Home grooming

[boosiebutt]

I boarded Peanut and Pixie the other weekend when I went to Chicago to move my sister into a new apartment. I asked to set up a grooming appointment, but they were out of slots through Monday, when I would be picking him up. BUT... when i picked him up, they had trimmed up his face. (I kind of wish they had asked me just what I wanted before they clipped, though) He is super adorable, and he can see! I'm not real good with the clippies and bows with him, because he tries to pull away until he just about scalps himself. Not a pretty look.

And Pixie, as an untrimmed 3 month Maltese, was looking pretty shaggy around the face as well. So, with Peanut as my model, I did a little trim on Pixie. Did quite well, if I do say so myself. Problem is, Pixie SCREAMS like I'm trying to KILL her when I get near her with the scissors. :o :o :o Same with toenail clipping. She's fine if I can sneak up on her without her noticing, but if she sees the scissors, or clippers, coming at her she freaks. So, she got somewhat of a trim, but I may have to take her in to a professional with better speed trimming skills to get the job finished up.

Anybody else have this problem? Peanut tries to get away when I'm clipping his toenails (haven't hit a quick yet! *swelling with pride* :roll: ) But doesn't get nearly as upset as Pixie.

Peanut gets his stitches our from his fix next Friday, and I'm going to call and get the rest of him trimmed up, so he doesn't look so scraggly between brushings, since he likes to rub around in the grass everytime I get him prettied up. :D

[Guest Anonymous]

no pictures??!!!! :(

[boosiebutt]

Good point!

Before:

[img]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-10/853465/pixiebefore.JPG[/img]

[img]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-10/853465/peanutbefore.JPG[/img]

And after:

[img]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-10/853465/pixieface.JPG[/img]

[img]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-10/853465/IMG_0154.JPG[/img]

And a random Pixie-pic:

[img]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-10/853465/pixiecute.JPG[/img]

The fuzz is from the innards of the tent. THAT was a pleasant surprise after setting them up! :roll:

[ShatteringGlass]

where do you put them when you try to groom them? If you don't allready, put them up high on a table. Also just touch their faces with the scissors closed, not trimming anything, just stroke around where you would trim until the calm down and get used to it, then start trimming. It's common for young pups to freak about getting anything around their face trimmed, just keep up with it, they will get better as they get used to it.

[courtnek]

Damn I hate Laurels nails. all black. grow like weeds...I wish I could cut them, but afraid of the quick...Free's are white, but never need cutting...

arrgghhhhhh...

:evil: :evil: :evil:

[Horsefeathers!]

With Yorkies, you want to trim just the very tippy tips of those ears. :wink:

[treizi]

Has Pixie been groomed at a groomers, or was that her first cut? When I first got Koda, I tried doing the nails (never done them before) and BARELY trimmed them since I was so nervous. The little one was squirmish, but all went well. I got lazy with bathing and brought him to the groomers and they trimmed him up nicely around the paws, and cut the nails, so I figured it was much easier giving him to someone rather than doing it myself. Well I didn't feel like paying the next time so when I went to cut his nails, he was screaming like mad. I was pretty much petrified since I never heard him be like that before, so I came to my senses and figured the groomers wern't too patient and they probably teamed up to hold onto him and went off on his paws.

No more groomers here....

So it was a slow and terrible process, but I put the scissor trimmers (for nails) on the ground, let him sniff them, etcetc. Then it was 1 nail, take a break, give a treat. And that went on and on until he became restless and I stopped. I think it's been about 5-6 times now cutting his nails, and he's stopped his whining. I did them earlier today, only 1 cry since I got a little close (no bleeding) and it took about 30 mins. The scissors don't bother him as much, but I'm getting a little trimmer in the mail in a few days so I'm going to have to see how he treats that. I'm sure it will be same same method though....Show her the scissors, let her sniff them (careful with the tips) and give a treat and tell her how great she is. Unless you know your groomer and watch how they go about grooming, I would really recommend trying to do it yourself. Not only is it cheaper, but you can put up with the fuss and a groomer typically has limited time to be patient. If anything, at least get the dogs used to the typical tools that a groomer may use, so they aren't fearful while going to the groomers. If a groomer finds it necessary for someone else to hold the dog still while grooming, restraint is going to be much more stressful for the pup and they'll end up hating it even more.

