Creating Great Grooming Dogs (Christine Neumyer Smith)

This week we'll be talking about why some dogs have issues with foot handling and nail care and what we can do to work on it.

In the first part, we're going to talk about the variety of ways that dogs heads get handled for grooming. In the second part, we go over ways to teach dogs to be good for handling their head. 

There is a video going around of a dog who died during a nail trim. We're going to break that down, talk about what happened, and talk about safety. 

If you'd like to watch the video here is the link. Please keep in mind that this dog does not survive and the video is very upsetting.

https://www.tmz.com/2022/07/26/petsmart-sued-pet-owner-claims-staff-suffocated-dog-nail-clipping/

Does your owner know why their dog needs to be dried? Why do groomers want to dry the dog? And then what kind of drying can we do? What kind of tools and techniques do we have? And let's also discuss if dogs are really afraid of drying? 

For full transcripts, go to the audio episode on CreatingGreat GroomingDogs.com

You can also listen to this episode as a podcast on my website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can watch episodes at youtube.com/@creatinggreatgroomingdogs

For more information about my classes, go to MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist.com or go to the Whole Pet Grooming Academy website WholePetNH.com

Want to support the show? Buy Me A Coffee!

#CreatingGreatGroomingDogs #DogGrooming #PetGrooming #DogTraining #GroomerLife #DogBehavior #PetSafety #GroomingTips #PetProfessionals #GroomingEducation #SafeGrooming #DogLovers #PetPodcast #DogBites

The problem may not be the dog. This week we'll talk about the kind of things that we, as groomers, owners, and other pet pros do that can actually teach dogs to hate grooming. 

This week, we're discussing consent, start behaviors, nose targeting, chin targeting and how it all relates to dog grooming. 

In the first part we'll talk about the many reasons that dogs get noisy. In the second part we'll talk about the common things that we say that just add to frustration. 

In the first part we'll talk about Holistic Grooming or Cooperative Care. Why do groomers and trainers use different terms to describe this? In the second part we'll talk about the idea that "comforting a dog reinforces fear."

This week I'm talking to the owners who want to help prepare their dogs for grooming. How do I talk an owner through this process? Find out this week!

Episode 184, but we touch his feet. We touch his feet, just like the trainer and the groomer. And the veterinarian said, why is this dog still having a problem? That's our question for this week. 

This is the Creating Great Grooming Dogs show. I'm Chrissy Neumyer Smith. I'm a certified professional groomer, a certified behavior consultant for canines, a certified professional dog trainer. I'm a fear free certified groomer and. Fear free certified trainer. And I'm also a master groomer behavior specialists. I'm an instructor at the Whole Pet Grooming Academy, and I own Happy Critters in Nashua, New Hampshire. And this, my friends and colleagues is the show where grooming and training meet. 

So this week, we are going to talk about. Foot touching. It's really common advice. Most pet owners have heard this. We want to prevent problems. We want your dog to feel comfortable with having their feet done and their nails done by massaging their feet often. And a lot of our owners do that. A lot of our owners are really great about, Massaging that dog's feet pretty often. And getting that done. Now here's the problem. We still have problems with our dogs and their feet. And why is that? I mean, if, if you're thinking about it, but I massage his feet and a lot of our owners have been doing it and doing a great job, but why do we still see problems?

Now there are a couple of reasons. And the one I want to start off with is. Foot touching is not like nail trimming. Oh, I know everyone just went. What. But wait, but we touch his feet. But for many dogs that's enough. Okay. It's not a bad idea to touch their feet. Just that for so many dogs, that's not enough. For a lot of our dogs. They're like, ah, cool. Okay. Someone touches my feet and I don't mind when it turns into, touching them with tools or trimming nails.

So let's talk a little bit more about why that doesn't translate. So touching feet is an important part of doing a nail trim. But when an owner is massaging a dog's feet. Let's talk about just that foot massage thing that most of our owners do. And if you're an owner, you have probably done this. You've got your dog on the sofa and you're gently rubbing a foot and just kind of relaxing and your dog doesn't have to really do anything. They're probably laying on the couch and you're just like massage in their foot. And that is nothing like holding an individual toe. Holding an individual toenail. And then moving a tool and actually trimming. Or grinding. Think about some of the tools that we have. So let's talk about some of those. , We have touching the pot in a different way than many people do a foot massage. Foot massages tend to be kind of haphazard and like snugly wuggly. And that's a great place to start. Okay. Every dog should start there. If they can't handle that, they're not going to be able to handle other types of touching. Just that the problem is, is that it doesn't go far enough. It doesn't translate well to all the other things that we need them to be doing.

So let's talk about touching in terms of also individual toes, maybe it's part of you as an owner or as the handler, or as the person who's working with this dog. Pretending to have to really see that nail. But like, our focus is different than when we're just casually touching feet. When we actually are like, oh, I need to see that. What is that? What is that? They're out there. That's really different. When we're holding individual toes, when we're trying to pull hair back away from a toe. When we're trying to brush a foot. We have things like brushes and Combs, maybe scissors. Um, we have a Clippers, the hair trimmers, right? Those vibrate. They make some sound. have a variety of different types of tools that we might touch feet with and that's more than just a massage. It doesn't really say the same thing as a massage, as a foot massage.

Let's also talk about, the sprayer in the tub. It sounds weird and it feels funny. It's not like a foot massage. So the foot massages. Are a good start. All right. I, I fully believe that. Awesome. Go forth and massage your dog's feet. I just know that it doesn't necessarily prepare your dog. For the other types of foot touching that are essential to grooming. And veterinary care and other types of care.

Even if you have a dog that does not really require any real trimming. Every single dog out there has some sort of nail care needs, and maybe your dog wears their nails down really well on their own. They probably will not wear their nails down very well on their own for their entire life. So. It's a good idea for us now. To just go ahead and teach that dog to be comfortable with nail trimming and going through the motions and feeling what that feels like.

So, like I said, we have a number of tools and some of them make noise and some of them are vibration. Um, some of them, um, need to be positioned in a way that this dog may not be used to. Maybe this dog isn't used to anybody looking underneath their foot. They're only getting foot massages from the top. Um, maybe the dog is having trouble standing. While we touch feet. Like balancing on three legs while somebody is doing something to one foot is not laying on the couch, getting his foot massage where you think we can all agree on that. Like, oh yeah, that's going to be significantly different. Than laying on the sofa, getting a foot massage to have to stand up.

While somebody lifts a foot and now you're balancing on three legs and then they did it to every single foot. What all four of them. Usually. I find a lot of dogs start getting impatient at about the third foot. They're like, are you serious? Are you going to do this to every single one? Because we haven't really necessarily prepared them for the kind of things that we're going to realistically need to do. Now let's also talk about. The fact that we're doing foot touching. And we're not at home. Now we have a new place. We have a new place. Maybe it's a new situation. Maybe it's a new person. Think about how many dogs aren't necessarily great with strangers aren't necessarily good at being away from the house. Um, now we have a dog who is, um, having their feet touched. Maybe on a table now they're standing on a table. Well, that's nothing like laying on the sofa, getting a foot massage. They're standing on a table. And someone such in their feet. They feel like they have to balance. They're being they're balancing on three legs and someone's doing something weird to their foot, laying on the sofa, getting a foot massage has not really prepared them for that experience.

