09/02/2023
For the love of all things: please stop waiting until your dog is 6+ months old for their first groom- ESPECIALLY ANYTHING -OODLE OR LG BREED ! !
A puppy needs to experience their first grooming between 10-12 weeks of age, for the best success wait no later than 16 weeks. Even if they don't LOOK like they need it- at this age it is important to create a positive experience for the process and gently acclimate them a little at a time (first visit might just be a bath and nails, next one trimming eyes and feet and F***y, third visit they *might* be ready for clippers and a haircut )
Not a single groomer on the planet wants to get injured (or be out of work) by a large dog that has NO IDEA what is going on. They're big. They're scared. They're (probably) matted. They can and DO freak out, break our equipment, hurt us or themselves- no matter how slow we go or how calm our salon is there is a STRANGE PERSON touching them and using scary, loud equipment around their personal areas and different sensations and sounds they've never experienced....and they're thinking something along the lines of: "where is my mom? Why am I here? What is this for? Will I ever go home? Omg panic!" I've seen with my own eyes groomers throw out their backs, pinch nerves in their neck, torn ACL from a dog throwing itself off the table and they caught it, shoulder and wrist injuries- like literally the kind of injuries you see in full contact sports. This is not okay.
If we send the pet home because it isn't safe for us- we risk getting trashed on Facebook because a bad review goes 20x farther than a job well done...because of this people pleasing pattern we see alot of groomers who are physically broken, burned out and loosing the physical ability to continue to do their Jobs as they age- and they aren't even the ones responsible for training the dog or brushing it at home. A well-behaved and acclimated dog is the responsibility of the pet owner - and that SHOULD be the norm.
Regular, positive experinces are the key to success for a happy dog at the groomers. The difference between a dog that gets groomed every 6 weeks and a dog that gets groomed every six months is that one thinks it's a part of life- and the other thinks it's punishment.
