Puppy Package: Get Used to Grooming
Puppy owners often wait until their cute little pooch's hair starts to overgrow before contacting a groomer. In reality, the best time to start grooming a puppy is as early as possible, as young as three months old.
Or rather, that's an ideal age to start training a puppy to be groomed. Especially as the books, behaviourists and TV programmes completely omit to tell owners about training for the grooming table until it's too late.
Being groomed is a lot to take in for a puppy or dog who is not used to it. There is a new environment to get used to; a groomer to learn to trust; and a range of sometimes noisy tools being used on their body. Puppies can quickly go from feeling ok, to somewhat bewildered to downright terrified. A bad experience can have unintended consequences, and your puppy may never enjoy or tolerate being groomed.
By adopting a 'little and often' approach we break the groom down into manageable chunks for the puppy and introduce them to it bit by bit, to build up familiarity and habit.
The puppy programme is called Get Used to Grooming and the focus is on training your pet to get ready for a lifetime of being groomed. When we get some grooming done, that's a happy by-product, as I will never groom a puppy in its entirety unless they have been trained beforehand. So if you are looking for a complete groom and its their first time, or a specific look or outcome for your dog, this is probably not the programme for you.
Since learning happens with consistent training, I ask owners to commit to between 3 and 6 short sessions, spaced 1 - 4 weeks apart, depending on the age and stage of your pup. I use a combination of play and rewards to familiarise your puppy or dog to the salon, to being handled, bathed, dried, brushed, clipped and scissored. Owners are also given 'homework': training exercised to practise at home in between sessions.
You can see a few of the puppies who are following the programme in the images below, and on the instagram account.
Once your puppy or adolescent dog is ready, you can book them in for a full groom, or tidy up groom, and be confident that they feel happy and safe whilst being pampered in the parlour.
This sets your pup up for success and a lifetime of happy grooming.
Please do get in touch for more details
Puppy Grooming Enquiry
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