Perhaps it's being in the tub and now they're in a tub and someone wants to pick up their foot and they're leaning over them. Have you ever really thought about what our body language is? When a dog is in a tub? We're kinda looming over them. If somebody said, Hey, get that dog to bite you in the face. What might you try? Well you might try looming over them. It doesn't make sense that for a dog to understand why we are doing such weird things.

It's definitely different than laying on the sofa and getting your foot massage. And that's why I think that we need to help our owners understand that some dogs may think that's enough and that's great.

I will tell you in my own personal home right now. Brok one of my guys is like a, touch me a new word kind of guy. Never had a problem with any of it. Sure. You can touch me. You can touch me anywhere you want. I'm totally fine with all of it. Um, He would probably be just fine if all he got was foot massages and would translate that directly to yeah, sure. I'm comfortable with anything. But it's kind of, because he's an I'm comfortable with anything kind of guy.

Now, my other guy, I got him when he was almost three and that's Po. And he didn't really understand, like why anybody would touch a dog beyond their shoulder blades. We pet dogs on the head. Why would anybody touch me there? It wasn't about his feet. It was about touching anywhere beyond his head and his ears and his neck. Those are places that people touch dogs. The other parts were like, why would you do that? You weirdo. So for that dog. I needed to teach him to be comfortable. With other types of touching. If I just went to grab his foot. Instead of teaching them about like, I get to touch your whole body. Okay. That I think is where some of this foot touching stuff has gone out of context. It doesn't really make sense in what we're trying to do. Because if they're not comfortable with you touching them all over. Don't you think they're going to be extra uncomfortable with touching their feet?

[00:09:02] So, let me give you an example. All right. As a person, maybe you're not comfortable with strangers approaching you. And now you're at Walmart and the person behind you in Walmart wants to shove their finger in your ear.

[00:09:15] All right. Can we all agree that that would seem a little weird? I think any of us would be a little bit alarmed, like what is going on? You know, Like these dogs don't understand the kind of things that we're trying to do to them. And if they don't understand, we need to help them understand that this is safe, how to be calm, comfortable, and cooperative, and that there are a couple of people in their life. That need to do this type of stuff. All right. Maybe it's not the guy in line behind you at Walmart, but to them it may seem that random until you teach them like, okay, this is your groomer. This is your veterinarian. When we're here at this place, or when this equipment is out, um, That this is normal. It's safe. You're fine. Versus I'm going to massage your feet on the sofa. Which isn't the same. It's not the same. Um, again, we're going back to the example of the person in Walmart, in line behind you in Walmart, who just like chose to put a finger in your ear. What if that was something medically necessary? You would need a little bit of time for someone to help you figure that out. Otherwise, I don't know much. You. I'm gonna straight up admit I'd probably be aggressive.

[00:10:29] Right. It's like, dude, get your finger out of my ear. So we need to think about these dogs and why massaging their feet is very different than the kind of things we normally do. And we'll talk about more of that in the next part.

[00:10:43] If you're enjoying the show, please share this show with somebody else who might enjoy this show.

[00:10:48] So what other reasons might a dog have an issue with their feet? What if they've had their foot massages, you know, they're on the couch and they're getting their foot massage by their owners. Um, and yet they're still having problems. Well, here is something else for us to consider. Let's ask our owners when you are massaging feet, what does that look like? How does your dog respond to it? Um, and the reason why I'm specifically pointing this out is because there are a lot of owners who are like, well, we got to teach them to be good. And are kind of traumatizing their dogs and forcing this foot issue. Instead of helping them be comfortable with it.

There's still this old mindset that happens where, um, we start thinking that we have to show the dog who's boss. And that this dog must learn to do it and he must learn it now. And. And we can be really weird about that. Um, I say we, because I've been there too, right? Show of hands who here has fell for that stuff and said, well, I gotta get it done. Um, a lot of our owners take our advice and are really strong arming their dog. Like holding them down and no, you be good. I'm going to touch your feet. You be good. I'm going to . I've got to touch your feet it's what the trainer said I needed to do this week and not necessarily understanding that. Our purpose. For touching feet. Our purpose is for the dog to feel like that is safe and normal. And calm, comfortable and cooperative.

Now, keep in mind if. If you're new to the show, we talk about calm, comfortable, and cooperative a lot. Calm is when the dog is relaxed about it. Comfortable. Can can be that they're physically comfortable. Um, if they have a foot problem, then we need to be really gentle or maybe adapt to make them more comfortable or as comfortable as we can help them be. Um, and cooperative takes two. Cooperative is different than obedient cooperative takes two. It takes two of us to be cooperative. I'm willing to give a little and take a little to help us work together. So if an owner is trying to force it instead of, Hey, we need you to be comfortable with it. It's really common for owners to not understand that distinction.

So we need to help them understand that this is really important. For your dog to be able to feel like this is safe with them at home. Before we start adding tools before we start adding strangers, before we start adding I'm doing it on a table or doing it in a tub or even doing it standing up. But those are some things that owners need to help with. All right. If you are at home and you can not touch your dog's shoulder. They are probably not going to be good for a groomer for nail trimming. Right. I mean, think about it. If you looked at a dog whose owner can't touch him. And you're a dog groomer. Are you thinking, oh, he's probably great for nails. No. You're not yet that dog's grimmer might not know that this dog is having those problems with that owner. They might not know.

Sometimes we have to talk to our owners and really find out what is going on. How does this look at home? If you try to wipe his feet off, when he comes in muddy. How does your dog respond to that? Now I'm going to circle back here. To something that we've talked about in previous episodes. But I'm only going to cover it really quickly. Really quickly. Um, but there's a way to ask owners. To really help assess what we are, what we can expect from this dog. And it also helps owners understand what they need to know about what we can expect from this dog.

Now I'll ask an owner. What does your dog do if he doesn't like something? What does he do? Owners know. Yeah. Does he try to run away? Does he growl? Does he air snap? Does he try to, you know, sink his teeth into a body part? Um, do you honestly have a dog who seems to like everything and some of our dogs are just so happy go lucky that could be the case, but let's ask them, what does your dog do if he doesn't like something?

[00:15:12] That's question number one of my four questions. Question number two. What does your dog do? If he doesn't like something you're doing to him? Oh, that's a different one. Isn't it? Oh, something I'm doing to him. You might need to give them examples. Yeah. You need to wipe an eye boogy. What does your dog do? You know, you've got a pricker stuck in his fur behind his ear. What does your dog do if he doesn't like that? Um, what does your dog do? If you have to wipe something off his tail and he doesn't like it, what does your dog do? If he doesn't like something you are doing to him? That's question number two.

So question number three. Is what does your dog do if you don't stop? Oh, that's such a good question. Isn't it? So our owners who are massaging feet at home and the dog is not doing well with it. And the owner is trying to force it. They're going to say, well, he doesn't like it. Okay. Tell me what that looks like. What does he do? What does he do when he doesn't like you massaging his feet? What does it look like? What does he do if you don't stop? Now I will tell you for many of our owners, they're like, oh, I always stop.

[00:16:25] So, what do you, what do you think he's going to do if you didn't stop? And then the fourth question. So we have our three questions already. The first question is what does your dog do if he doesn't like something. Second question is what does your dog do? If they don't like something you're doing to them? The third question is, what does your dog do if you don't stop? Now, our fourth question is what do you think your dog will do when I, as a stranger? Don't stop.