[Guest Anonymous]

those are great pictures!!!!

[imported_Kat]

Really nice pics. Just do a lot of handling with your dogs around their face and feet etc to try and desensitise them to touch, and hopefully next grooming session will be less eventful :wink:

[boosiebutt]

Thanks!

It's funny, now that Peanut's eyes are visible, his "beard" just kind of pops out at me!

I will definitely try the desensitization stuff!

[Cairn6]

I think you did a great job they are adorable. I trim my dogs too. It was a little nerve wracking at first with Mandy our border terrier mix she would move constantly so I just practice with my cairn who is a little gentlemen and sits there like a statue when I trim him. I don't follow all those stupid rules about how your cairn is supposed to be cut. I just cut it down the way I think he needs it. He often gets mistaken for a snauzer but who cares nothing wrong with being a snauzer. :lol:

[Kerislc]

I have a 6 month old shih tzu maltese mix that I have the same problem with. I finally gave up and took her to the groomer. I have been letting him grow and Petsmart will give him a bath, trim his face, feet, and rear end, and clip his toenails for $13. To me, that is worth it.

However, I just took him there last week to have his whole body trimmed. I didn't want him shaved (I love their hair long!), so she said it would cost extra. Wow! I got the bill for $45! :o That is more than it costs me. I guess the cost of Scout's haircuts will forever be a secret to my husband :oops:. And I think I will look for a cheaper place next time. . .or just keep trimming his face.

[Cairn6]

Stupid me forgot the point of my post. Mandy gave me trouble as I said and the more we have done it the better she has gotten and has stopped wiggling. As far as crying our Sheltie screamed everytime we gave him a bath but the more you do it the more they get used to it. If you really want to do it then you just have to take it slow and they will get over it. Now he just sits there extremely unhappy as if your about to kill him but no more screaming.

[Horsefeathers!]

[quote]so I came to my senses and figured the groomers wern't too patient and they probably teamed up to hold onto him and went off on his paws. [/quote]
This irked me. I tried to post to it for two days and just kept getting errors, but here I am after two or three days to still bitch about it, anyway.

Did you ever contact the groomer you are basically accusing of abuse? I mean, even if I didn't think they'd own up to it, you can bet that I'd be confronting any person that I thought was abusing my dog. You didn't say your dog was acting funny when you picked him up from being groomed... only that however long it was later that you decided to do his nails, he had fits. I can think of about a gazillion reasons why a dog might suddenly (or not so suddenly) decide it doesn't want its nails done. If I had a dime for every person that told me that their dog was a flailing, screaming terror at home and couldn't imagine how I got them groomed, or thought I was lying when I said they were fine for me, I'd be rich. Little secret here... dogs are a lot like kids in that they often misbehave at home, but are quite well mannered in the care of others. It doesn't mean they are abused into submission.

