How to Clean Your Dog’s Face

Grooming your dog

Dogs are a man’s best friend, and we want to make sure that we keep them clean and healthy. That’s why learning how to wash a dog’s face is so important. Grooming your dog is one of the most basic functions of pet care. Some grooming salons even offer doggie facials now as part of their grooming packages. They’re fun, but there’s no need for anything fancy on a regular basis.  It not only keeps them clean and smelling fresh, there are health benefits as well.

Regularly grooming your dog enables pet parents to check for lumps, bumps, scrapes, scabs or anything else out of the ordinary that may require attention or a veterinary examination. It can also help keep flea infestations and dandruff under control.your dog’s head! Certainly, it needs to be cleaned, too, but how do we do that while trying to keep the suds out of their dog’s ears and eyes?

What are Some Tips for How to Wash a Dogs Face

If you decide to wash your dog’s face while giving him a regular bath, start out the same way you would with any other bath time. Best way to wash your dog’s face using warm water and gentle soap. Make sure the water is warm—not too hot and not too cold—and start the bathing process up by the neck and work your way back to the tail. Wet your dog’s face with room temperature water using a gentle motion. You can either use a dog shampoo or a human baby shampoo. Massage the shampoo into the dog’s hair and scalp. Be sure to avoid getting any of the soap in your dog’s eyes, as it will sting. Diydoggrooming recommends washing around your dog’s ears and face with a damp cloth before the water gets too dirty, warning, “Be careful not to get shampoo in the dog’s eyes.”

Wash a dog’s

If you have cotton balls and petroleum jelly on hand, you can plug the dog’s ears with cotton balls and put Vaseline over his eyes before washing his face. You should also use a dog brush to loosen any dirt and debris from his fur before you begin.

Bathing Process: For Dog’s body

There are other benefits to starting the bathing process around the neck, most notably if your dog has fleas. “By starting around the neck and head area first the fleas will run away from the shampoo and move to the back end of the dog,” reports dyidoggrooming.“Then wash towards the back end of the dog. This is where the fleas usually congregate—around the tail and anal area and under the tummy.” Simple enough, but what about dogs with special face-washing needs? As unusual as it may sound at first, certain dog breeds may require more maintenance than others. Short-muzzled or flat-faced dogs such as Pugs, Pekingese, French Bulldogs, English Bulldogs and more, require a little extra help.

Part of what makes such breeds adorable to their many fans is the wrinkles and nose rolls that define their faces. They make dogs look adorable, but they need regular cleaning for optimal grooming and health. Dirt, moisture, food, yeast, and whatever dogs can get into can get trapped in their skin folds, potentially causing odor, itchiness, inflammation or pyoderma (bacterial infection), reports HealthypetU.com and Upei.ca. 

Dog’s Skin

Fortunately, keeping those skin folds clean is fairly easy and really just a matter of wiping them out. Gently, spread the skin folds apart so you can wipe them clean with a clean, slightly moistened washcloth or soft tissue, Pugspot.com recommends.

Clean Your Dog’s Face Carefully

Work your down your dog’s face, “being sure not to wipe too close to the eyes or nose,” write eHow.com. Also clean every bit of skin thoroughly and “be on the lookout for areas have crusted over,” the Pugspot.com reports. “If you find any, you may need to moisten the tissue or washcloth more to help loosen the crusty spot. Once loosened, be sure to wipe whatever is there away completely.” Pugspot.com also notes that some people prefer baby wipes for wrinkle duty, but advises to use hypoallergenic brands. Finally, use a soft tissue to make sure the freshly cleaned areas are dry to prevent further moisture from entering the folds. “Rub the tissue in and out of the wrinkles, the same way you did with the cloth,” recommends eHow.com.

Although flat-faced dogs require a little more facial grooming than some other breeds. They’re not the only ones that need help. Many dogs tear excessively, darkening the hair around his eyes and causing unsightly stains, a condition most noticeable in lighter colored animals.

“In both dogs and cats, this is a common cosmetic problem caused by an overflow of tears onto the cheeks,” reports Pet education. “The color change of the hair and skin occurs when the normal bacteria on the hair and skin react with the clear tears. In normal animals, tears are constantly produced and drain out through small ducts in the eyelids. The ducts empty to the nose. (That is why your nose runs when you cry.) In animals with blocked ducts, the tears overflow the lids and run down the face.”

The causes of this can be a multitude of things. So check with your veterinarian to determine if anything is wrong with your dog and if he needs medication. “If bacterial and yeast infections are involved you need to take steps to mollify and eliminate their presence,” recommends Petgroomer.com. “Veterinarians can prescribe medication to treat bacterial and yeast infections.

Source of Tear Stains

Your veterinarian or eye specialist veterinarians can determine if excessive tearing is the source of the stains, and describe alternatives available.” Some easy preventive measures can help in this area, such as keeping hair trimmed if it’s irritating the eyes. (Use special blunted scissors for this or, even better, seek the services of a professional groomer.)

How to Care for Dog eyes

Or just keeping that hair around the eyes dry can help, but there are also commercial products formulated specifically for the tough stains around a dog’s eyes. Be careful about whether or not they irritate your dog’s eyes and never use them directly in their eyes. Some people use home remedies with such ingredients as milk of magnesia, corn starch and peroxide, or bleach used for human hair but, as Petgroomer.com points out, “if you were not to mix these properly, use precisely the right strength of each ingredient, and apply them safely, you could potentially harm your dog.” It’s best to stick with commercial formulas and to seek the advice of professionals. There are some general steps that you can follow in this guide on how to wash a dog’s face. And make sure they’re clean and healthy.

With regular grooming and proper veterinary care your pup’s face can stay clean and healthy. And of course, a post-facial treat never hurt a pooch!