[00:16:57] And that's when owners understand. Oh, Oh, yeah. I don't think he's going to be good about that at all. Yeah. That's when they get it. And that's how we can help them understand that this is a safety issue. This is safety. We're not being lazy, everyone.

So the non groomers out there. Can hear this. Alright. Non-groomers. Groomers don't turn dogs away because they're lazy. They don't shave dogs because they're lazy. They don't do stuff because they're lazy. They they're trying to keep everybody safe and they're trying to provide care for a pet. Groomers are not lazy. Groomers are really hardworking, just like every other animal professional out there. It's not easy working with animals. All right.

So where do you said that now? If, like I said, if. If your dog. Won't let you handle at home. Continuing when they, you, when you're doing something they don't like. What do you think they will do? When I, as a stranger do not stop. Because that's what owners think they're paying for. Right.

If you're an owner and you're listening to this, you're probably thinking, well, yeah, he hates having his nails done. That's why I bring them to a professional. You know, of course he's going to bite you.

No, no. There's no, of course he's going to bite you. That's not what we do. My hairdresser does not have to worry about me trying to punch her in the face. Um, that's not what groomers do. We're pet stylists. And it's not a medical emergency. Your veterinarian doesn't need to deal with that either. That should only be an animal who is injured and panicking and medical emergency kind of situation. That is not okay.

So. Circling back to massaging feet. If an owner is massaging feed with the knowledge that this is about helping your dog. Feel safe. Feel calm, comfortable, and cooperative. And that we're going to build on that. That it's not going to directly relate to being on a grooming table with a stranger and a tool, but that an owner can build on that. So massaging feet. Is a good thing to do. If we're making sure that the animal feels safe. We are going to making sure that they're calm, comfortable, and cooperative.

And also, if we understand that for some animals, we're going to need to do more work than just massage feet. I know nobody wants to hear it, but some dogs are not going to be able to just take that and go, oh, I guess I can also be touched with grinders. Uh, trimmers and Clippers and brushes and Combs and, and do it all while I'm standing. Um, foot massaging. It isn't necessarily the advice that everybody needs. It's a good start. But we need to think about it more thoroughly because seriously, there's just a point where. I think we've all seen dogs who have problems, despite a large amount of foot massages on the sofa. Um, which is really teaching them to be good for foot massagers on the sofa.

[00:20:10] If you want to know more, you can go to creating great grooming dogs. Dot com I do want to thank everybody. I know I took a break from the podcast for a little while. I got really overwhelmed with a number of things going on in my life. And thank you all for reaching out. Um, on back, I had took a vacation. All the things to reset my batteries. Thank you so much for hanging out. And I'm listening to my podcast every week and reaching out and saying you wanted more of it. Um, but the show was back, so yay. And if you want to know more about the programs that I offer, I offer things through whole pet grooming academy. That's whole pet nh.com. And actually my first level class for the master groomer behavior specialist program is actually available now as two self-paced classes. So you might want to check that out. That's whole pet nh.com have a great week.

This week, is for the owners. Have you ever said phrases like "He doesn't let me", "..but she doesn't like it", "I've tried everything", or "The last person told me something different". I understand how frustrating it can be. 

This week, we're talking about dogs when they're at home. What do their owners expect from them? What do their owners believe is going on at home, at the groomer, and at the vet. Why should we be asking?

This week we're talking about communicating with people. There's a human end to working with animals. We need to communicate with the owners. We need to communicate with other pet professionals, and if you're an owner, you need to communicate with everybody. So we're gonna talk about how we can best get everyone on the same page.

For full transcripts, go to the audio episode on CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com

You can also listen to this episode as a podcast on my website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can watch episodes at youtube.com/@creatinggreatgroomingdogs

For more information about my classes, go to MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist.com or go to the Whole Pet Grooming Academy website WholePetNH.com

Want to support the show? Buy Me A Coffee!

In the first part, we'll talk about conferences and webinars. In the second part, we'll talk about some training and behavior podcasts and thinking about grooming as a dog sport CCPDT  lists courses approved for ceu's for their CPDT and CBCC trainers. IAABC conference May APDT conference Sept Raising canine- webinars Fenzi dog sports- classes Dogwise- books and videos http://www.dogwise.com?aff=216 TawzerDog- webinars and conferences Some of my favorite dog training and behavior podcasts- Animal Training Academy, Drinking From The Toilet, Fenzi Dog Sports, The Bitey End Of The Dog 

In the first part, we'll talk about the advantages to gentle, kind, and patient handling. In the second part, we'll talk about introducing our owners to the idea. 

This week, we'll talk about scratchboards and the dog toys designed to help you file your dog's nails or help your dog file their own nails. We'll talk about what they're good for, what they're not good for, and why your groomer might give you the hard eye roll if you say you've been using one.

Dog Nail Scratch Board File https://a.co/d/eo6mDLG

De' Vora Scratch Square Dog Nail Trimmer & File https://a.co/d/9pjlyQt

For full transcripts, go to the audio episode on CreatingGreat GroomingDogs.com

You can also listen to this episode as a podcast on my website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can watch episodes at youtube.com/@creatinggreatgroomingdogs

For more information about my classes, go to MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist.com or go to the Whole Pet Grooming Academy website WholePetNH.com

Want to support the show? Buy Me A Coffee!

#CreatingGreatGroomingDogs #DogGrooming #PetGrooming #DogTraining #GroomerLife #DogBehavior #PetSafety #GroomingTips #PetProfessionals #GroomingEducation #SafeGrooming #DogLovers #PetPodcast #DogBites

This week, we'll talk about how we often want instructions to follow like a recipe when training is more of a flow chart. 

Who does the teaching? That's an interesting question, isn't it? So if we have a dog that has trouble with grooming, that has some difficulty, is showing some behavior that we do not want, is it the groomer who does the training? Is it a trainer, a behavior consultant? Is it an owner? Let's talk about all of our options this week.

The full transcript!

[00:00:00] Chrissy: Episode 180 1. Who does the teaching? That's an interesting question, isn't it? So if we have a dog that has trouble with grooming, that has some difficulty, is showing some behavior that we do not want, is it the groomer who does the training? Is it a trainer, a behavior consultant? Is it an owner? Let's talk about all of our options this week.

[00:00:20] You're listening to the Creating Great Grooming Dog Show. I'm Chrissy Newmeyer Smith. I'm a master groomer behavior specialist. I'm a certified professional groomer, a certified behavior consultant for canines, a certified professional dog trainer and instructor at Whole Pet Grooming Academy, and the owner of Happy Critters in Nashua, New Hampshire.

[00:00:37] And this my friends and colleagues, is the show where grooming and training. . So let's get into this a little bit today because I think that, , we all start wondering, well, where will this dog learn a new skill if it comes down to training? And I know some of you are kind of new to that idea that we can teach the dogs to be good for it.

[00:00:56] And I hear you. , it was not always what I thought either, but we can, we can teach them to be good for it. So who does? , so my quick answer is that I think it needs to be collaborative. I think that it's more than just one person who does that . I think that that's something that we need to do as a group.

