By Carrie Hyde, The Spaw Pet Life Coach | December 18, 2022
Getting your dog used to being groomed is a necessity no matter what breed they are. But for those curly-coated and specialty breeds that will spend an exceptional amount of time at the groomers throughout their lives, it is even more important to train them to enjoy the experience.
Training and desensitizing dogs to being groomed is something that needs to be started at home and reinforced by the groomer. Your groomer will indeed do the bulk of the work, but the most important aspect–consistency–falls squarely on the owner’s shoulders.
For those with new puppies or dogs, we have three simple steps you can take to help your dog develop a positive relationship with grooming. For those with older dogs who have already developed a fear of grooming, we’ve got three additional steps you can take to help desensitize them to grooming and ease their anxiety.
How to Set Your New Dog Up for Grooming Success
Getting your dog used to grooming is one of those things that should be top of mind as soon as your new pup comes home. Just like house training, that first vet visit, and providing plenty of chew toys, grooming work is something all puppies and new dogs need in order to develop into well-rounded members of the family.
Here are three steps you should begin the day your new arrival comes home with you.
1. Start Them Young
Who doesn’t love puppy fur? It’s soft, fluffy, and doesn’t need a lot of maintenance. It’s that last fact that leads to a lot of grooming issues down the road.
Yes, it’s true that your puppy likely won’t need their first haircut until they are about four to six months old. But that doesn’t mean you should wait that long to introduce them to the groomers.
Young puppies that get a chance to visit the groomers before their hair actually needs to be trimmed have a unique opportunity to get to know the smells, sounds, and process of grooming before having to go through all the steps themselves. These low-key “dry runs” are necessary to help your puppy form a positive association with the groomers.
These early trips often involve light brushing sessions, getting to check out various grooming tools, standing on the grooming table, and getting plenty of love.
Many groomers recommend your dog’s first trip take place around 12 weeks of age after they’ve received their final shots. But the truth is, with the right groomer, you can start earlier than this.
Once your dog has had their first round of shots and waited a couple of weeks to allow for a strong immune response, they will be protected well enough to visit the groomers. This is true as long as your groomer is able to isolate the puppy away from other clients and maintain a clean facility.
The earlier your puppy gets to know the groomers, the more comfortable they will be when it’s time for their first haircut.
2. Get Them on a Schedule
Whether you’re starting with an 8-week old puppy or a recently adopted adult dog, it is imperative that you get them on a grooming schedule as soon as possible.
This schedule should involve frequent short visits at first to help your dog get used to the grooming routine without being overwhelmed and to reinforce the fact that you will be back to pick them up.
Once your dog has gotten comfortable at the groomer and with the full grooming process, you’ll be able to lengthen the time between visits. How much time, exactly, should pass between grooming appointments will depend on your dog’s coat, cut, and activity level.
Active dogs with curly coats that are kept longer will need more frequent grooming visits than inactive older dogs with short haircuts. Your groomer can help you figure out how often you should come in and set you up with maintenance appointments between full cuts for sanitary trims, nail trims, and other minor grooming needs.
The most important thing to remember when setting up your dog’s grooming schedule is that they should get their next haircut before they need it. This assures that the grooming process will be straightforward and unremarkable, two things that will help keep the experience positive and stress-free.
3. Make Grooming a Positive Experience
You never want your dog to have a reason to fear the groomers. Some of this responsibility lies with your groomer. They are, after all, the person who will be interacting with your dog while they are getting bathed and cut.
But even more of this responsibility lies with you. Groomers can only do so much to keep dogs calm and content when they come in with matted coats and overgrown quicks. By keeping up with your dog’s grooming schedule, you can avoid these stressful situations.
Keep in mind, as well, that grooming appointments should not be paired with other anxiety-inducing activities. That means don’t schedule your dog’s bath for right before or after a vet visit or any other activity they dread. Instead, try pairing it with an activity they enjoy, like a long walk or a visit to their favorite treat parlor.
What To Do If Your Dog Is Afraid of Grooming
A dog that is afraid of the groomers makes life hard on everyone, including themselves. Not only are dogs that get anxious during grooming much more likely to injure themselves during the process, but their owners are less likely to take them in to get groomed as often as they need.
