Preparing Your Dog for Grooming

Is this your dog?

Preparing your dog for the grooming process can help alleviate some anxiety. Even if your dog has no hair or you do all aspects of your dog’s grooming care yourself, you’re still going to want to teach him or her how to behave for the whole process without traumatizing them. The truth of the matter is, larger dogs probably need more training than small dogs, especially while young, since it will be MUCH harder to control them once they learnrd to throw their weight around. Grooming is a vital part in the well-being and healthiness of a dog which can improve their lifespan.

With proper preparation you can go from the picture above to this:

Okay, maybe not exactly but prepping your dog can only help matters. Here what you should know 🙂

When preparing to groom your pet, start the session off on the right foot by helping your dog relax. Spend a few minutes simply petting him starting with the head and then rubbing the back, paws, belly, and even tails. Once you feel your dog is happy and content begin grooming him. If you’re struggling to get your pet to behave during a grooming session apply positive reinforcement. With your words and your tone praise your dog for anything little thing that he or she does well during the time you are working with him. Give him a treat when you are finished, so he begins to associate grooming with something good.

Another way is to exercise your dog by taking it for a walk, run, visiting a dog park or doggy daycare before you begin grooming. This will help the dog be more relaxed and calm for grooming making it a much more enjoyable process for the dog. This should turn your dog’s behavior around in no time!

If your dog is still getting used to the grooming process, only work with him or her in short bursts. Groom for about five minutes and then stop and move on to another activity. Eventually, start adding on two or three minutes to your total grooming time until your pet is able to handle a full session. You can always check with your groomer to learn more about what techniques they use to prepare dogs for grooming.