[00:01:13] And what I mean by that is there is some stuff that the Grimmer is gonna need to do differently. , there's stuff that the owners should be sent home with also, and we often will have to work with a trainer or with somebody else in that dog's life also. Now, the reason. Let's get into just a little bit about why, , I hear groomers say things like, oh, but owners will just make it worse if they go home, they go home with the owner and the owner's gonna make it worse.

[00:01:42] And let me explain what's going on there because I hear you, I hear what you're saying, and I know that owners can definitely make it worse. But what a lot of non trainers don't realize is that dog training is all about talking to owners. Dog training's all about teaching people [00:02:00] and it's really a unique skillset.

[00:02:02] , it takes a long time to learn how to effectively teach people. And so what do you need to be able to teach people, ? You need to have them understand how to do something that's important. And it may seem really obvious, but think about how many of our owners have trouble brush. Even if they have the right tool, have trouble brushing, even if they have the right tool, and they have been shown a few times, they're still having trouble just brushing, which you would think, but you brush your own hair.

[00:02:32] How could that be hard? But it is. Okay. So our owners need to understand how to do a thing, and that's where dog trainers are very good at helping owners understand. Here's another part for owners owners need to understand why. Why does he need to know how to do this?

[00:02:52] Why is this gonna make a difference for this dog? Why is it gonna make a difference for them? Why, why are we even spending the time on it? Because if they don't understand why, then they might be stressing their dog out at home trying to just touch 'em with stuff. The classic example is the person who's been massaging his feet.

[00:03:13] Oh, I just know the, the trainer said we should touch his feet a lot. , and actually non groomers don't really understand the purpose of foot touching, which is why we get a lot of dogs who have a lot of behavior problems, even though people have been touching their feet. Because it is not enough. , it's not extensive enough.

[00:03:33] It does not translate to nail trimming directly. So it's not a bad. , but it's just sort of like the, the very bare minimum . So they need to understand why. They need to know why. Why are we doing a thing? What are we working toward, so we have the how, how are we gonna do it? The why are we doing it?

[00:03:52] What are we working toward? Like what does the finished product look like? And that's part of goal setting,[00:04:00] ? What does the finished product look like? What do I want your dog to be able to. during the next grooming appointment. Is it, maybe it's standing still on a table, maybe it's being brushed. , maybe it's, touching a tail.

[00:04:16] What is it that we actually want this to look like when we see this dog next that gives an owner the, the idea of like, what would they need to teach now? The other part that we can talk to our owners. Is the three Cs. You guys have heard this over and over and over again, but we need our owners or anybody else who's gonna work with that dog to know that the goal is for the dog to do all of this stuff, whatever stuff and things we choose to teach and be calm, comfortable, and cooperative.

[00:04:50] We are not gonna fight with them to get it done. We're not gonna hold them down and then rub 'em all over with a , electric toothbrush and think that that's gonna help 'em be good for clipper work. . And I say that and it sounds kind of cheeky yet. Groomers. That's why so many groomers are like, don't send owners home with homework.

[00:05:07] Cuz then they come back and the dog's like, oh, bring it. I, I hear that vibration going and I'm, I'm ready for the fight cuz that's what my owners have been doing since we saw you last. So we need to know that the dog is supposed to be calm, comfortable, and cooperative the whole time. The purpose is to help the dog feel good about it and to feel.

[00:05:30] that's really key. So we're trying to help build good experiences. So when, when we as groomers are trying to send somebody home with homework, there's a lot to teaching people, and this is a good reason why groomers should not let owners. , just go home and try things on their own. Okay. If you are not good at instructing owners, that's okay.

[00:05:51] We can collaborate for things like that. We can come up with some handouts. You can lead them to this podcast. You might find an episode in particular that makes a lot of [00:06:00] sense for owners. There were a couple of episodes specifically for owners, but the, everything on this podcast is meant for owners too.

[00:06:07] It might be a little over their head, but that's okay. , but we really need to help them underst. The how, the why, the what, , what it looks like in the end. , understand that the purpose is for calm, comfortable, and cooperative handling. Not to take 'em home and show 'em whose boss or whatever crazy thing they might try.

[00:06:29] But also, here's another key point if we're gonna be talking to owners directly. If you're a groomer and you're not used to instructing owners, here's another key point. We need to make sure that the owners understand why this is necessary and why it affects them. Do not let owners walk away thinking that they are giving you a precious gift.

[00:06:53] Like, oh, I guess I could do some training. You know, cuz he gives the groomer a hard time. So I'll do that for my nice, nice groomer. It's not for us, it's not a precious gift for your groomer. It's so that your dog is better prepared for our services. So that we can continue to offer you our services and so that your dog can have better care.

[00:07:14] So it's about them. It's about the owners. It's about the owners having a dog who's gonna be better for dog grooming, who's gonna be better at the vet's office, who's going to be better when they need to brush him at home or trim his nails or look in an ear. So we need them to understand why it's important for them, and that's really, really helpful.

[00:07:35] So when we're talking to people, our people teaching skills are really kind of unique and dog trainers spend a lot of time learning how to talk to people. Now, another reason why a lot of groomers are not very successful with sending owners home with homework is something that we as trainers run into a lot too.

[00:07:56] You only meet one of the owners. Maybe not [00:08:00] everyone in the house is on board, so someone else might be hearing the instructions entirely differently. We tell the husband and he goes home and he interprets that through his own eyes and then he tells , the wife like, okay, well this is how we're gonna do it.

[00:08:15] And, and then the wife tells, the teenager and okay, so now we've got, we're playing telephone. What's better is if we cut out middleman at every stage we. No more middlemen. If we can talk to them directly or send them a video, send them a podcast, talk to them through, a trainer.

[00:08:35] Send them to a trainer if you know a trainer that you refer to, which is part of what we'll talk about in the next segment, is talking about collaborating, but to talk to them and find out everybody in the house has to be on board or not. Interfer. That's tricky. Okay. It's really, really tricky. Dog trainers, we handle this a lot.

[00:08:58] Okay? There's always someone in the house who thinks that they need to be super, super sweet, and someone else who thinks they need to be super, super stern and they aren't communicating very well at home either. So when we get the dog back who knows what they've been working. Maybe someone is untraining just as fast as the other one can train.

[00:09:18] Okay. This is really common stuff, so it's not that we can't send owners home with homework. , it's that if you're not good at instructing people, you might not get really good results. Okay. , so that's kind of from the groomer point of view. If we're thinking, well, what can I send them home with? All right, first we just need to be able to organize our own thoughts.

[00:09:41] what do we want from this dog? What do we think the owners can work on? . And then the next part we're gonna talk a little bit about collaborating with others and the common questions that I. , if you're enjoying the show, please remember to follow or subscribe, share it with your friends and tell everybody, you know,

[00:09:58] So in the second part, I wanna [00:10:00] talk about if you haven't had success with helping owners understand, or maybe you haven't had success with owners going to a trainer. Here are a couple things. , I think that often groomers think that everyone knows what groomers. and actually everybody else thinks they know what groomers do also.

[00:10:18] But if you are not a groomer, you might not really have an idea of what it is we do that we are, picking up their feet. We're in between every toe over and over and over again in a distracting environment. We hold their attention for about two hours. Like the average dog, then a, the big doodle with a haircut.

[00:10:39] Yeah, that dog is gonna spend a significant amount of time, , on the grooming table, in the tub with people's hands all over them. And so we need to be able to communicate together. Now trainers sometimes give advice that does not make sense for dog grooming. Dog groomers sometimes give advice that doesn't make sense to the dog trainer.

