Here are the facts
When I am working on a dog who isn't cooperating, it's frustrating, the dog may be fidgeting, moving away from me, whining, growling or in extreme cases head butting or maybe even showing teeth. All I want to do is get the dog clean, make them look nice and help keep them healthy... sometimes I can't and that kills me.
But, I know the dog is most likely scared, in pain or just has no idea what is happening and me going into the groom or trying to continue by getting rougher or adding more restraints isn't going to make it better.
This is why it's important to take a step back when you start to feel the frustration, or even anger when our dogs aren't cooperating like we want them too.
This will allow you to regroup and reenter whatever it is you're doing in a better head space and a new plan (or maybe you even call it quits for that day)
But just because you regroup doesn't mean the dog will suddenly be ok with what you are trying to do. At the end of the day, no matter how slowly, gently or how much reinforcement is involved the dog may still say no. And that's ok.
--
#TheGroomersLife #Grooming #Groomer #BCGroomers #DogGroomer #DogGrooming #GroomingSalon #GroomingDogs #Kamloops #KamloopsGroomer #KamloopsDogs #KamloopsBC #FearFreeGrooming #FearFree #ForceFreeGroomer #FearFreeCertifiedProfessional #GetCurious #AskQuestions
I can have it all planned out:
No other dogs in the salon, licky mats ready, knowing what parts of the process they struggle with the most and planning to stop when the dog is done (regardless of where in the grooming process we are) .. And it can still go sideways.
Dogs are not robots, there isn't always a way to get to the finish line, HOWEVER it's important to give ourselves grace when our best laid plans go sideways.
When the happens, take a step back, evaluate the visit and readjust for next time.
--
#TheGroomersLife #Grooming #Groomer #BCGroomers #DogGroomer #DogGrooming #GroomingSalon #GroomingDogs #Kamloops #KamloopsGroomer #KamloopsBC #KamloopsDogs #BestLaidPlans #GetCurious #AskQuestions #Readjust
Let's briefly talk about recalls
It's always important to take into account, what your dog is doing,and where they are in location to you when we call them.
This will effect how long it takes them to get back to you, or if they may be too distracted or something of higher value is in play.
In this clip I whistled (before starting to film) which is one of their recall cues.
Midna and Osa were closer and recalled quite quickly (they are also pretty speedy dogs so typically come like rockets)
Archer was closer to the parking lot, which has a few fire pits in it(very exciting for him, as they often have snippets of food)
So, he takes a minute to think about what is more important to him in this moment, finding something yummy in the pit or coming back to me. He then makes the (Imo right) decision to return to me. Archer is also not as fast as other dogs so this also will effect how fast he responds to any given recall cue.
He was highly reinforced for that recall because I know it was a bit harder for him.
And yes pokey pants is one of his many nicknames 😂. The only reason I tried to get him to speed up was for fun, how quickly he got back to me didn't actually matter.
--
#Recall #RecallTips #Kamloops #KamloopsDogs #KamloopsBC #PayYourDog #RecallTraining #LetsTalkRecall #ForceFree #FearFree #ForceFreeTraining #TheFutureIsForceFree
