical treatment, Revolution, to treat ear mites as it also treats fleas and ticks, and you don’t have to annoy your dog by rubbing around in his ears.  In addition to ear infections, wet mattes underneath the ears are the most common cause of smelly ears.  Smelly mattes need to be shaved and the skin cleaned to clear up the problem.
 
Golden Retriever’s make perfect family pets, and keeping them from smelling like dishrags is not hard if you know what to do.  Keep your dog groomed regularly.  Check for mattes, hotspots, dead undercoat, and take appropriate action at home or at your local groomers.  Give each end your dog the ‘sniff test’ to see if ear or anal issues are a concern.  Keep Listerine and Monistat 7 on hand, and enjoy one of America’s favorite family dogs, the beautiful and clean-smelling, Golden Retriever.
 
Copyright 2011 DuAnn Lustig-Chambers. Owner and trainer of Pooch Parlor Pet Groomer Academy in Ponderay, Idaho since 1997. All rights reserved.

 
Do dogs smile?  You bet they do!!! We do no-drug dental scaling:)







Now cats..... are another story!


Thanks to all  for your great ideas!
Please check out all the great shop pix on  facebook



 

We offer the following services:

* full service grooming for all breeds of dogs and cats by state-certified groomers
*student grooming discounts
*offer ‘no-kennel’ grooming by request
*owner stay grooming by request
*self-service bathing stations
*walk-in appointments
* teeth scaling and/or teeth brushing 
* nail trimming and dremeling (filing) on a walk-in basis
*anal gland expressing bird nails and wing trimming 
*retail grooming tools
*doggie day care
*owner grooming training by request
*doggie and family portraits(free)
*walk-ins are welcomed here

Pooch Parlor Groomers/Staff:

Every groomer has undergone rigorous training to attain their certification at the state level. The training includes more than instruction about the technical aspects of grooming and scissoring, it includes strict codes of conduct and tight guidelines for ethical treatments of pets and their owners, safety practices, and cleaning standards. This certification is something we are most proud of, as the grooming industry is not regulated, and only 5 percent of all groomers spend the time and money to train under any qualified guidelines. All employees are drug-tested and undergo criminal background checks. The Pooch Parlor Pet Groomer Academy, is the only grooming school licensed and bonded through the Board of Education, in the State of Idaho.

The Pooch Parlor Pet Groomer Academy:

The Pooch Parlor Pet Groomer Academy is the only certifed grooming school in the state idaho.  The school is licensed and bonded through the Board of Education in the state of Idaho.  Students come from all over the nation to learn the trade of pet styling.  Their courses range in time from 2 months to 8 months.  Reduced grooming prices are offered to customers that would like to help these students out with their well-behaved family pooches.  Student grooming must be requested and scheduled on Mon, Wed, and Friday.  When the students graduate, they are certified as professional groomers, trained under standards that are higher than required by the industry.  Students that graduate end up all over the nation as employees and business owners.  If you have family in the U.S., check out the groomer academy webpage for a Pooch Parlor graduate near you.

At the Pooch Parlor, we always have a camera handy and LOVE to take pictures of our staff, students, customers, and their dogs. There is no charge for family portrait and we email it to you, just ask. Pictures of your 4 legged kids are really important, since our time with them is never long enough during our lives.

The Pooch Parlor in Ponderay is owned and operated by DuAnn Chambers and her husband Mike. Mike is not a groomer, he is a remodeling specialist, with Git ‘er Done Construction LLC., and helps out in the grooming shop with all repairs and upgrades (unless the upgrade is granite –thanks again Idaho Granite, we love the new countertops!). Mike and DuAnn have been married 17 years, and have no human children. They share the love of dogs, owning a mini schnauzer, 1.5 year old ‘Grouchy Greta’, a Standard Poodle, Montee, 6 years old, and an adopted Rottweiler cross, Marlie, 8 years. In our spare time, we scuba dive and snowboard. We thank all of you our friends and customers for making it possible for us to LOVE what we do! Thank you! 

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Copyright (C) 2011 Pooch Parlor Pet Groomer Academy All rights reserved.