[00:11:01] you know, like, Hey, can we just work on doing this? And the trainer's like, why would we do that? And I think that it just makes a whole bunch of people feel like, , we can't trust anybody else with it. Okay. Now, I will say from a trainer point of view, there are plenty of times where groomers are like, oh my God, we can't send 'em to a trainer or a trainer.

[00:11:22] I remember it was a Facebook post where a trainer said, I'm just looking for a groomer to send these people to who will not do the dog's nails, cuz we're actively working on that. And groomers flamed that trainer. They were upset with that trainer.

[00:11:36] And I was really embarrassed for our entire industry. If a trainer is working with a. and trying to actively work on teaching the dog to be comfortable for something and asks us as groomers to please skip that if we can. If the dog seems nervous at all, please skip it. They are actively working on it, guys.

[00:11:57] That's awesome. We need to be [00:12:00] joining in going. Oh, fabulous. Okay. What kind of signs of stress do you want us to look for? What are you working on? How are you working on it? I wanna help. Okay. We should be collaborating. We shouldn't be saying that dog's, nails need to be, again, the dog's nails do not need to be done right now.

[00:12:17] Even if they're super long. If we're working toward the dog being calm, comfortable, and cooperative for their. For their entire life. So sometimes groomers and trainers don't mix well, which is sad. Guys, I want us all to get along. I do. I really, really do. But the other thing that happens there is that sometimes owners are the middle man.

[00:12:41] Remember, we're back to the middle man again. Right? And owner's gonna describe what a groomer wants to a trainer, and they're not gonna interpret it. , that's playing telephone. Okay. So we need to think about how are we going to convince our owners if you are working with a trainer, please, I need to talk to your trainer.

[00:13:02] Yeah. Let them know I wanna talk to your trainer. Is that okay? I'm gonna call your trainer and we're gonna just find out, touch base and find out. , let the trainer know what's been going on in grooming and ask the trainer, Hey, , can we find a solution for this particular set of issues? Maybe it's loud noises, maybe it's, , way too wiggly and silly when other dogs are in the room.

[00:13:25] , maybe it's not even an aggression issue, it's just a dog who's just. Just plain wiggly or barks or whatever it is, but to talk to the trainer directly as a groomer. Talk to the trainer, trainers. Talk to the groomer. Don't send an owner with a story because the owner's story is going to change a little bit.

[00:13:44] Okay, middleman, we're playing telephone and it's not very effective, so we need to talk more about why. Something needs to be done. . Get all on the same page so that we can help the dogs. All of us. [00:14:00] So let's talk a little bit about, , who else can work on a dog? Who else can do it? I know there, there's some debate about, the person with the grooming tools needs to teach about the grooming tools.

[00:14:12] They don't have our tools and that's true. Okay. The groomer has tools that maybe the owners don't. But that's where we start talking about, just start touching 'em all over with stuff and things. Just random things. Let your dog think that any object. Could be rubbed all over their body at any time, and they are expected to kind of just hang out, stand still, , let us do this stuff and be calm, comfortable, and cooperative.

[00:14:43] And then maybe that's when you bring out, , the cheap electric toothbrush that makes some noise or, or maybe the beard trimmer. And you've got the blade guard so that you're not actually using the beard trimmer, but you're just making the noise, rubbing them all over with it, right? That's where some other tools and other types of object.

[00:15:00] Can still be really helpful. And dogs can be very, very specific about you get a new clipper and they're like, Ooh, that clipper sounds different. A different dryer or a different nozzle for a dryer. Okay. That doesn't mean that we can't be working on it. It means that once they get into the grooming setting, there will be additional work that still needs to be done.

[00:15:21] Okay. And then also think about. The grooming environment is different. There's a lot going on in a grooming environment, but owners can still work on things like that. A trainer can still work on things like that. A lot of trainers have a grooming table available to them, and if not, they can use one platforms or agility equipment or something to just stand that dog on a surface and You might be surprised how many different types of distractions a trainer can think up.

[00:15:50] When we practice things like sit, stay, sometimes there are balls being tossed around, toys being tossed around, , half the class tugging with their dog while the [00:16:00] other half is in a sit stay. There's a huge amount of variety that a dog trainer can come up with if they know what the goal is. What does it ultimately look like?

[00:16:13] What is the behavior that we're working on and what do we ultimately want? So if they were, if the distraction is the issue, yeah, a trainer can easily do that, even though it's not the same as the grooming environment. If they know what is happening in the grooming environment, they can come up with some strategies to work toward that grooming environment.

[00:16:35] Um, and then there are other people who might help out too. A lot of our dogs go to doggy daycare. and there are some really interesting things that they can do with doggy daycare. They're very experienced dog people.

[00:16:48] They can also work on some stuff. They can also work on, come on over here. Let me look in your ears. But everyone needs to be on the same page. Okay. Your pet sitter could be doing some of it. , certainly with some of our older customers, some of our elderly adults who. Can't do a lot of this stuff with their own dogs.

[00:17:08] , I have a lot of elderly customers and when I get on the floor playing around with their dog, their dog is not used to that at all. , the 80 year olds rarely get on the floor and play with their dog. So often there are other people involved with caring for a dog, so we can get them on board.

[00:17:24] Okay. But this is about sharing information and collaborating. and someone has to be pretty good at teaching people. And that's where trainers and behavior consultants come in is that we are good at teaching people. Well, we should be good at teaching people. It's a significant part of a dog trainer and a behavior consultant's job.

[00:17:45] And I'm also gonna add here. The difference between a trainer and a behavior consultant, really kind of comes down to the type of work that we do. There are lots of different types of dog training, and I think many of us who are not dog [00:18:00] trainers, the non dog trainers think that dog training is obedience classes.

[00:18:04] But that's just one piece. So a dog trainer might be somebody who runs obedience classes or runs agility classes. , they do group classes and they're teaching new skills, but they aren't necessarily the let's. Break it down, figure out what the cause of a problem and work on problem solving.

[00:18:21] That tends to be the behavior consultant. It's sort of like the difference between an elementary school teacher and the guidance counselor. So if you think about that, like, oh, so a behavior consultant is a dog trainer. Who likes to dig in and gather all the clues and figure out what makes a dog tick and try to come up with solutions.

[00:18:43] Okay. A lot of dog trainers like to do that too, but that's really kind of what the difference is. Okay. And then there are other, other variety of professionals out there for us too. So of course the veterinarian. Let's see if there's a health problem and if they need a behaviorist that is a veterinary special.

[00:19:02] your veterinarian is going to send them to a vet behaviorist or it is a PhD. Okay. That is not your local dog trainer. That's a significant amount of college education. Okay? Not trade level. That's academic. . And I need you to know that because there are a lot of times right here groomer saying, oh, he needs to go to a behaviorist.

[00:19:24] really? You think the average dog trainer or average behavior consultant can't figure out why this dog is spooky about a loud noise? You really think they need to go to veterinary school and then some additional study to figure that out? , you know, like really, most of us can figure out a lot of that, but like I said, dog trainers might not fully understand the grooming process and they might not know.

[00:19:51] Okay. I talked to trainers and I'm like, guys, , if you've never groomed a dog, you might not realize just how many times we touched [00:20:00] that dog all over. Just how much focus we need from them. , the kind of things that make grooming difficult. You, you don't really understand until you really spend some time learning about grooming and groomers, trainers wanna.

