Grooming your dog, no matter how mature they get is hard. Sure, some are calm and obedient while you’re at it, but then you have the middle child of the dogs, and that’s a lot of them.
But first thing’s first. If you’re starting out with a puppy then you should probably start giving it the basic grooming, like brushing and nail trimming before they get to 8 weeks old. You should be able to make them be tolerant of basic brushing with them biting you or the brush. At first, keep these grooming sessions short, maybe up to 5 or maybe 10 minutes at most but never too long.
But while that is the case, just don’t stop because the pupper has begun fussing. Once the dude learns that biting and misbehaving makes the grooming go bye-bye, then it’s game over. But on the other hand, do remember to praise them when they accept the grooming. This will make them eventually behave from longer and longer periods of time.
A Good ol’ fashioned trick
An old-fashioned trick that works, and sometimes is the only viable way to handle an especially big dog during grooming is old school grooming training. Train your pup, no matter how large it may be now, sometimes even through physical correction, especially if they tend to move incoherently. It’s even considered to be easier on the bigger dogs, as this way they won’t be phased out too badly.
The thing with this trick is to get your shoulder and your elbow against the dog’s shoulder while verbalising a verbal correction command. Not an easy or difficult task and multiple repetition of this should make your pup understand what and why of this ordeal. Or simply that moving is a no-no in that situation.
Get A-Head of the Pup
Putting the collar of your dog up behind their ears and then tying the leash to something sturdy is also apparently a good start. You can always have someone hold the leash for you too. The basic premise behind this technique is that, if you have the control over the dog’s head, you have control over the rest of the body.
The Classic Bait n’ Groom
Having one person holding a treat infront of the dog’s nose as that person holds the dog’s leash is another effective way of grooming a restless dog. They can let the dog nibble on that sweet tasty treat little by little while you do the business while the dog’s distracted.
There’s always the option of waiting for the dog to calm or just sleeping for you to be able to groom them . when they wake up and/or start getting restless or rowdy, you can always try again later. Unless, you try something like the long game.
The Long Game
Now it is your dog, who is a part of your family. So, in all these methods you will have to slowly accustom them to this, and not traumatise. If you happen to have just adopted a puppy, it’s more than likely it’s a scared mess. Sometimes even scared of its own shadow in this scary new environment. So, the focus here is to not make the experience scary for the pup.
Start by going into the bathroom, ready to get wet. Play an impromptu tag, but make sure this doesn’t look like a training with command words and stuff.
Once the puppy is tired from all that and is just burnt out of energy, head into the bathroom with a lure, a snack or whatever means necessary into the bathroom and just let them roam the place.
This is your moment to pump some lukewarm water into the tub, as the pup is roaming the room, fill the tub upto 4 inches or just semi over the pup’s paws. Engage your dog with a smooth talk or petting or anything soothing while this happens.
Once the water’s filled, get in the tub and rest there peacefully while still keeping up with what you were doing previously, all the while slowly luring the puppy closer and closer to the tub.
Distract the puppy while you get your hands wet and get the dog wet as well. Sit and play in the tub and get the pup lathered while at it. Make it a fun environment for them.
Once your puppy is properly rinsed play with them in the tub and once finished get out of the tub and let your pup get out as well, cradle them in your arm and dry them off thoroughly. If the pup’s too scared of being cradled just sit there and let them come to you, all the while keeping that fun goofy environment intact.
Incase of resistance like if the puppy is lashing out or generally biting and growling then just give the puppy’s mouth and mind something else to think about, just remember to not force them into this. Get bathing time associated with funtime.
