How to keep your Dog Calm while Grooming?

Anyone who has ever owned a dog knows that two dogs are not alike. Their temperaments, behaviors, and personalities fall on a spectrum a bit like with humans. This comes into play with grooming, too. Some dogs find grooming to be a soothing and even fun experience. Others find it very stressful. this will be exacerbated by the natural tendencies of your pet, like if they're averse to strangers, being left alone/without you, being touched, and so on. It is often hard enough to groom your dog on your own in your own bathroom or sink reception, but a dog who is already anxious, stressed, and searching for the exit is often almost impossible to require. Keeping calm during grooming may be a struggle for several dogs.

At an equivalent time, visiting a groomer is meant to assist your pet stay healthy, look and feel good, and live life to the fullest. Multiple complications, like matted hair, skin infections, ear infections, painful nails and paws from lack of trimming, and related problems can develop if your pet isn’t properly groomed periodically. Often, these complications aren’t easy to treat reception and should require an expert’s touch. meaning it’s vital to acclimate your dog to a knowledgeable groomer, either at their shop or through a mobile grooming service.

The good news is there are strategies, techniques, and approaches that you simply can take together with your pet to form them calmer and more comfortable before, during, and after a grooming session. 

Explore The Grooming Equipment to stay Your Dog Calm During Grooming

If you’ve ever been to a dentist or doctor’s office, especially as a young child, you’ll be ready to relate to the fear and anxiety which can be created in your pet by the unfamiliar grooming equipment they'll encounter. Familiarity is one of the simplest ways to line your dog comfortably, in any situation or environment. Familiarizing your pet with the grooming equipment you employ at their reception, also because the equipment present at your chosen groomer, is one among the simplest ways to scale back their stress level and help them get and stay calm during grooming.

Explore And Investigate

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Let your dog investigate, sniff, lick, and explore the combs, clippers, and other grooming implements to be used on them. This is, of course, easier with your own equipment reception, but most good groomers are willing to require time to let your dog get want to their service or shop, especially for a first-time visit. It can decrease the strain and stress level, and really make a difference in helping your dog stay calm during grooming.

Lightly Introduce Noise And Motion Tools

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Certain grooming equipment is often fear-inducing, like dog dryers, and particularly in dogs that have already got fears or issues with loud noises, for instance. employing a hand blower around them (not on them unless it’s on rock bottom setting) reception may be a great way to urge them won't to the sounds and sensations of a dog dryer. an equivalent holds true with hair clippers. If your dog can experience the buzzing and vibration, without them being in use on your pet, and obtain won't to it – perhaps with gentle touches against their legs or side – then they're much more likely to be calm rather than startled when it comes time to trim their hair.

Have Treats To Distract, Reward, And Help Them Stay Calm During Grooming

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As always, it’s useful to possess a number of your pet’s favorite treats available to reward them permanently behavior and to assist them to remain calm or focused on something more pleasant. you'll add one among many sorts of dog calming treats that are available from pet stores and online, with mild calming ingredients to assist reduce stress and mellow your pet. make certain to read the instructions and avoid giving your pet too many for his or her size or in too short a period of your time.

Start Small With Bathing And Related Tasks

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It’s often said that cats hate water, and this is often largely true. While dogs don’t have such an aversion, baths or bathing are often even as much of a drag for them as they're for cats. But it’s absolutely essential that your dog is bathed regularly, and you would like to urge them to at least tolerate bathing, albeit they don’t find themselves enjoying it. Like our above advice, some treats and calming treats are often useful for a nervous, stressed, or anxious dog who resists baths. Really, the simplest advice for bathing, though, is to start out small and take baby steps towards a full-on bath, in order that your dog can get won't think. That’s often the simplest approach to more intimidating tasks and may help build up a tolerance and familiarity together with your dog, which will, quite naturally, help them remain calm during grooming and specifically bathing within the future.

Preparing a shower

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To start, you would possibly want to place a towel or mat within the bathtub (so that your pet won’t wear the slick surface). The primary time, you'll just want to spray them touch with water from the hand-held shower spray attachment or pour a touch of water over their back or legs with a cup. Always make certain the water may be a proper temperature – lukewarm, just above temperature – to avoid scalding or burning them, or irritating their skin. Bio-Groom, Herbal Groom Conditioning Shampoo has a herbal infusion of 8 specially selected, harmonious blends of pure botanical extracts that invigorate and nurture the skin. Soothing sulfate-free for your furry friend coat. Good for long and short haired breeds. Cleansers derived from regrow-able and 100% biodegradable sources. Safe for puppies and kittens and for our environment.

Making Progress

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Either during an equivalent bathing attempt or a later session, you'll move your high to wet other areas of their body, introduce shampoo, and rinse them off. Giving your pet time to understand what you're doing, in order that they won’t be startled, and to urge won't to the method, is one of the simplest ways to scale back the strain that grooming can cause. Calming shampoos with pleasant, dog-friendly scents also can be a bonus element to assist them to get want to bathe.

Start Early In Your Pup’s Life

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Perhaps no piece of recommendation for keeping your dog calm during grooming is more important than this: start early! We don’t mean early within the day, or exposure for a meeting early (though that’s always an honest idea). Start grooming your furry friend in home and at a salon or with the groomer as early as possible. When dogs are young, they're far more hospitable, new experiences, sensations, and other people. Early exposure creates familiarity once they aren't so averse to new things, and thus will make it more likely they continue to be calm and maybe even enjoy grooming sessions afterward in life.

What About Older Pets?

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For older pets who could also be visiting a grooming shop the primary time, communication with the groomer is vital. they ought to know your pet is older, and it’s their first time visiting any quiet grooming shop. Good groomers will likely want to require a while just to satisfy your dog and permit them to urge you to understand one another before attempting any grooming activities.

Other Tips For Nervous Dogs to remain Calm During Grooming

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In the worst-case scenarios, where your dog is completely uncooperative and freaked out about getting to the groomers, you'll make a couple of trips and stop by only for a treat from your chosen groomer, staff, or maybe yourself. This may help your dog to make a positive association (rather than a negative one) with the groomer. Over time, with a solid relationship between dog and groomer, the strain or anxiety levels should decrease, making grooming much easier and less of a hassle for you and your pet.

Concluding Thoughts On Staying Calm During Grooming Activities

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The bottom line is your pet needs regular grooming to seem good, feel good, and stay healthy. It’s also not almost physical health, either. Even as you are feeling better and more “together”, energetic, and alive once you are fresh out of the shower and clean, so does your dog feel better after they're clean and fresh. This is often true even among dogs who hate the grooming process itself – if they’re not wriggling and running. A couple of treats after a grooming session, reception or with the knowledgeable groomer, won’t go awry either. At the very least, it'll teach your pet that if they cooperate and obtain through the grooming itself, there are good rewards expecting them!