[00:20:15] I know who knew they. They will listen to you if you say, Hey, these are the things that are concerns. These are the things that we need help with because this dog is not safe to groom. And they're on board with that. And if not, find one who is so, I think that we can all work together to teach dogs how to be good for grooming.

[00:20:36] Okay. And that really is at the end of it. , there's stuff that owners can do. There's stuff that trainers can be doing. There's stuff that groomers can be doing, but it's not likely to all be fixed during a haircut, during a grooming session. ? We're gonna have break away from the idea that he's getting a haircut, and I hope he learns to be good.

[00:20:55] We might have to do some modified haircut. Some modified grooming sessions while he's learning how to be good. , and that's just part of preparing for a lifetime of grooming a lifetime. These dogs are gonna live to be 15 right now it's 2023 in 2038. Do you still wanna be fighting with this dog?

[00:21:17] 2038? Think about it like that. Seems crazy far away, but 15 years. So if we can help them be good now, right? And just collaborate and work on it and let go of the idea that trims need to be perfect. , you're not selling haircuts. You are selling haircutting services, and this is a dog who isn't well prepared for your services, so you are helping the owners with their problem.

[00:21:46] Talking about everybody working together is really, really important. Hopefully you're enjoying the show. I would love it if you would send in some ideas. , we can do that through the Facebook page or the Facebook [00:22:00] group for creating great grooming dogs. If you are interested in my classes, the Master Groomer Behavior Specialist course, , master groomer behavior specialist.com is finally up where I have listings of the people who have graduated so far, and I do offer my classes through whole pet nh.com.

[00:22:18] That's whole Pet Grooming Academy.

This week, we'll talk about the "it came out of nowhere" bites. Some bites happen without warning, but what can cause that? What subtle warnings might have been missed? Now, whether you're a seasoned groomer or just starting out, this episode will give you some insights and help you have a safer, more understanding work environment. 

For full transcripts, go to the episode on CreatingGreat GroomingDogs.com

You can also listen to this episode as a podcast on my website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can watch episodes at youtube.com/@creatinggreatgroomingdogs

For more information about my classes, go to MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist.com or go to the Whole Pet Grooming Academy website WholePetNH.com

Want to support the show? Buy Me A Coffee!

#CreatingGreatGroomingDogs #DogGrooming #PetGrooming #DogTraining #GroomerLife #DogBehavior #PetSafety #GroomingTips #PetProfessionals #GroomingEducation #SafeGrooming #DogLovers #PetPodcast #DogBites

Why do we get stuck in our ways? What keeps us from trying new things? We'll talk about it this week.

Find the podcast on your favorite host or check it out on the website CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com to listen or watch there!🎙

If you'd like to support the show I'd appreciate it. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/creatinggrV

Want to learn more about behavior? My Master Groomer Behavior Specialist program consists of 4 eight week courses. They are entirely online and include weekly zoom classroom time. The program is through The Whole Pet Grooming Academy. For more information about this fully online course go to WholePetNH.com

#dogtrainer #dogtrainers #dogtraining #dogpodcast #dogpodcasters #doggroomer  #doggroomers #doggrooming #MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist  #petstylist #petstyling #ccpdt #iaabc  #apdt #cbcc #cpdt  #fearfree #fearfreecertifiedprofessional  #fearfreepets #positivereinforcementtraining #positivetraining #dogsofinstagram #doggroomersofinstagram #dogtrainersofinstagram #akcsafetycertifiedgroomer  #dogbusiness #schoolforgroomers #holisticgrooming #wholisticgrooming #wholepetgroomingacademy  @happycrittersdogtraining @thewholepetgroomingacademy

In the first part, we'll talk about the reality of sending a dog with a behavior problem to the Vet to be sedated for grooming. In the second part, we'll talk about Behaviorists and what that means. 

This week we'll talk about appropriate ways for dogs to show us, tell us, or express to us that they don't like something, are uncomfortable and/or want us to stop. The truth is that dogs need a safe way to communicate that. And we need to know how to respond.

Together We're Better Behavior Chats! 

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Creating Great Grooming Dogs show! In this installment of "Together We're Better Behavior Chats," your host, Chrissy, engages in a fascinating conversation with the amazing Kayce Cover from Syn Alia Training Systems.

In this episode of Creating Great Grooming Dogs, Chrissy Neumyer Smith sits down with the renowned Kayce Cover, a friend, mentor, and pioneer in the field of animal training and cooperative care. Kayce shares her wealth of experience working with a diverse array of animals since the seventies, emphasizing the paradigm shift towards cooperative animal care in grooming and veterinary practices. The conversation dives deep into the philosophy of fostering trust and communication between groomers and animals, illustrating how understanding and adapting to each animal's unique needs can significantly enhance the grooming experience.

Kayce introduces the concept of 'Perception Modification' and explains various techniques, including the use of specific sound cues, or bridges,' to communicate effectively with animals during grooming sessions. She emphasizes the importance of making grooming sessions a positive, stress-free experience for animals, detailing the profound impact of creating a calm and understanding environment on the animal's welfare and the groomer's ability to work efficiently and safely.

Listeners will gain valuable insights into the practical application of these methods, understanding how even small adjustments in approach can lead to significant improvements in animal cooperation and reduce stress for both the groomer and the pets. This episode is a must-listen for groomers, trainers, vet professionals, and anyone interested in advancing the well-being of animals through compassionate and informed care practices.

Here is a link to the blood drawing video that we discussed. Training With Kayce: Voluntary Swine Blood Collection

https://youtu.be/4uI8MDIOjDw?si=rW7WvxpsXjZnj45O

https://synalia.com/

For more info about About Kayce https://synalia.com/kayce-cover-resume/

For more information about Creating Great Grooming Dogs, go to

CreatingGreat GroomingDogs.com

For more information about my classes, go to

MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist.com

or go to the Whole Pet Grooming Academy website

WholePetNH.com 

Want to support the show? Buy Me A Coffee

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/creatinggrv

In the first part, we'll talk about how dogs sometimes aren't ready for us to do something yet but that doesn't mean a refusal. In the second part, we'll talk about some common owner mistakes.

This week, we're talking about the terminology of the measure of behavior change. Look at increasing, maintaining, or decreasing a behavior and assessing if you see a change or not. 

In the first part, we'll talk a bit about the use grooming loops, tables, crates, and tubs and why trainers need to know about the use of this equipment before they work with grooming problems. In the second part, we'll talk about an outline for working on behavior change. I'm using Dr Susan Friedman's free pdf Behavior Toolkit. We went through part one of the outline today and will continue next week. http://www.behaviorworks.org/htm/downloads_worksheets.html 

We will talk about the controversy about using meds for animals who have difficulty with grooming. There are lots of strong feelings about this. I think that many groomers refuse to work with animals that are medicated. And then there are other people who really want the animals to be medicated.

So we'll talk about where some of this bias comes from. This is not veterinary advice. I am not a veterinarian, and we will not list specific medications. We'll just talk about how many groomers feel about medications, and we'll give a little bit of a history lesson to see where that was coming from.