[quote]but you can put up with the fuss and a groomer typically has limited time to be patient.[/quote]
Tell me what makes you an expert on how much time groomers "typically" allot for their dogs and how you know their time is "limited." A PROFESSIONAL groomer (not just some hack who hung a shingle one day and decided they were a groomer) will allocate plenty of time for each and every dog. It's not an assembly line, or shouldn't be (the exception, IMO, being salons with multiple employees each with different functions... they CAN be fast and good if [u]everyone[/u] is competent... I am a single groomer salon). Here's the thing... some people want to bitch about price. Wellllllllll.... GOOD service isn't cheap or shouldn't be. I cringe when I see relatively decent groomers with rock bottom pricing because they often end up burned out and out of business because they were beat down by the people crying the poor mouth. I find in dealing with the public that people want Mercedes service at Ford prices. I'm more than happy to allow plenty of time and keep a very low stress environment for me and the dogs in my care. However, my clients pay me dearly for it. I make a very healthy living AND get to enjoy my work rather than rush from one dog to the next in an effort to get as many done as possible just to keep my prices low for the crybabies who want to top knotch service for their "babies" and then balk at the prices. Get it cheap or get it good, but you'll very rarely be able to get both unless you aren't very concerned with making your dog look like a proper example of its breed... truth is that most consumers don't know the difference and are just as happy for their dog to be clean and relatively neat... not a problem for me. I just set the standards much higher for myself and my clients. My prices are nearly double my competition's and yet I'm still no longer taking new clients and have a waiting list a mile long of people wanting to get on my schedule. Fortunately, plenty of people are willing to pay my prices for the one on one attention their dogs get and to know that their dog will look like a proper example of its breed when I'm done. Those that want cheap or don't mind cookie cutter grooming where every dog of every breed is groomed virtually the same can go elsewhere. To be honest, it also weeds out the pain in the *ss people who want it all and want it cheap.

[quote]restraint is going to be much more stressful for the pup and they'll end up hating it even more.[/quote]
Define restraint. A simple loop to keep a dog from jumping off the table, or someone virtually sitting on the dog? "Restraint" is open to interpretation. Some restraint may be necessary.

If you choose to groom your dog at home, more power to you. I'm all for grooming at home as it can (in the hands of a competent owner) help strengthen the bond between dog and owner as well as save money. No problem with that. However, don't imply or outright say that it's to save your dog from the evil groomer. While there are crackpots in grooming just as in any field, most groomers are in it for the love of animals... NOT because they're bloodthirsty abusers. If it's your opinion or it makes you feel like a hero for "saving" your dog from the bad old groomer, you're entitled to it, but when it's spouted off as fact, it's dangerously misleading. Abuse happens, but it is not as "typical" as you seem to want to imply.

[Carolk9s]

Well said HF.
I would imagine that many dogs are better behaved at most pro groomers because the groomer has a calm, competent manner about them.
At home, the owner is worried and stressed and scared of hurting the dog or giving them a 'funny' haircut and sure enough, the dog picks right up on all that negative emotion and reacts to it.
Many groomers also know that they must be firm as well as kind.
Some owners will give in too easily to their dogs protests and the dog learns that if they put up a fight, they win.
Just today, I 'scalped' Jesse's rear. He had long breeches or feathering on both hind legs, no more! He has enough hair to keep his butt warm but still looks rather nekkid compared to other Belgians. I have been thinking of doing this for a time, due to his age. While he ADORES being brushed, he does tend to get a bit restless now and I decided in order to avoid having to comb out any tangles, I would just eliminate the source.

[treizi]

First off, let me apologize for offending you as that was not my intent, but I was simply trying to give 2cents and my experience. I understand that there are probably many groomers out there that do a wonderful job and it was my fault for simply going to petco to have hte job done rather then finding a groomer since I do not know of any near me or any dog owners that have used one. When I said restraint, I mean seeing the dog held by one person while he's crying, and another person doing the job of trimming.
I do know that most grooming tables have a leash restraint, and I wouldn't consider having a dog on the table without them being attached. Restraint was seeing someone straddle a large dog to keep it still, while shaving the rest of their coat.

Once again, I apologize to you. I would have hoped that people would not take my post and apply it to all situations. Things will never apply the same way to all situations, but I figured I would state what I found--even if I may be wrong. Rather than feeling I have to defend myself from now on, I will go back to "lurking" since I've found this to be a VERY close nit community. Especially since the couple of questions I have posted have not been responded with as much help as I anticipated, with the frequent posters going mia. Thanks to those that did help with some of the issues I did have :)

[Horsefeathers!]

