Prepping For the Holidays: How to Groom a Corgi

As the holidays approach, many people are preparing for guests and travel. Preparing for the holidays may include preparing your home, your wardrobe, and your schedule, but what about getting your pet ready?

Today, I would like to discuss grooming your Corgi in preparation for the holidays. To be honest, I have never had Rooney professionally groomed, and therefore, I follow a few quick steps to get him ready for the holidays. Because, despite having what may seem like a complicated “fur situation”, grooming a Corgi is pretty easy and can be done at home to prepare for the holidays.

Step 1: Brushing

Corgis are shedders. They shed an insane amount because they are a double-coated dog breed.

What exactly is a double-coated dog breed?

According to the Honest Kitchen, “double coated dogs have a dense undercoat of short hairs (woolly in texture) under a top coat of longer hairs called guard hairs”. The undercoat of a double-coated dog breed serves a very specific and important purpose; they help your dog regulate body temperature despite the elements. Meaning, the undercoat of a double-coated breed keeps your dog both cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

This seasonal functionality creates additional shedding in the Spring and Fall as a result of the changing seasons. Depending where you are the in world, you might be experiencing a combination of seasonal weather. In California we are currently experiencing the aftermath of two major wildfires, so we actually haven’t had any true weather, which is terrifying (If you would like to help people and pets in California who have lost their homes, please visit the American Red Cross’ website here). In years where we have had a normal weather cycle, we are usually experiencing a drop in temperatures, and our true Fall weather in Northern California shows up the most in the month of November. All of this to say that Rooney gets a weekly brushing, and shorter quick brushes throughout the week to keep up with the extra shedding. We use a furminator for both.

The furminator helps me knock loose a lot of Rooney’s undercoat, which helps prevent him from shedding all over the place all the time.

That being said after I brushed Rooney yesterday morning, he had the inspiration for a “zoomie” session (you know where your dog suddenly runs around your house or yard unprompted), and he ran right through the pile of fur I had collected spreading it all of the living room. Hilarious, until I realized I need to clean it.

via GIPHY

Step 2: Nails

The second step for grooming your dog at home is trimming their nails. My husband and I are able to accomplish this at home which keeps our grooming costs at $0 for Rooney each year. Granted, when I worked as a veterinary technician, I trimmed so many different dog’s nails, I had a lot of practice before we adopted Rooney. If you are going to attempt to start trimming your dog’s nails at home, here are a few things I recommend:

• Find the right nail trimmers for you. I love the Safari Professional Nail Trimmer for Dogs from Chewy.com.
• Watch a Tutorial. Dr. Buzby DVM has an amazing tutorial series on her YouTube channel. If you have time you can also ask your veterinary hospital to provide you with a tutorial.
• TREATS! Making nail trims a positive experience is huge for being able to trim your dog’s nails at home again. My husband provides Rooney with greenies to chew on as I trim Roo’s nails.

Step 3: Bath

The third step is simple and straight forward, give them a bath.

The only added tip I would share with you is that Rooney sheds A TON after a bath, even if I brush him right before. So if the weather is right (which typically, for us it is warm enough), I walk Rooney after a bath so that he can shed outside on the walk instead of in the house. This walk also helps dry him off, since Rooney loathes the hair dryer, AND helps file his nails, which is why I trim them before.

Alternate Step

Some Corgi parents also prefer to trim the fur on their Corgi’s rear end and feet. I find that trimming the fur around their paws is important if you have hardwood floors and your dog has a hard time gripping the ground. I don’t take these extra steps for Rooney’s grooming because he doesn’t need them, but I might as he ages and/or we change our floors. For more detailed instructions on trimming, I would visit Little Cooper Bear’s blog here.

One word of caution: if you are using shears for the first time, make sure you have lots of help so that you can keep your Corgi still. Grooming accidents do happen and at the veterinary hospital we have seen pet parents get too close to the skin with shears, which often required stitches.

I hope these tips provide you with useful information for getting your Corgi ready for the holiday season!