Not happy with brushing anymore :(

[BarbV]

I don't want to down play nipping when grooming our dogs. It happens and most times it is harmless

But three weeks ago, Bacca got his teeth into something. I'd never been worried about taking something away from him before, but he turned on me and bit me bad. I ended up with a puncture wound in the the baseeof my forefinger. Since then the tip of finger has been numb - slowly getting better.,

Memo to file: Never forget that our furkids are dogs with different motivators. Bacca was never food motivated before so this took me my surprise.

Indy got into something this morning. You can bet I was a lot more cautious in getting him to drop it.

Reminder to all: best thing to teach your dogs is to "leave it" I thought I had that one down pat, but apparently not so much.

[*Caro]

Could you also try using a different brush? I know Deska tries to get away with some brushes but enjoys being brushed with others. He was becoming so difficult I started using just using a normal soft brush every once and a while so that brushing became a relaxing, bonding experience, not just something to be endured.

Also, I switched from metal dog brushes to a human round brush like the one below and the dogs really enjoy being brushed with it. It is much gentler than the dog brushes and just as effective as a pin brush. They actually come over to me for a groom when they see me get the round brush out (and run if they see a slicker or pin brush) so they must like it. The only time I use a slicker now is to do more detailed line brushes

And yes adolescence can be a time when they challenge you. But also it can set them up for continuing to dislike it in adulthood so its worth taking care.

[Chinchi]

I have brushed Darla twice more now with a different brush without incident now, so I'm betting it was the brush being too harsh on her fur. I hate to say that I was a little nervous of her after she tried to nip me, I've never been bitten by a dog before. I think she knew she had upset me as she avoided me for the rest of the day, which just made me feel even sadder But I know in her doggie language she was just giving me some space.

We seem to be back to normal now so I will carry on with the new brush. As for the bunny nipping. My bun isn't that keen on her anyway and there is no need for them to interact so I will keep them separate as its not worth the risk of injury, regardless of it being playful or not. I think Darla was being overly playful and trying to play with the bun as if she was a pup, but its too rough for my bun and not fair on her.

[ortegah]

Definitely sounds to me like you hit a sore spot and she bit out of pain. I'm glad you brushed her again and saw that she was fine.

[BarbV]

Originally Posted by 3Stars

Double check for an injury. They're sometimes very hard to find in thick coated dogs. Seren snapped at me when I was brushing her...this is completely out of character for her, and so I went over her skin in that area millimeter by millimeter. It turned out she had a fishhook shaped burr in her skin - the skin was red and inflamed, but I never would have felt the end of the burr if I had been just petting or touching her. The end was only sticking out about 2 mm.

The lesson I learned from this: If your dog does something out of character, check, check, and double check for a reason why.

I had the same thought. maybe there is a scrape or something that you pulled at.

Even so, you get right back into the saddle and do it again, as soon as possible. have some treats handy and treat and praise as you groom. Groom a little and give a treat, groom some more, extend the length of times for treats but keep an eye open for the "breaking point" Treat the dog before he reaches it....you want to teach your dog to still for grooming no matter who does it. But not to assume that each groom is going to be a treat-fest.

It's difficult, because it takes only one bad experience to set a dog back. Hit the quick once on one nail, and your dog might fight you for months before he'll let you do that nail without a struggle.

My Bacca has a thing about hair dryers and baths. I expect he had one bad experience at a groomer. Now I can bath him without him going ape, but hair dryers are still an issue....did a groomer blast him in the face with a high velocity dryer? Who knows.