PET BEHAVIOR AND GROOMING - A Conversation with Pet Owners and Dog Trainers

One of the most crucial variables in determining the successful outcome of a pet grooming session is the behavior of the animal. Even the most adept pet stylist can only do so much for a dog that is lurching, jerking, dancing, mouthy, or laying flat as a pancake on the grooming table. Animal-handling skills are just as pertinent for a “master groomer” as styling skills, but there is a limit to what a groomer can be expected to accomplish with an uncooperative pet in a single session. Behavioral training requires repetition and consistency. That means that what happens at home between grooming sessions is probably more likely to shape behavior than what the groomer does in two hours at the table.

Yesterday I descended into Groomer’s Hell with a handsome young Portuguese Water Dog. I rarely see this breed, and I was excited to have the opportunity to start a grooming relationship with a new client and her 6-month old PWD. It was to be the dog’s first groom. That should have been my first hint of what was to come. The coat may not seem to need much work before six months, but the behavior does. Fortunately, the owner was honest and warned me that the dog was “rambunctious”. I pictured a happy, excited, wiggly puppy. BTDT and lived through it. I should have looked the word up. Rambunctious: “1. Uncontrollably exuberant. 2. Unruly.” In other words, T.R.O.U.B.L.E.!

The young beast was nearly ungroomable. It took all I had, and I have a lot of skills to bring to the party. These are some of the behaviors we encountered:
• Incessant excited barking in the pen, in the bathtub, & on the table (this somewhat abated after two hours of my ignoring it).
• Leaping, lurching, thrashing, standing on rear legs and waving forelegs, dancing and not keeping feet on the table.
• Not allowing face to be brushed, or even held – pulling away, and mouthing – there was no way I could use clippers on the head or face, I did some rough scissoring.
• Not allowing forelegs to be groomed – mouthy, had to be muzzled, pulling away, trying to leave the table.
• Did I say mouthy?
• Thrashing about while being clipped near genital area. ( The dog was not neutered). Not allowing feet to be held – pulling, barking, mouthing, and lurching.

All grooming requires patience. Sometimes it is a bit of a dance. This grooming was not so much of a dance; it was a wrestling match. It was also a match of will and wits. I accomplished the grooming goal, but only because I have advanced abilities, especially patient persistence and the ability to scissor a moving target. It required way more than I should have to do, and did not look nearly as good as I had envisioned. Clearly, the dog had not been prepared for the grooming experience, in spite of having graduated a six-week training course. My fervent wish is that dog trainers would offer training for behaviors needed for grooming. I also wish that owners of dogs that are going to need to be groomed start puppies out early with accepting grooming as a part of life. Some of the behaviors we groomers need help with are:

SETTLE – This is a part of some basic training courses. For dogs with excess excitability, however, it needs to be prioritized. Dogs need to be able to settle down and focus on the activity of grooming.
STAND FOR GROOMING – It is impressive that your dog has learned to “sit” on command. On the grooming table, we need her to stand. Sitting is a way of resisting having the backside groomed. Some little dogs will lay flat on the table and turn into a heap of jelly-with-hair. This is also not helpful in a grooming situation.
NO MOUTH! Mouthing the groomer is NEVER acceptable. Mouthing the groomer is NOT play biting, it is trying to stop the activity by mouth-to-hand action. This is a real precursor to biting the groomer and must be discouraged.
HOLD FACE – Allowing the muzzle to be held, or the whiskers to be held is utterly vital to safe grooming around the eyes and mouth. Free-hand scissoring around the head of a dog that is bobbing and jerking is nerve wracking and highly hazardous.
HOLD FEET – Holding the feet is necessary in order to clip nails, clip hair from between foot pads (bottom of foot) and trimming. This is a dominance/submission issue for many dogs.
ALLOW DEEP BRUSHING AND COMBING – Although initial grooming sessions for the young puppy need to be pleasant and not stressful, at some point the dog that is going to be groomed for a lifetime needs to be encouraged to tolerate thorough brushing and combing of the coat. Otherwise, the pet needs to be taught to allow the legs to be handled well enough to allow a shave down. On this PWD, I could do neither thorough brushing of the front legs OR run the clippers down the legs. The most I could do was a little light brushwork and scissor over tangles. Arghh!

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL! This nearly unbearably stressful experience was made tolerable by the understanding and humorous nature of the owner of the rowdy PWD. I charged a $20 “Naughty Fee” over my estimated grooming charge and she tipped generously over that. Taking home extra cash always soothes my wounds, and helps keep me supplied with Advil. Being able to be bluntly honest with the owner about my experience with the dog allowed me to actually look at the possibility of grooming the dog again. I told her flat out that, on a difficulty scale of 1 to 10, this grooming was a 10. There was no brushing it off as “slightly rambunctious”. I strongly urged neutering. That boy needs some help to calm down! I also suggested some homework, such as brushing the legs and face. Although it was a serious situation, we were able to laugh about it. Any customer of mine who can pick up on my sense of humor and help me laugh about the trials and tribulations of pet grooming deserves another appointment.

About the Author: Barbara Bird has been grooming since 1971 and owns Transformation Pet Center in Tucson, Arizona. She is a Certified Master Groomer with IPG, Inc., and is also certified in Non-Sporting breeds with NDGAA. She is a popular speaker and educator in the pet grooming industry, and a free-lance writer for Pet Age magazine and eGroomer. This article was published on the GroomBlog, www.groomblog.blogspot.com and on the Bird Talk blog at www.groomwise.talkpad.com/Birdtalk. Please contact the author at bbird@dakotacom.net for permission to reprint or use this material.