When did your dog have their first groom?

[Maggie Mul]

14 week old puppy. Raging ankle and hand biter at the moment and not a huge fan of strangers, being petted or men!!!! How on earth is someone supposed to give her a make over??? She desperately needs one........ she is a total fur ball and can barely see out of her eyes her fur is so long. We live in Saudi, so very hot here and I am sure a good hair cut will keep her much cooler but have no idea how to go about this. There is someone here who can do it and when we spoke with him, he said he could just muzzle her, but I don't want the whole experience to freak her out. She is stressed enough as it is. Any tips?? Thank you!!

 

[JoanneF]

One of the first things I taught was a "very still" with my dog resting his muzzle in my hand so I can trim around his face. For the rest of the body, if you have an easy to clean surface like a fridge door, you can smear meat paste or squeeze cheese or similar on the door which helps keep the puppy in one place, and occupied, while you groom.

Here many groomers will not do a proper cut until the dog is about 6 months old but will do a little puppy tidy, partly to tidy them and partly to get them accustomed to the salon.

I also would be concerned about someone who would "just muzzle her" - training a dog to use a muzzle is not a bad idea for when it might be needed in the future: but it needs to be trained slowly, having the dog accept the muzzle as a good thing. To just do it when she is already anxious would be quite traumatic.

 

[Maggie Mul]

One of the first things I taught was a "very still" with my dog resting his muzzle in my hand so I can trim around his face. For the rest of the body, if you have an easy to clean surface like a fridge door, you can smear meat paste or squeeze cheese or similar on the door which helps keep the puppy in one place, and occupied, while you groom.

Here many groomers will not do a proper cut until the dog is about 6 months old but will do a little puppy tidy, partly to tidy them and partly to get them accustomed to the salon.

I also would be concerned about someone who would "just muzzle her" - training a dog to use a muzzle is not a bad idea for when it might be needed in the future: but it needs to be trained slowly, having the dog accept the muzzle as a good thing. To just do it when she is already anxious would be quite traumatic.

Yes I agree. We will postpone it. I am going to try and train the 'very still' command!!

 

[JoanneF]

A proper dog groomer won't agree with this but if you are trimming around her face, a pair of scissors with long blades look more dangerous (to us!) but actually keep the pointy ends further away from her eyes etc. than little scissors. I should add though that my dog is not tidy! I groom him myself for convenience, there are plenty of clippers available on Amazon if you can access that?

 

[Josie]

Good luck @Maggie Mul

If all else fails maybe a cute up do hairstyle!?