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It’s important to groom your dog. If you have a pug, there could be special grooming needs.

The following is the Snugglly Pugs grooming schedule:

  • Daily – Every night before bed I use a Neutrogena sensitive skin face wipe to wipe the puggy face folds.
  • Weekly – Every weekend I trim my pugs’ nails with a Dremel. I then smooth out the nails with a battery-operated Cymas Dog Nail Grinder (from Amazon).
  • Weekly – After I trim my pugs’ nails, and while they are still on their backs, I stretch and contract their legs, checking their joints. I look at their paws and their tummies. I check their eyes and chins. Basically I give their bodies a once-over looking for injuries or problems.
  • Weekly – Every weekend I use Q-tips to clean out the visible gunk in my pugs’ ears. My boy has giant ear canals and I usually have to get loose hair out. My girl has tight ear canals and her ears get yeasty. Sometimes I have to use ear wash to clean them out properly. I also put Genticol ointment in her ears after cleaning if they’re really gross. (Prescribed by our vet.)
  • Quartely – Every 3 months or so, the pugs get a little stinky, so I give them a bath with oatmeal shampoo and dry them thorougly. I then give them a light brushing and clean up the pug-sized ball of fur scattered across the room.

From puppyhood until my boy Toby was 5, we lived in a single-family home in the suburbs with a fenced backyard.

DogsInTheBackyard

When Toby was 5 and my girl Zanna was 4, we moved across the U.S. to Seattle where we now live in a high-rise in the city. There’s a company called Condo Pet Pals that delivers a tray of grass and replaces it every week.

GrassInTheCity

Thankfully, my pugs don’t have the opportunity to get dirty. That’s why they don’t get very stinky. Plus, it’s a hassle to dry my pugs after a bath. It takes FOREVER to get those double coats dry, and before I’m done, I’m covered in hair and breathing it in. There’s dog hair in every corner of the room I use to dry them. I have occasionally used professional groomers, but they never get pug bellies clean, and have sent my dogs home with bleeding nails. Plus, I don’t like spending the money on something I can do better myself.

My dogs are accustomed to the grooming schedule, and lay on their backs calmly while I’m grooming them. I always give them treats after. Vets and professional groomers always comment on how well they behave. I guess a lot of pugs go nuts when someone takes their temperature or checks their ears and bodies.

My pugs do have their oddities. My boy Toby is afraid of smooth floors. So he hates the floors in vet offices. Neither of them like Halloween costumes. My girl Zanna refuses to walk with a shirt on. We recently had a “wear your pajamas to work day” to raise money for the fight against childhood cancer. Zanna refused to walk. I had to carry her to work. Toby pulls on his leash, and so I have to use a harness with him. Zanna doesn’t even like a harness, and refuses to walk in it. She goes head-to-the-ground and won’t move.

So work around your pugs’ oddities and with persistence and lots of training treats you can keep your pugs healthy and make their vet experiences smoother.