YOUR dog's groomer will need to be commintted to working with you on this programme. Your dog needs to build trust in you and your groomer and this is one of the best ways of counter-conditioning its past bad experiences. It will take time and commitment from all involved. Please be patient, kind and allow your dog to take all the time it needs to develop that trust. Blow the programme half way through and you may never gain her trust with the groomer again. Work patiently with both your dog and groomer, and never push the dog.
Step one: Before taking your dog to your groomer make sure you prepare beforehand.Make sure your dog has not had a long walk or any other experience which could cause high arousal, excitement or stress.Park right outside the groomer's building or as close as possible. Make sure the car experience is a nice one by preparing the back of the car into a more secure environment. For example, cover the side windows if the dog is afraid of what's out there, or barking. Give it a blanket to lie on or a dog nest (den) in which to hide if it feels a need to hide. A crate is great for dogs to travel in and it can be covered if necessary. Give the dog a stuffed kong or other form of chew toy. Play soft music in the car. Give it some Bach flower or other herbal or homeopathic remedy specifically to help calm your dog's nerves. Don't make a big fuss, which could lead to the dog becoming suspicious.
Drive each day to your groomer's for five days. Do not let your dog out of the car at all at this stage, just allow her to be in the area and she will get familiar with driving to this area as a nice experience in which nothing bad happens.
Your groomer must NOT come out to the car at this stage or see or talk to to your dog in any way. Allow your dog to just sit in the car with the chew toy and bedding for just five minutes on the first day and build up to 10 minutes after five days. Keep music playing in the car softly and talk to her gently and calmly, telling her what a good girl she is. Then take her home again.
Step two: Next day do everything as for step one except have the front door open a little, making sure the dog is secure enough and cannot get out. Do not have the back door open next to her, as it could be too much for her at this stage. Do this every day for five days.
Step three: Next day do everything as for step two except do not have the front door open. Instead, have the very back door (boot) wide open, making sure she is secure and cannot jump over the back seat to get out. Do this daily for five days. The groomer is still not to meet your dog at this stage.
Step four: Take your dog to groomers each day and do everything as for step three except instead of opening any doors of the car open the door beside your dog and let it out into the street for one minute to sniff the area. Do not take it into the groomer's and do not have it meet anyone at this stage. Put it back into car and go home. Each day you are building up the dog's time out of the car sniffing until it is sniffing for about five minutes between the groomer's shop and the car. Let it sniff where it likes without letting it go into the groomer's shop and keep the lead slack. Do NOT pull on the lead at all. Do NOT allow the groomer or any other person or dog to come near your dog. If someone comes, take your dog away or pop it back in the car until the threat is out of the way. Remember, we want all experiences at this place to be good ones. We want the dog's trust to build, not its fear. Just let it calmly sniff and talk to gently with plenty of praise. Do this for about 10 days.
If at any time the dog shows any sign of being a little worried about anything, take the programme back a step. There is no hurry and taking it back a step will help your dog to trust you more, rather than push and lose its trust.
Step five: Do everything as for step four except this time when you take her out of the car, ask her groomer to come out very slowly into the path and sit on the ground, leaning against her shop and not looking directly at your dog. Ask her to yawn, lick her lips and talk nicely to your dog without direct eye contact. It is very important your groomer does not approach, but lets your dog do all the approaching or greeting. The dog needs to have a good experience of your groomers presence. The groomer should only sit there for about one minute, then get up slowly and walk back into her shop slowly. Do not allow the groomer to give your dog any treats from her hand at this stage. Let the dog sniff for another minute or two, then get back into the car and go home.
Do this for about five days having the groomer come out into the path for five minutes and go back in. No more time with the groomer is needed and if your dog wants to get away from the groomer at any time, let her do so. She needs to know she can make the choice to move away if she needs to.
Step six: Do everything as for step five again, but this time as you get to the groomers, go in before you get your puppy out of the car and scatter some treats around on the floor, especially around the entry area. Ask your groomer and any assistant in the building to sit on the floor anywhere they like in the shop, just for a minute, so she does not feel so threatened when she walks into the shop. The groomer can get up slowly after a minute if she likes but she must not make any noise or sudden movements at this stage while your dog is in the shop. Once the shop is prepared, get your dog out of the car and allow it to go into the shop. It should be drawn in by the treats.
Allow it to go over to the groomer if it wants to, but again the groomer must not make eye contact but just yawn and talk gently. Allow your dog to go out of the shop and back in if it wants to. Knowing they have that escape route generally gives them more confidence. Allow the dog to go out of and into the shop as often as it likes for about five minutes, then put it back into the car and go home again. Do this for about a week, reducing the amount of treats scattered each day until there are very few treats on day five.
