Dog Grooming

[MOMTOCUTESTDOGEVER]

This morning I dropped off my little punkin' to be groomed. I take her to a locally owned shop, and there is never a lot of commotion there. She has been groomed every few months since she was little. It seems every time I take her, she is more and more scared. This morning she was literally quivering while we were waiting for the lady at the counter. It broke my heart.

She needs to be groomed, but am I doing the right thing? Do they have groomers that come to your home? Her reaction this morning made me a worried and I am feeling very guilty about leaving her someplace where she is obviously terrified to be. Do your dogs do this?

 

[LindaR]

I have a toy poodle (she was going to show, but the breeder sold her to me instead) who has been "groomed" since she was about 6 weeks old. She is now 9 years old. She is super friendly and loves everyone. She loves to be groomed. The ONLY time she has exhibited fear or reluctance was when our groomers sold their business to a new couple. They were supposed to be professionals. I just thought that Millie needed to get used to them. I was wrong. She was being mistreated. She went there for 3 groomings before I figured it out. On her last trip, the woman said that she "nicked" Millie. When I got her, she was still bleeding and had a large deep chunk gouged out of her inner back leg. It required a trip to the vet and several medications in order to heal. I found another groomer (sister of my vet tech). On the first trip, Millie was a little shy when I dropped her off. When I went to pick her up, she was giving Barbara "kisses". Now when we go, Millie leaps up into her arms.

You need to find (ask for references, maybe from your vet or those that work in his office) a groomer that has a good reputation AND that your dog acts happy with. Dogs know. A person may fake something with you and fool you, but they will not fake it with your dog without your dog sensing and reacting.

 

[LindaR]

Oh, and I forgot.......perhaps something happened to your dog to create this fear. Do you completely inspect her when you pick her up from the groomer? Cutting a toenail to the quick, or cutting her skin with the razor can cause her to remember negatively. Or, if the groomer yells or yanks her (you won't know this of course) can cause her to act like this.

 

[Bichon Barb]

My dogs try to head out the door when we get there too. I'm assuming that it's probably not much fun for them to get a bath, sit in a crate with air blowing on them, and then stand still on a table for God knows how long getting clipped. I'm not going to even mention the humiliation of those stupid bows.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

I've only had my dog groomed once, so I certainly don't know much about it. But when I first called for an appointment, she had all sorts of questions about how he was with strangers, does he mind being brushed at home, does he nip if someone pulls his hair, steps on a paw, etc. I would assume if your dog doesn't like to be without his family, then grooming might be traumatic for him. Or if he doesn't like to be brushed, he wouldn't like it much either. He might have been nicked in the past too.

I don't have any good advice for you, but good luck.

Jen

 

[aynt79]

There are mobile pet groomers out there. Try doing a search to see if there are any in your area. I don't think most will actually come in your home, but they have big vans or trailers with everything they need in them and park in your driveway and do it there. It may be less stressful for the dog not to have to travel to the groomers and spend any more time there than needed.

 

[Chicago526]

Does you dog have fear when you drop her off other places, or just the groomer?

My dog is fearful when I drop her off anywhere (groomer, vet, kennel). She is just flat out is afraid of strangers, and someone she see's one to four times a year is a stranger by her definition. But my groomer/kennel is run by a vets office so I know she gets excellent care, she's just a big baby.

 

[I Love Pluto]

We just had a similar problem with our 9-year-old cockerpoo. He was suddenly beyond fear when we took him to the groomer (who he has known since he was a puppy). My daughter gave us some advice. PetSmart has large windows so that everyone can see the groomers working on the dogs. They absolutely cannot mistreat an animal. We switched recently, and the last 2 grooming trips have been totally wonderful. Yes, I think the original groomer must have hit our dog.

 

[MOMTOCUTESTDOGEVER]

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. I think I will check into a mobile groomer next time. I took her to PetSmart once, but I dropped her off at 8:00am and we didn't get a call that she was done until around 4. This bothered me.

It's sad to think that a groomer would hurt animals. I'm not saying that all of them do, but when you have an animal that responds so much differently to a new groomer (as in some of your examples), it seems apparent that something negative was happening. Very scary.