16/08/2020
Starting your puppies grooming early sets them up for a lifetime of pleasant experiences
There is a lot that can be done at home to prepare puppies for a lifetime of grooming, both at home and at the groomers. Especially if you own a 'Hairy McLairy', starting early is really important.
Your dog should see grooming as a positive and even enjoyable experience and starting them young will expose them to all the sights, sounds and smells of grooming.
Fortunately a lot of customers realise how important it is to start grooming puppies early in life. Not just to prevent matting, but more so to teach them nice manners on the grooming table, before bad manners get established. This will not only help the groomer, but very much improve the dog's grooming experience throughout their life.
What can you as the pup's owner do at home? Regularly touch and hold feet, nails, ears, chin hair, muzzle, between the eyes, tail. In the beginning you don't have to hold for long, a few seconds is enough. Once pup is relaxed and happy, you can make it a bit longer.
Also rub a moist finger over teeth and gum, so you will be able to brush your dog's teeth later in life.
Regularly brush your dog followed by combing.
Establish a regular grooming space, putting them higher up, on a small table with a non-slip surface.
Ask the groomer to tell you what to buy and how to use these tools properly.
Discuss comfortable holding techniques for the dog with your groomer.
Use treats to reward when you get the behaviour you want and withheld treats when pup is fidgety.
One thing your groomer will be very grateful for, is if you have taught your pup to hold its head still for clipping and sc******ng. It is literally not possible for the groomer to trim a dog's face without holding it. To train this, start by holding the chin hair for a few seconds, then let go and treat if pup doesn't fuss.
Try not let go when pup pulls back, but instead just move your hand in time with the pup so they realise moving has no benefit. As soon as they relax, you relax your grip too and even let go to reward verbally and with a treat. If you let go when they are trying to get you to stop, it is teaching them they get rewarded by you letting go, which will often just encourage them to fidget more.
They need to learn and understand that holding still leads to a reward, and that not being still leads to no reward. Our groomers are happy to do a little training session with you to show you how to do this.
A few minutes of training a day is enough and it will make life much easier for everyone involved! Doing it this way it should be easy to get them to accept and even enjoy grooming quickly from the earliest age.
Some groomers, like Angel's, offer free regular washes up to an age of 6 months after the pup's first full groom. Use this option to get your pup to be relaxed at the groomers.
