i took my pooch to the dog groomers for the first time on thursday... the previous owner said he had been once before, she didnt mention any problems:suspect:
anyway they rang me to pick him up and said he'd been a very bad boy,they said he had gone for 2 of the girls and was very naughty.they said they did their best and did what they could. they didnt manage to clip his nails brush his teeth ect they didnt even finish his cut properly, they shaved all his fur off i wanted to cry when they brought him out, i wanted him trimmed...not shaved:(
he obviously has a problem and i dont know what to do... does he need obedience classes? he is fine at home when im bushing him ect.
ive only had him for a month now and ive noticed he can be very ignorant at times, but even when i took him to the vets for the 1st time he was playing up and the vet said he has been spoilt. both me and my partner have been trying our best to be firm with him and he has made some improvments with us and in the house but im dreading having to take him back to the groomers and also the vets:( he is a 10 month old shih tzu and will need regular vists to the groomers its not something that i can avoid!!!:help:

We rescued a dog Snoop an English Cocker Spaniel (well a monster really) just over a year ago who is an absolute terror when he's being clipped. I believe it depends on what experience they have have had when a puppy and how the clippers you have chosen are with him now. We have had to compromise with what we want the clipper to do and believe you may too. We would love a show cut on him but that is not possible and would not even want to go there with the clipper brushing his teeth and prefer to do it ourselves.

The first clipper we took Snoop to was very over bearing and thought she knew best - I still do not regard someone pulling a dogs ears and shouting in their face to 'stop' the best course of action to take with any dog, never mind if it they hate going to the clippers or not. We asked for his old vets records and was amazed to find that his old owners use to have to take him to the vets and having sedated to be clipped. Something we did not want to continue to happen unless necessary.

For obvious reasons we did not take him back to the clippers first chosen (even though this clipper came highly recommended) and rang around some other clippers to see what they thought. We found a clipper called 'Hot Doggies' in Aston nr Dinnington (01909 567880 or 07811 053564) who is perfect. His first clip with her was like the first clip she would give to a puppy. She is so professional and allowes us to stay with our dog whilst he is getting clipped to be able to calm him down. Although Snoop is her worst dog she clips (he's very proud of that) she is always understanding but she is also straight talker who has the dogs best interests.

Good luck with your search, if the area is wrong for you, and I am sure they are far more people on this site who would be able to give you further advice.

Classes would be good; practising having other people touching him for treats with your supervision might get him used to strange people. I have to practise letting strangers into the house as my dog like to growl at them, but once in the house he has no problem with them touching him, nor if we are out of the house. I think it was a behaviour that he learnt when in rescue as he would growl at people and throw him self at the bars so people would walk past him, which to him meant the danger had gone by carrying out that behaviour, he was a very frightened dog.

I think you can get sedatives from the vet to calm your dog down; A friend had a dog that despite lots of training always had to be sedated at the vets or groomers. If he can't be trusted and it seems a bit too much to sedate a little dog, maybe have a muzzle, but make sure he is used to wearing it around the house for short periods of time and associates it with nice things happening.

My vet encourages dogs to be brought into the waiting room if you are passing so the dog gets used to it and doesn’t associate it as much with only 'bad' things happening there! Damon was surprisingly good at his first visit to the vets, but then again he had no nasty injections or prodding, so it was a good experience for him, he even managed to get on the scales himself.

Firstly,

All vets have issues with less than perfect dogs saying they've been spoilt. Don't let it worry you ;) I really don't take any notice of behaviour advice from vets anymore - they're trained in the health and physiology of the animal and have some odd beliefs about behaviour.

However, you do have to have a do that isn't going to play up at the vets or groomers and that may take time but it is certainly possible.

The first thing to remember is to be consistent. You will probably find that an obedience class will give you different advice to a vet etc etc. Whichever training method you use (and I'd personally recommend positive reinforcement and counter conditioning) you must be consistent otherwise you're just wasting your time and will end up with a confused dog.

My advice on the grooming side of things would be to desensitise your dog to having his nails clipped and his fur clipped. If he's ok with you doing this you need someone else to do it so that he accepts it from other people. You also need to be taking him to the dog groomers regularly to meet the groomer, play or get a biscuit, then leave again. If he's pulling to leave, don't leave until he's settled where he is.

This should break the negative link with the groomer but without having the groomer do anything to him for now.
He may be able to cope with going to the groomers and saying hi, then leaving and he may be able to cope with having his nails clipped and trimmed by someone else - but put the two together and it could be too much.

In order to systematically desensitise him to grooming from others, reward him each time he lets you do it, then ask a close friend who he knows and trusts to do it, again with something postive always happening when he allows it to happen and gradually build it up to people he doesn't know very well but it has to be gradual.
If you continue taking him to see the groomer and play with him/her during this time he'll come to trust the groomer and there shouldn't be too much of a jump from being clipped by someone he knows but doesn't know very well and being clipped by a groomer.

Also - I don't know which groomers you used, the fact they didn't force him to have his nails done is certainly good. He shouldn't be forced into anything but if you are wanting to change groomers make sure they are willing to help work with him to make him more comfortable with them.

Good luck! I'm off to find a link to a video on getting a dog to have his nails clipped...

Here it is: Tucker's nail clip - he hated having his nails clipped until they counter conditioned him to it using a clicker. http://youtube.com/watch?v=bgEwiH8CeUE

The link to the video was great, I never realised there was so many dog training videos with lots of different advice. I'll be spending the day looking at it all now!