This can quickly lead to a cycle of increasing fear. Your dog is afraid of the groomer so you take them less often which leads to a more stressful, difficult grooming experience each time they finally go in.
Instead of falling into this cycle, it is important that you work to ease your dog’s fear and help them get more comfortable with being groomed. You can do this in three simple steps.
1. Help Desensitize Your Dog to Grooming
Desensitizing your dog to going to the groomer should start at home. Introduce grooming items like the brush slowly and always in a positive way. If your dog is fearful of these tools already, you may need to work through a process of operant conditioning–pairing the sight of the tool with a positive reward such as a pet or a treat–to get them comfortable enough around the tools to use them.
It is imperative that you work through this process slowly and avoid rewarding your dog’s fearful reactions instead of their calm acceptance. A good positive reinforcement trainer can help you with this process.
Once your dog has gotten used to these tools and will allow you to use them without fear, begin pairing the grooming action with other positives in their life. If they love pets, replace your hand with the brush. If they love fetch, make them sit calmly for a few brush strokes before tossing the ball.
Working grooming into everyday happy situations will help reduce your dog’s anxiety about the entire process.
2. Set Up Desensitization Groomer Visits
Like puppies, dogs that have developed a fear of grooming will benefit from short, frequent visits to the groomers where little actually happens to them.
The anticipation of having painful mats cut out can be enough to send any dog over the edge. By bringing them to the shop for a relaxing brushing and some treats, you can start to change their perception of the entire process.
Helping your fearful dog overcome their anxiety about grooming will require a lot of your time and effort upfront, but it will pay off huge in the long run. And most groomers are happy to spend time working with a fearful dog because it will make their job less stressful in the end as well.
3. Stay Consistent
Once you begin the process of desensitizing your dog to grooming, you must stay consistent in all aspects.
Grooming tools and procedures at home should always be used and applied in a positive light. You can’t go from treating your dog every time they sniff the clippers to pinning them down and forcefully cutting their nails.
The same is true at the groomers. It may take some to get your dog’s coat back to where it needs to be. Once there, you must stay on a consistent schedule to avoid matting and other issues that could make for a stressful grooming experience and undo all your hard work.
Similarly, switching groomers should be avoided if possible. Each groomer and grooming office has its own processes, sounds, and smells. Switching this up just as your dog gets used to their typical routine can bring back fears you thought you’d conquered.
Do your research beforehand to find the best groomer for your dog, and then stick with them. It may take multiple visits to see your dog start to calm down. Don’t interrupt this lengthy process by assuming switching groomers will help bring about positive results faster.
Grooming Success Comes Down to the Owner
Too many owners put the responsibility of training and desensitizing their dog to grooming on their groomer.
The truth is, how well your dog tolerates grooming comes down to you. You are the one responsible for picking an experienced, compassionate, and qualified groomer for your dog. You’re the one who must take them to the groomer early and often to get them used to the routine and the one who must stay consistent with their grooming schedule to avoid stressful experiences.
This is a lot of responsibility to take on, but that doesn’t mean the process of getting your dog comfortable with grooming is difficult. With the steps outlined above, you can easily train your new dog to love grooming and help your anxious dog overcome their fears.
By Carrie Hyde, The Spaw Pet Life Coach | December 18, 2022
Written for The Spaw by Sara Seitz, Professional Freelance Writer and Novelist with Pen and Post
Carrie Hyde is the founder, owner, and Pet Life Coach of The Spaw in Tustin, CA. Carrie’s extensive experience and understanding of pet nutrition and coaching enabled her to create The Spawdcast, a podcast dedicated to educating pet parents and pet industry professionals on ALL the options available to their pet. Her mission is to open pet-owner’s eyes to the questions they may not even know to ask, to shine a light on the many myths that have been part of pet care for decades, and to offer whole solutions for their pets. Carrie Hyde is a certified pet nutritionist with the goal of helping pet parents & pet professionals with a new understanding of how to care for pets in a “whole and natural” way.