For full transcripts, go to the episode on CreatingGreat GroomingDogs.com

You can also listen to this episode as a podcast on my website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can watch episodes at youtube.com/@creatinggreatgroomingdogs

For more information about my classes, go to MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist.com or go to the Whole Pet Grooming Academy website WholePetNH.com

Want to support the show? Buy Me A Coffee!

"Where can I start? How do I do this? Where are the instructions?" We'll talk about some starting points this week.

In the first part, will talk about if we "need to win" and what it means to have an adversarial roll with the dogs we're working with. In the second part, we'll talk about counterconditioning and desensitization, habituation, flooding, and how these techniques are different. 

This episode is about fear and the way a body responds to it. I give a bunch of human examples from my time scaring people at haunted houses. 

CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com for more info 

In the first part, we'll talk about what an owner gets out of working with their dog. In the second part, we'll talk about what owners can work on at home.

In the first part, we'll talk about how dog training is so much more than group obedience classes. In the second part we'll  talk about why trainers need to know more about dog grooming and how that serves our shared clientelle. 

Episode 191. This week, we're talking about National Train Your Dog Month. So January in the United States is National Train Your Dog Month, and I wanna talk about a variety of dog training options out there for owners to explore and also talk about the idea that training is enrichment and it should be fun for people and dogs.

For full transcripts, go to the episode on CreatingGreat GroomingDogs.com

You can also listen to this episode as a podcast on my website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can watch episodes at youtube.com/@creatinggreatgroomingdogs

For more information about my classes, go to MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist.com or go to the Whole Pet Grooming Academy website WholePetNH.com

Want to support the show? Buy Me A Coffee!

In the first part, we'll go over some questions for owners to find out how their dog responds when they don't want to be touched. In the second part, we'll talk about some things for owners to do at home. 

This week, we'll talk about emotions. Do dogs have the same emotions that we have? Do we know?

Episode 175 Is Patience Enough?

Are you really patient with the dogs? Gentle, loving, and patient and still aren't seeing results? There are a couple of mistakes that you could be making. Find out more this week!

An Example Of A Safety Policy

"To provide the highest level of care for your pet we have a safety policy. If at any time your pet gets nervous, anxious, scared, aggressive, or even overly silly, we slow down and help your pet to be comfortable and calm. It’s very important to us that the pets in our care are kept safe and stress free. We use sharp tools and need to prevent injuries. We will work with your pet to help them feel comfortable. This will build a great experience for successful groomings for your pet’s lifetime. Your pet may not be groomed to perfection today. We will charge for the time that we spend working with your pet."

This is not a legal document but it tells owners how we do business, what to expect, and starts conversations about behavior problems being safety problems.

Find the podcast on your favorite host or check it out on the web site CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com to listen or watch there!🎙

It also now available as video on YouTube 🖥 https://youtube.com/channel/UC9UN5lbdF3qq3xI1Y2BHRzQ

If you'd like to support the show I'd appreciate it. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/creatinggrV

Want to learn more about behavior? My Master Groomer Behavior Specialist program consists of 4 eight week courses. They are entirely online and include weekly zoom classroom time. The program is through The Whole Pet Grooming Academy. For more information about this fully online course go to WholePetNH.com

#dogtrainer #dogtrainers #dogtraining #dogpodcast #dogpodcasters #doggroomer #doggroomers #doggrooming #MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist #petstylist #petstyling #ccpdt #iaabc #apdt #cbcc #cpdt #fearfree #fearfreecertifiedprofessional #fearfreepets #positivereinforcementtraining #positivetraining #dogsofinstagram #doggroomersofinstagram #dogtrainersofinstagram #akcsafetycertifiedgroomer #dogbusiness #schoolforgroomers 

#holisticgrooming #wholisticgrooming #wholepetgroomingacademy @happycrittersdogtraining @thewholepetgroomingacademy

Part one is about using food in training. Part two is about being thankful for our modern educational oportunities.

CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com for more info 

You don't need to be a groomer to go to a grooming conference. You don't need to be a ttainer to go to a training conference. There are some really great educational opportunities out there.

Links from the show

CCPDT.org for lists of classes for trainers

AggressiveDog.com conference online and in person Sept 30- Oct 2

PetProClassic.com Sept 30- Oct 2 in person

GroomExpo.com Sept 15- 18 in person

NewEnglandGrooms.com Oct 6- 9 in person

Pawsitiveed.com for online classes and summits

WholePetNH.com for a wide variety of classes(including my Master Groomer Behavior Specialist diploma program)

Find the podcast on your favorite host or check it out on the web site CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com to listen or watch there!🎙

It also now available as video on YouTube 🖥 https://youtube.com/channel/UC9UN5lbdF3qq3xI1Y2BHRzQ

Want to learn more about behavior? My Master Groomer Behavior Specialist program consists of 4 eight week courses. They are entirely online and include weekly zoom classroom time. The program is through The Whole Pet Grooming Academy. For more information about this fully online course go to WholePetNH.com

#dogtrainer #dogtrainers #dogtraining #dogpodcast #dogpodcasters #doggroomer #doggroomers #doggrooming #MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist #petstylist #petstyling #ccpdt #iaabc #apdt #cbcc #cpdt #fearfree #fearfreecertifiedprofessional #fearfreepets #positivereinforcementtraining #positivetraining #dogsofinstagram #doggroomersofinstagram #dogtrainersofinstagram #akcsafetycertifiedgroomer #dogbusiness #schoolforgroomers 

#holisticgrooming #wholisticgrooming #wholepetgroomingacademy @happycrittersdogtraining @thewholepetgroomingacademy

What are start button behaviors? Are they helpful for grooming? Are they difficult for groomers to use? Find out this week.

Find the podcast on your favorite host or check it out on the web site CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com to listen or watch there!🎙

It also now available as video on YouTube 🖥 https://youtube.com/channel/UC9UN5lbdF3qq3xI1Y2BHRzQ

If you'd like to support the show I'd appreciate it. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/creatinggrV

Want to learn more about behavior? My Master Groomer Behavior Specialist program consists of 4 eight week courses. They are entirely online and include weekly zoom classroom time. The program is through The Whole Pet Grooming Academy. For more information about this fully online course go to WholePetNH.com

#dogtrainer #dogtrainers #dogtraining #dogpodcast #dogpodcasters #doggroomer #doggroomers #doggrooming #MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist #petstylist #petstyling #ccpdt #iaabc #apdt #cbcc #cpdt #fearfree #fearfreecertifiedprofessional #fearfreepets #positivereinforcementtraining #positivetraining #dogsofinstagram #doggroomersofinstagram #dogtrainersofinstagram #akcsafetycertifiedgroomer #dogbusiness #schoolforgroomers 

#holisticgrooming #wholisticgrooming #wholepetgroomingacademy @happycrittersdogtraining @thewholepetgroomingacademy

In the first part, we'll talk about 100 episodes and what I've learned. In the second part, we'll talk about how understanding a dog's comfort and range of motion can reduce unwanted behaviors. It's important for new groomers and a great reminder for the experienced groomers.

In the first part, we're going to talk about is "the customer always right" and then in the second part, we're going to talk about how long the average dog spends in grooming during their lifetime. 

Laat week we talked about reinforcement. This week we continue with talking about Punishment. What does it mean to punish a behavior? What exactly is punishment in behavior terms? 

