Grooming advice Great Pyrenees – Special techniques for large breed dogs

Large breed dogs pose special grooming dilemmas. Great Pyrenees and other members of the Bernard family have taken the market by storm with that special combination of thickness and hair. Without a regimented grooming routine, the flowing white locks of the Pyrenees can easily transform, soon resembling a Komondor electrocuted on steroids.

One obstacle to keeping large breeds at the pinnacle of beauty is the difficulty of finding suitable nail clippers, brushes, and dental supplies for their considerable size. The substitution will have to be made. Still, with a little ingenuity getting ready is a piece of cake.

body brushing
Combing the Great Pyrenees is a challenge. The high biting nature of the breed means they tend to move around during grooming. In fact, these stealthy dogs can run if not restrained, sometimes moving up to an inch in a single afternoon.

Your best bet for body brushing or raking is to work on your pet while it sleeps. Avoid active hours such as 6:00 to 6:03 am and the 30 minutes after sunset Pyrenees dedicate them solely to barking. This breed has been known to sleep with their eyes open. When stalking them with grooming tools, be careful. Once you are within 65 feet of your dog, listen for a train. This verifies that your dog is snoring.

Work efficiently once you start preparing a Great Pyrenees. You may only have 13 hours before he wakes up. When preparing 140 lbs. skin bonded by slime and the occasional tree branch, you shouldn’t mess around. A herbivore is an efficient option for quickly working through the bushes down to the actual hair before brushing.

nail cutting
Clipping your Pyrenees’ claws should be a regular part of your grooming routine. Before beginning this procedure, head to the hardware store. Pick up a large metal rasp and a bolt cutter. Once the claws have been carefully trimmed, call HAZMAT to remove the clippings from your home. Do not forget about the spurs.

Great Pyrenees have a multitude of extra toes on their lower legs. Hidden among them are a total of six huge curly nails. Each one is so large that it makes a valoraptor claw look like a tiny blob of Chihuahua mucus. Don’t let the spurs sit unattended for more than a few weeks. Neglect will produce a cutout large enough to be used as a spiral staircase.

Dental care
Dog owners often overlook the importance of good oral hygiene. Fortunately, in Bernard breeds, their mouths offer plenty of room to work. Take advantage of this feature. You can create wide access to your mouth simply by pulling your huge flexible lips up from either side of your face. Then, use three clothespins to secure them together across the bridge of the nose. You can also secure a single lip to the opposite ear in a similar fashion.

Once the teeth are exposed, insert a shop vacuum tube under your dog’s tongue. This technique is identical to the ‘saliva sucker’ used in dental offices. A fifteen gallon vacuum should suffice. Once the shop vacuum is turned on, the Great Pyrenees will start to wake up. It will take about two hours to completely remove large chunks of grass stored along the gum line before your dog reaches full cognitive thinking. At this point, it will eat the void before going back to sleep.

As a final touch, clean your canine’s paws. Glow between the pads with a flashlight, pliers, and a bottle of WD 40. Remove rocks, dried-up bats, milk carton kids, and anything else that doesn’t belong up there. Once this task is accomplished, your grooming regiment will be complete. Wake your dog up simply by saying the word “biscuit.” By the time you get to “coo,” all of the Great Pyrenees within a six-mile radius will be in your kitchen.

With a little work and a few trips to the Home Depot, your Great Pyrenees, St. Bernard, or Newfoundland will sparkle with beauty. When you combine all this glamor with his high intelligence and magnetic personality, his dog will be the envy of the neighborhood.