:lol: Yep there's some attrocious vids on there but also some really good ones. You can't go far wrong if it says KPCT on it, they're Karen Pryor supported videos.

thankyou for all your great advice, and thanx lotti for the link, very helpful.

well ive just found out that a friend of mine has a friend who has his own grooming parlour so she is giving me the details to get in touch and have a chat with him. in the meantime i will try the advice you guys have suggested.

thanx again.

amylou- you might want to try one of the home groomers in future as some dogs react to being in a strange environment, hence normally quiet dogs may get snappy at the vets or the dog groomers - amyrach and one or two others on here have been offering home grooming and had good feedback from their clients. That way, you would also be present and be able to see for yourself whether your dog is a 'bad dog' - it may help just to have one thing tackled at a time in the early stages, to 'desensitise' him, as Lotti suggests. Ailsa has always hated having her claws trimmed so we take her out to the Peak District to clambour over rocks and sandy surfaces rather than put her through something she obviously hates, but we've got her used to being handled by other people from an early age and by regularly handling her ourselves (massage, cleaning her ears, checking her teeth etc). We reward good behaviour with small treats or praise and she responds well to this. Hope you have more success with him in future xK

I have both my SHih Tzu's clipped at home. They feel safe and I know how they are being groomed.

We use Barkers and she is really patient as the youngest doesn't like things coming towards his face so trimming his face is hard work. I am also trimming his eyes myself every couple of days to try and get him more used to the scissors and so he is not as scared.

thankyou for all your great advice, and thanx lotti for the link, very helpful.

well ive just found out that a friend of mine has a friend who has his own grooming parlour so she is giving me the details to get in touch and have a chat with him. in the meantime i will try the advice you guys have suggested.

thanx again.

I have pm'ud amylou.

I have both my SHih Tzu's clipped at home. They feel safe and I know how they are being groomed.

We use Barkers and she is really patient as the youngest doesn't like things coming towards his face so trimming his face is hard work. I am also trimming his eyes myself every couple of days to try and get him more used to the scissors and so he is not as scared.

And lovely Shih Tzus they are too! :D we met them on our walk today!

And lovely Shih Tzus they are too! :D we met them on our walk today!

Thank you, and it was nice to meet Takara, eddy and friends.

Alfie was very confused why eddy wasn't sniffing or playing. He thinks all dogs play and jump around!

Aw! Eddy's been much better recently but was very grumpy today. I think he actually hid his tablet this morning instead of taking it :suspect:

yesterday i trimmed around his ears,and he had a few little mats he had under his arm pits (the place he hates being combed, and around his face is hardest to comb) anyway he was wriggling and tried to escape at 1st but then i got the treats out and he was very good and let me trim them. awwww bless him

I have two very nervous pedigree whippets, a friend recomended a herbal remedy he uses for calming his greyhounds, its harmless and is just put on your dogs food, mine are definatly benefitting from it,and they arent drowsy at all. I cant find the packageing but the company who sell it advertise every week in the countrymans weekly.

It's not Calm Down by CSJ is it? That's proved very succesful with my dog and others, but did have one report of a dog that calmed down too much :lol:

yesterday i trimmed around his ears,and he had a few little mats he had under his arm pits (the place he hates being combed, and around his face is hardest to comb) anyway he was wriggling and tried to escape at 1st but then i got the treats out and he was very good and let me trim them. awwww bless him

amylou - that's fab! Sounds like he'll be easier to win around than first thought then!!

It could be calm down Lotti but i never had the packaging, i read the packet at my friends but it was months ago, he gave it me in a tupperware box to try, my whippets have had no ill effects from it, and still run around like mad when being exercised, my friends greyhound trainer uses it when greyhounds become hyper and they still race them.

Yeah this is how Takara was, it took the edge off it for her and she found it easier to settle - definitely didn't make her drowsy though!

I've still got some left and do intend to use it, just that she hasn't had any for a few days due to what she's been eating and medication!

I have tried to get in touch with my friend who gave it to me but he s gone to ireland on a fishing trip. The stuff he gave me looked like ground herbs, sort of browny green colour, smells faintly of anniseed, deos this sound like calm down?

It does indeed sound like it.

I bought a tub to share with someone ages ago and I still have my half! It's very good value as it's only £12 a tub and for my dalmatian, I only need 1-2 scoops (I only use 1 scoop as she's ok with that) once a day.

Actually... it's not that ground... the 'particles' or 'flakes' whatever you'd call it aren't tiny. Someone said they thought it looked like cannabis :lol: (which it isn't, by the way!)

Sounds interesting - although I've bought Dorwest Skullcap and Valerian tablets and other calming rememdies that have had no effect on the doberbeast. She's murder to travel with.

Wonder if it would work on mrs H, she s on one of her mad cleaning binges at the mo, driving me mad, Lotti how does your friend know what a bag of cannabis looks like, lol.

:lol: Don't ask! I didn't!

try wendys dog grooming salon she will groom it for you and you will also be able to watch your dog in real time http://wendysgr.web2cam.com tel 0114 2313100

try wendys dog grooming salon she will groom it for you and you will also be able to watch your dog in real time http://wendysgr.web2cam.com tel 0114 2313100

Can't the owner just sit in at your grooming salon and watch? Or do they have to go home and watch the webcam? I'd be happier - if it were my dog - sitting in.

sure you can you can sit in shop have coffee

if ur dog really hates going 2 the grooming parlour i no the girls from new minging mutts will come 2 ur home. so u can watch them and help them with ur dogs temper lol x 01142884555