How to Remove Stickers From Dog Fur

It's a smart practice to always check your dog for stickers (also known as burrs) after it's been outside. Stickers that are deeply caught in fur can irritate and cut skin, leaving the dog at risk for infection, as well as cause matting in its coat. Regularly inspecting your pet's fur helps you detect issues like fleas, ticks and minor injuries in their early stages. It also provides a way to bond with your dog. Continuously praise the dog while you groom it to keep it calm.

Things You'll Need

  • Vegetable oil
  • Blunt-nosed scissors
  • Dog-grooming brush
  • Treats
Show More

Instructions

  1. Removing Stickers From Your Dog's Fur

    • 1

      Inspect your dog's entire body for stickers. Gently pet along its neck, back, sides, belly, legs and tail. Check small crevices, including its ears, between its toes and around its testes. Stickers can burrow into these areas and become painful.

    • 2

      Remove loosely caught stickers by holding down the roots of your dog's fur with one hand and lightly pulling the stickers out with the other.

    • 3

      Untangle stickers that are deeply caught in the hair with your fingers. Hold the sticker in one hand and lightly unravel a small section with the other. Don't try pulling the sticker until it's completely loosened; tugging at it when it's embedded within the roots of dog's coat will hurt your pet.

    • 4

      Dribble a generous amount of vegetable oil on stickers that you have a hard time untangling. Rub the oil over the sticker to help loosen the hair, then work on untangling it piece by piece.

    • 5

      Cut out stickers that won't come loose as a last resort. Use a pair of blunt-nosed scissors and try to cut through the sticker. (If it breaks apart, it is easier to untangle it.) If you have to cut the dog's hair, angle the scissors so the blades are perpendicular instead of cutting a horizontal line through the dog's hair. Cutting this way makes any bald spots that are left behind less conspicuous.

    • 6

      Groom the dog as you normally would with a dog-grooming brush.

    • 7

      Reward your dog with treats for its patience.