Brushing...

[lovemysheltie]

Lyla has gotten so much better at letting me give her a bath and she also allows me to blow dry her... but as for the brushing part, you would think someone was hurting her! She screams and growls for NO reason, and she trys to attack the brush, She actually scares me sometimes cause i am scared she might bite me! I know that it is best to do it as much as possible when they are young to get them used to it, but she just goes crazy! Any suggestions????

 

[Internette]

Chauncey did not like brushing and I thought he would bite me sometimes as well. He would swing around and scare me and I gave in. The breeder said he taught you not to brush him. She showed me how to put my whole forearm under his tummy back end and just brush whether he liked it or not and I do and now I am in control and he doesn't seemed bothered anymore at all. It was my jerking and acting afraid and giving him the upper hand that prevented his grooming, I was really the problem. Now I am in charge but I keep his brushing to maybe 5 at most 10 minutes. Smaller sessions keep up both happy and prevent stress.

 

[Han&Bon]

Make sure you have nice pin brushes and combs with swiveling pins so its not grabbing the fur too hard. Also use desensitisation training, lots of video on the internet but the general idea is do some training with the brush. Get the brush out and have it near them, click/say yes and treat if they look at the brush, sniff the brush etc. Move the brush, click/yes and treat, pick the brush up click/yes and treat, put the brush near them click/yes and treat and work your way up to one stroke of the brush etc. Only mark and treat if they are calm and relaxed with where you are at, one session might just be picking the brush up multiple times so they get to know they get treats when the brush is out. Make sure to give yummy treats after a brushing session.

 

[BarbV]

Dogs will definitely pick up on your emotions. So if you are cautious, they are perfectly capable of fighting back against you.

The reason why groomers are able to groom our dogs when we can't is because they don't have the emotional attachment. Its not to say that they are mean, but just that they get down to business.

I don't know how many times I hear dogs howling in my grooming salon. My dog is one of those. So yes, when I groom him at home, I usually cave when he starts up. But when my groomer grooms him...voila...he is done!

So I'm teaching myself to not put up with the drama. Now granted....Bacca has good reason for the drama (nasty skin condition that made grooming painful) but he's over it now, so now I need to re-condition him.

So baby steps.....small grooms at a time. Sometimes only one nail at a time. We're slowly getting back to it again.

 

[EJHUNTL]

I learned that with my last sheltie. She used to snap at me anytime I got near her back end, so I would just stop grooming. I mentioned it to the breeder and she said "Looks like she's got YOU pretty well trained". That was a lightbulb moment for me, after that snapping got a firm no and we kept on going until I decided to stop. She tried a little harder the first couple of times after I decided I wasn't going to get intimidated and then that was it, she just gave up. We got so she actually fell asleep sometime during a grooming session. I would go very slowly, with small sections at a time being really careful not to pull too hard.

 

[Emmasmom]

I train mine to lay on their side on the floor. If they move too much, an arm gently over the shoulders will hold them flat and they let you groom the back end. If they are standing I sometimes hook my thumb in the collar to hold it. Treating and limited length of time brushing, gradually increasing the brush time, may help. If you can afford it, a grooming arm may help, that you can attach to a table.

 

[EJHUNTL]

One doggie here, so no grooming table. I have mine lay on the couch when they're small and we move to the floor when they get bigger. I can usually curl an arm around the top end if they're too squirmy. Once they figure out you mean business, and it's not gonna hurt and there's a really yummy treat at the end they relax and let it happen.

 

[Shelby's mom]

I make Shelby lay on the ottoman to be brushed. Her problem is she only wants her belly brushed so she constantly rolls on her back. LOL. I put my arm over her shoulder to keep her still and she eventually gives in. She also like to see what I am doing so she tries to turn her head around.

 

[Chris]

Colonel Underpants would bite at the brush when he was a puppy. I gave him the "Ah! Ah!" noise and kissed his nose. That seemed to work.

 

[Laddie's Mom]

Laddie seems to like to be brushed, in a way, that is. However, he tries to nip the entire time and will NOT stand still. I use a grooming harness on him so he can't move too far, but, he can still nip and turn around. I hope when we get to the grooming part in school that she gives some tips. He seems to be getting a little worse.