When a dog is afraid of the groomers, it’s without doubt distressing for the humans as well. For many fears, you can avoid full-on exposure to whatever causes the angst while you work on desensitising and counter conditioning at the dog’s pace. But the hard fact is that you can’t indefinitely avoid grooming. For most dogs, particularly for those with long, thick or curly coats, regular grooming is important for their health and wellbeing. If you have a dog that’s terrified of groomers, we feel your pain because our cockerpoo was one of these.
So here are our thoughts on options for the grooming-averse dog.
1. Desensitisation and counter conditioning (DSCC)
This is the classic approach to fear, but with grooming, of course, there are many parts of the process that could be contributing to the anxiety: baths, strange noises of clippers and high power driers, the discomfort of being brushed through thick coats, particularly if there are matts, confinement in crates while waiting for the appointment if it’s a large salon and the overall experience of being handled by strange people in an unfamiliar environment while being held in safety restraints (to prevent them jumping off the grooming table).
With all these potential challenges, desensitisation and counter conditioning can be a slow process and you need to work gradually and systematically. If you can, try and identify whether there are particular elements of the grooming experience that the dog finds less or more worrying (e.g. are they unfazed by baths or brushing at home? If so, you may not need to counter condition to these.)
Start right back at the beginning with the different elements your dog will encounter and pair with something they really love. Get a cheap set of clippers, switch them on and then give your dog a treat. Switch the clippers off. Then repeat. Do this regularly and look, over time, for signs of the dog looking with anticipation at the clippers. Gradually, move the clippers a little closer until eventually you can touch the body with the clippers, then treat. Take the same approach with the brush. Show the brush, give something delicious. Repeat. Slowly work towards giving a gentle brush. Do this for a few minutes daily. Try the same with a hairdryer. (Although it has to be said that grooming dryers are louder and more powerful). Make sure you’ve done lots of gentle body handling, particularly of areas like paws, using the same approach.
Talk to your groomers and see if you can just go to the salon, visit for a few minutes and give plenty of treats and leave. Do this until you see your dog looking happy to arrive. Even better, ask if you can stay with your dog during the groom. Not all groomers can offer this, but it can help your dog feel more relaxed.
2. Try an ‘at home’ groomer
If your dog is anxious about the salon environment, you could try a groomer that comes to your home. The familiar environment and your presence can reduce stress. You may still need to do some DSCC, but you’ve reduced the potential sources of anxiety.
3. Find a low stress groomer
Some groomers talk about a ‘stress-free’ experience, then wax lyrical about ‘pampering’ and gorgeous products which mean nothing to an anxious dog. We’re looking here for groomers who specialise in grooming nervous dogs and have been trained in techniques for minimising stress. They will almost certainly schedule shorter appointments where the dog doesn’t get a full groom initially, but just gets accustomed to the groomer and being handled by them. They may adopt a ‘consent-based’ approach where they’ll ask you to train (or will train for you) a particular behaviour to perform during parts of the grooming e.g. putting their chin on a chin rest. This give them an indicator that the dog is comfortable (stressed dogs won’t perform obedience behaviours). If they aren’t, they’ll stop and give the dog a break. If the dog is worried by the noise or feel of driers, they may suggest you do the wash and air dry at home. This might mean you don’t get a salon-perfect ‘do’ at the end, but that’s a small compromise. Inevitably, all this takes much longer than a traditional groom so will, as a result, be more expensive.
4. Go DIY
This is, ultimately, the route we followed with our girl, Ripley. Would it be our first recommendation? Hell, no. It’s tiring, tedious and time-consuming and because we aren’t pros, the final result can be, well, how can we put this? Charmingly individual.
After trying two or three groomers with no improvement, in desperation, we drove the two hours to a former training client who was a dog groomer. Jayne was gentle and patient. Ripley was more relaxed with us being there and plying her with treats. Jayne showed us techniques for brushing and handling while clipping and coached us through the process. She also did a fabulous cut. We’d probably have settled for a regular drive down the M4 every couple of months, but a move to Scotland meant that wasn’t an option.
So we invested in professional clippers and brushes and somewhat reluctantly embraced the role of amateur groomer. Before starting, we get in industrial quantities of chicken. We take time over the job, give her a break when she’s had enough and intersperse the brushing or clipping with a game of ball. (For Ripley the prospect of a ball game makes almost anything tolerable). But this isn't an option for many.
If your dog hates the groomer, you have our sympathies. And if you’re a gentle, low stress groomer, you have our respect. You’re worth every penny.
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