Step seven: Take your dog to your groomers in the usual way. Get her out of the car and take her into the groomer's. Allow it to explore the groomer's shop and grooming area. The groomer could play some nice calming music in the shop and talk sweetly to your dog without approaching it. If your dog approaches the groomer, have the groomer crouch down and stoke it softly on the side of the body and slowly, if your dog will allow it, the groomer can stroke all over its body. Allow your dog to explore the grooming area, keeping things nice and calm for about one minute the first time and build up to around five minutes over a period of five days. Aways remember, nothing bad must happen at the groomer's.
Step eight: Take the dog to the groomer's as usual. If the groomer has a table that is low or a table that she can adjust to as low to the ground as possible, then use this table to encourage your dog on to, for about 10 seconds with a few high quality treats (schmackos, cheese, sausage etc in small pieces) on the table, yawn and lip-lick to give the feeling of calmness. Make sure calm music is played. Take the dog off the table and allow it to sniff and explore again. On this first day, only have it on the table that once for 10 seconds and no more. On the second day, place it back on to the table for 10 seconds with treats, take it off and allow it to sniff and explore or even go out of the shop for a minute if it wishes.
Remember everything is the dog's choice and never push. Then put it back on to table with treats for another 10 seconds, so it has been on the table twice on this visit. On the third day, take the dog into the groomer's allowing it to sniff and explore a few minutes, then place it on to the table with treats. While it is eating treats, have the groomer massage its body again for about one minute. Take it off the table for a few minutes again to do whatever it wants to do, then put it back on table with treats again and have the groomer massage her again while she eats the treats. The fourth day increase the time on the table to about two minutes, with just a few treats and the groomer massaging. You need to be there to give your dog reassurance. On the fifth day place the dog on to the table, have the groomer massage her for about two minutes and then brush her with a soft brush for about one minute.
Step nine: Raise the table to normal height at this stage if not already done. Have the groomer massage your dog for two minutes and then brush for one minute. Build up over five days so that your dog is getting a little less massage each day and more brushing until it is having one minute of massage and two minutes of brushing. On the fifth day, have the cutters turned on in the distance. Do not bring them close to her or use them on her at this stage. Keep using treats on the table but not many.
Step 10: Again do as for step nine, fifth day, but each day for five days the clippers are going to be turned on at a little closer distance each day. Use a few treats on the table but remember never to treat or praise the dog if it is feeling or looking a little worried as this will only reward and increase the fear. Instead, just yawn and lip-lick. On day five if your dog can cope with it, have the clippers on the table and turned on. But do not use them yet. If the dog cannot cope at this stage, keep them at a distance for a few more days.
Step 11: Do as for day five of step 10. This time have your dog's head placed in to the sling ready for grooming while one of you stands slightly to the side, giving the dog treats, talking nicely, while the groomer massages for a minute and brushes.
Second day, do the same. On the third day, do the same but have groomer holding the clippers while they are turned on but not to use them on the dog yet. Everyone must yawn and lip-lick to assure it all is well and calm. Repeat on the fourth day. On the fifth day, the same as for the fourth day, only this time treat your dog as the groomer touches its side with the back of the turned-on clippers while you all yawn. Do this a couple of times then take her home.
Step 12: Repeat day five of step eleven. On the second day same again, but this time have the groomer clip a little hair from your dog's side very gently and carefully, while everyone else yawns. You must stay with your dog for every grooming session. It needs you there for security. On the third day, same as for second day, only groom a little more. Always praise, yawn and give the dog calming herbs if need be, play calming music and give treats to reassure her. On the forth day groom a little more of the fur. Each day from now on until your dog has had a full grooming, just go in and have a little cut each day. This should take about five days or more, depending how much the dog allows the groomer to take off. Make sure every time your groomer is about to clip your dog, give it a treat of high value. Perhaps have the dog licking a kong stuffed with yummy fish or something else it enjoys.
Step thirteen: Now the dog has developed trust in you and the groomer and has probably had a good groom by now. You don't want to suddenly stop going in there. Keep the trust going by taking it into the groomer's once a week for a few minutes and making sureit has good experiences there and continues to build a good relationship with the groomer. For the next three or four times the dog is about three weeks away from needing a clip, start the programme again at step nine.
Step fourteen: By this time the dog will have been on the programme for many months and should have more confidence in the groomer. From now on, when about two weeks away from the next grooming, start the programme at step 11. Always remember if your dog gets a little worried about any of the steps, take it back a step or the programme could fail. Always look to what your dog is coping with and you will have a much happier dog and more chance of success with the programme.- Nicole Mackie
