After a good meal, the dog can walk to the couch and ritually rub one, then another side of his face on a cloth. Others may spend their spare time chewing their nails or putting their clutch in the ears, and then lick them. These are all intelligent, self-taught techniques of grooming, but all are simple variations of the natural ways of grooming. All dogs use the standard methods of care of their skin: licking and biting, scratching and scraping, rolling and shaking. And they didn't go to any dog grooming school to know that!

(continue reading…)