Pantops Pet Salon & Spa
Charlottesville's Professional Dog Grooming

Archived from “The Paw Report:”  Issue #5, November.  Applicable for all newsletters as well as library content.
I’ve been in the dog business for 31 years now and believe that I understand a good bit about dog ownership.  I figure we see an average 15 dogs a day or better.  For 25 years, that was 7 days a week for 5,475 pet encounters a year.  Do the math and I’ve handled or witnessed the handling of about 169,725 dogs to date.  This only includes my experiences in the environment of boarding and grooming but couple that with owning plenty of my own dogs and that’s quite a knowledge base to draw on!

However, I don’t rely solely on my own experience to make claims about dog behavior.  I would like to share with you several sources I frequently use as research to validate my opinions before I say them.

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Archived from “The Paw Report:”  Issue #5, November 

I often emphasize the importance of looking at the parents of your potential puppy in order to get a good idea of its future behavior and appearance (size, coat thickness, etc).  Yet, if you adopt from the SPCA (which I strongly encourage too) that opportunity usually is not available.  So, how do you determine which dog will make a good match for you if you have no access to the dog’s family and history?  Very carefully!  I know from handling thousands of dogs here that first impressions are not always accurate and the grooming experience can be unique.  Often, we receive dogs that are great with their owners, friendly toward us and would never bite—until the clippers come out!  Even a slow and easy introduction doesn’t always work.  More likely than not, the dog who is afraid of the vacuum or lawn mower will also be afraid of clippers and blow dryers.

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Basics
Country of origin: Germany and
Central Europe (France and Russia)

Group: Toy for Toy Poodle,
Nonsporting for Miniature and Standard

Lifespan: Toys – up to 18 years!
Miniature and Standards – 12-15 years

Height: Toy – under 10”
Miniature – under 15”
Standard – 15” and over

Weight: Toy – 4-8 lbs
Miniature 12-18 lbs
Standard – varies

Color: Any solid color or varying shades.

AKC Rank 2006:  8

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Archived from “The Paw Report:”  Issue #5, November 

Humanizing is one of the primary “human errors” that Cesar Millan describes as an impediment to gaining and maintaining a healthy alpha relationship with your dog.  Millan says that treating your dog like a human is using human psychology when we should be using dog psychology.  Human psychology contradicts their natural psychology and prevents them from meeting their needs.  This confusion and frustration can result in what we see as bad behavior.  We’re human beings—human psychology is what we know and what we respond to.  To understand dog psychology, we need to find out what the world is like from the dog’s perspective.

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Archived from “The Paw Report:”  Issue #5,  November

“Double-coated” means what it says—these dogs have two layers of coat.  Their outer coat is usually longer, firm and somewhat darker than the soft and dense undercoat.  To give you more of an image of the double-coat, here is a list of breeds that have it:  the Golden Retriever, Labrador Retriever, Pomeranian, Shetland Sheepdog, Collie, Corgi, Pekingese and of course the Malamute, Samoyed, and Husky.  Thinning out the undercoat (removing the dead hair) of these breeds is a large part of the grooming process because it reduces shedding for your comfort and ventilates the coat for your dog’s comfort. 

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