There's no need to get your feelings hurt or to go into lurking.
Giving your two cents and opinions are absolutely hunky dory with me and I'm sure anyone else. However, statements like this:
[quote]a groomer typically has limited time to be patient[/quote]
are NOT opinion and do leave the implication of abuse or mishandling wide open to an entire industry.

[quote]I would have hoped that people would not take my post and apply it to all situations[/quote]
It is not a matter of people taking what you say and misinterpreting it, but rather the generalized, sweeping statements that were stated as if they were fact. Such "information" leads ME to feel defensive, but not enough so to go into hiding and not post (you said you didn't want to have to defend yourself). You can post all you want. I'm not a bear and I won't eat you and I don't reckon anyone else here will, either, and the fact that others haven't answered whatever questions you have may simply mean they haven't seen them yet. Some of us don't read every board on this forum and then it's been a long holiday weekend, too, so many people may not have been online, anyway. Also, the board has been very screwy lately and many people haven't been able to post to some boards. It took three days for me to finally be able to post to this one thread. :oops:

No reason to tuck tail and hide. This may be a pretty close knit group, but we don't just sit around and shout out from the amen corner. We very frequently and sometimes vehemently disagree, but at the end of the day, no one loses sleep over it.

The short version... it's nothing personal.
===============

Edited to add:
[quote]Especially since the couple of questions I have posted have not been responded with as much help as I anticipated[/quote]
I was feeling kind of bad that maybe something you posted had gotten overlooked, so I went back over your posts to see if it was something I might be able to help with. It looks to me like your questions were answered adequately. I'm unsure what you mean about not getting enough help? :-?

[treizi]

If I could retract my statements, I definately would. Rereading what I said, and your view based on what I said, I don't blame you for becoming defensive. I did think that since you were unable to reply for the past few days that your post was more fueled than usual. However you seem to be quite content in being rude.
While posting recently may have been difficult, I understand if my most recent post was not responded to, but after a month, it gets discouraging. I know many people do not know the answers to all questions, but I did read previous threads related to my topic that had a large number of replies.
I think I will be getting plenty of sleep tonight, without much worry. And rather than "tucking tail and hiding" I would prefer to direct my concerns elsewhere. I only came to this board because of someone that had said this site contained very knowledgable people--which I'm quite impressed at.

And Boosie, you deserve an apology the most because you started this thread. I don't think I said this before but your dogs are adorable, I am especially fond to the Maltese because that is the breed I was going to get if I couldn't find my boy :D

[Horsefeathers!]

[quote name='treizi']However you seem to be quite content in being rude.
[/quote]

Call it what you want. Reading back, I was clear and concise and responded no differently to you than I would anyone else, regular, newbie, oldie, or whatever. My post wasn't nearly as "fueled" as it was the first time I tried to post it three days ago, so if anything, the "time out" gave me time to form a more leveled, non-inflammatory response. Just because it's not what you want to hear doesn't make it rude.

[Horsefeathers!]

OH! And apology accepted. 8)

[boosiebutt]

treizi, no problem! I always get a kick out of having a topic of mine go to two pages, no matter the reason! :wink: :oops: Also, I've found a good way to get more replies is to do a bump reply, to bump your topic back up top. Just saw this recently on the Which breeder, post, sorry can't remember exactly the title or poster. Pop onto the topic again to ask for more info. Just remember that the squeaky wheel gets the grease! Also, I see that your posts were previously made in the "Care" forum. While I'm sure it's not technically correct to do (sorry mods!), I'd say if you want more advice, to post to the main "Everything about dogs" forum, as I know that's all I might check sometimes when I get on.

And HF, when you say the tippies of the ears, I trim around the edges of the ears, but leave the fur on the ears. Does that make sense? I mean I don't shave it down on the top third of the ears, like I've read someplaces to do, but just trim anything that sticks out past the ear. Is that what you mean? He's six months old now, and his ears are pretty set, and I don't know how it'd look to have him with nekkid ears...