Brushing a dog's coat is important to remove / prevent tangles and mats. While tangles are a nuisance, mats can be dangerous to  a dog's health since each time it get's wet it can tighten and lead to skin lesions. If there are too many mats on a dog, it is more humane to cut them out rather than brush them out. 

Since I was brushing my dogs, and I regularly groom them as well as keep their hair short to prevent matting, this was a relatively easy exercise, but an important one nonetheless. 

Although not shown in this assignment, I also groomed Frankie, my Goldendoodle. He is very nippy with a slicker brush, so while I do use the slicker brush where possible, I have also learned to adapt to him and use a greyhound comb where he is more sensitive. 

It's important when clipping to have a clean coat. Sometimes if a dog has an extra long coat, you may clip the excess off before bathing, but if the owner keeps up with their grooming, all that's needed before clipping is a bath. 

Bathing a dog helps clean the coat as well as provide the necessary oils to protect their coat and give it a nice beautiful shine. 

During this assignment, I did what I have done weekly for many years, bath my dog. Through the ABC curriculum, I learned about ways to help ensure I cleaned and rinsed their face well without getting water (or more importantly soap) in their eyes. The most important part of bathing is ensuring you get down to the skin with both water and soap. That was easy with a  naturally long-haired dog like Astro. With a smooth coated dog, it may be more difficult, and the water should be directed against the grain. 

This assignment was the one I was most apprehensive in trying on my dogs, because I was most worried about hurting them in the process. Luckily, for my first time, it turned out well, and went better than expected. The most challenging part was trying to understand when and where to clip vs use shears, but overall I was happy with the result. 

Where I still have room for improvement is learning the sanitary trim, and learning different types of shaping, especially around the face.