This week we're talking about the dogs who aren't difficult to groom but are showing signs of stress. Is that a behavior problem? Do we need to work toward Calm, Comfortable, and Cooperative? 

Episode 171 Cats And Other "Non Dogs"

This week we'll talk about how the behavior principles on this show can be applied to other animals.

Find the podcast on your favorite host or check it out on the web site CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com to listen or watch there!🎙

It also now available as video on YouTube 🖥 https://youtube.com/channel/UC9UN5lbdF3qq3xI1Y2BHRzQ

Want to learn more about behavior? My Master Groomer Behavior Specialist program consists of 4 eight week courses. They are entirely online and include weekly zoom classroom time. The program is through The Whole Pet Grooming Academy. For more information about this fully online course go to WholePetNH.com

#dogtrainer #dogtrainers #dogtraining #dogpodcast #dogpodcasters #doggroomer #doggroomers #doggrooming #MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist #petstylist #petstyling #ccpdt #iaabc #apdt #cbcc #cpdt #fearfree #fearfreecertifiedprofessional #fearfreepets #positivereinforcementtraining #positivetraining #dogsofinstagram #doggroomersofinstagram #dogtrainersofinstagram #akcsafetycertifiedgroomer #dogbusiness #schoolforgroomers 

#holisticgrooming #wholisticgrooming #wholepetgroomingacademy @happycrittersdogtraining @thewholepetgroomingacademy

In the first part, we'll talk about working as a team and helping dogs win. In the second part, we'll talk about calming dogs if they become frightened and how to communicate that to owners.

In the first part, we'll review some of the topics for this podcast. In the second part, I'll give some examples of dogs that I'm working with. 

This week we'll talk about desensitization and sensitization. Are you making dogs more sensitive to something or less sensitive to something? 

More restraint or time to sedate are two of the "go to" answers to behavior problems in the grooming industry. These are two extremes. In part one, we'll talk about adding more restraint and/or equipment to a stressed out dog. In part two, we'll talk about how sedating a dog doesn't address the behavior issue and that sedating isn't always a safe option. 

This week we're talking about Humane Treatment. That whole idea of "I'm not hurting him.", "This needs to be done.", "This is really important." We'll talk about some of the humane aspects we must look at as groomers, veterinarians, vet techs, and owners.

Find the podcast on your favorite podcast host or check out the website CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com to listen or watch there. Want to learn more about behavior? My Master Groomer Behavior Specialist program consists of 4 eight week courses. They are entirely online and include weekly zoom classroom time. The program is through The Whole Pet Grooming Academy. For more information about this fully online course, go to WholePetNH.com.

#dogtrainer #dogtrainers #dogtraining #dogpodcast #dogpodcasters #doggroomer #doggroomers #doggrooming #MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist #petstylist #petstyling #ccpdt #iaabc #apdt #cbcc #cpdt #fearfree #fearfreecertifiedprofessional #fearfreepets #positivereinforcementtraining #positivetraining #dogsofinstagram #doggroomersofinstagram #dogtrainersofinstagram #akcsafetycertifiedgroomer #dogbusiness #schoolforgroomers #holisticgrooming #wholisticgrooming #WholePetGroomingAcademy

In the first part we'll talk about all of the things that I think about when I'm working with a dog who is new to me and has a history of "not liking it." In the second part, we'll talk about how the process played out. 

In the first part we'll talk about how dogs don't like being tricked. In the second part we'll talk about dopamine, counter conditioning, and desensitization 

In the first part we'll talk about what "spoiled" means and what it can look like with our dogs. In the second part we'll talk about working with the owners of "spoiled dogs"

In the first part, we'll talk about how good training affects your wallet. In the second part, we'll discuss if most dogs have trouble with grooming. 

This week, we'll talk about some puppies that I'm working with. In the first part, we'll talk about breaking things into tiny steps and teaching about carriers. In the second part, we'll talk about getting owners touching their dogs. 

In part one, we'll talk about what dominance is and if it plays a role in grooming and vet situations. In part two, we'll talk about nervous dogs. 

This week, we're talking about how behavior problems can contribute to burnout, stress, injuries to dogs, and injuries to people. 

In the first part, we'll talk about Classical Conditioning and using treats to make things fun. In the second part, we'll talk about Operant Conditioning and using Positive Reinforcement to teach a dog that when they are correct they may be rewarded with a treat. 

In part one, we'll talk about how pups grow up. In part two, we'll talk about fear imprint stages and we'll talk about aging.

This week, we're talking about the importance of having a working knowledge of other dog professions. Learning more about how dogs are handled in veterinary settings, grooming settings, and training settings will help you find like minded professionals to help you with your customers. 

What I think is a no nonsense approach may be different than what you think is a non nonsense approach. My version on connon sense handling may be different than yours. This week we'll discuss the differences.

You can listen to the podcast or watch the YouTube videocast my web site CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com

I also teach the Master Groomer Behavior Specialist Diploma Program at The Whole Pet Grooming Academy

#dogtrainer #dogtrainers #dogtraining #dogpodcast #dogpodcasters #doggroomer #doggroomers #doggrooming #MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist #petstylist #petstyling #ccpdt #iaabc #apdt #cbcc #cpdt #fearfree #fearfreecertifiedprofessional #fearfreepets #positivereinforcementtraining #positivetraining #dogsofinstagram #akcsafetycertifiedgroomer #dogbisiness #schoolforgroomers #holisticgrooming #wholisticgrooming #wholepetgroomingacademy

This week, we'll talk about why some people aren't ready to try to teach dogs to be good for grooming, vet visits, and home care. We'll talk about why forcing dogs to "get it done" is still so common.

What difference does age make with behavior problems during grooming, vet care, and care at home? What should be be thinking about while working with puppies, adult dogs, and elderly dogs?

This week we're talking about repetition. Why is repetition important to learning? Why is that something that we would want to use in dog grooming, and how can that help us in dog grooming? Find out this week.

For full transcripts, go to the audio episode on CreatingGreat GroomingDogs.com

You can also listen to this episode as a podcast on my website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can watch episodes at youtube.com/@creatinggreatgroomingdogs

For more information about my classes, go to MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist.com or go to the Whole Pet Grooming Academy website WholePetNH.com

Want to support the show? Buy Me A Coffee!

#CreatingGreatGroomingDogs #DogGrooming #PetGrooming #DogTraining #GroomerLife #DogBehavior #PetSafety #GroomingTips #PetProfessionals #GroomingEducation #SafeGrooming #DogLovers #PetPodcast #DogBites

January is train your dog month. We'll be discussing what training is and how we can encourage owners to continue to train during their dog's lifetime. 

This week we'll talk about when we "calm a dog down" or "jolly them up". What is the difference, why does it matter, and how do you pick one? Find out this week!

In the first part, we'll talk about how much training is going on in day to day life. Training doesn't just happen when a trainer sets it up. In the second part, we'll talk about finding a trainer.

In the first part, we'll be talking about using the Scientific Method. In the second part, we'll be playing a game of "Opinion or Observation". 

In the first part, we'll talk about three questions that we can ask to get a good idea about a dog's behavior. In the second part, we'll talk about using that conversation to talk about our safety policy. 

In the first part, we're going to talk about how our body language can help a dog be more relaxed because everything that we do is training. In the second part, we're going to talk about how being more relaxed helps us have a safer work environment. 

In the first part, we'll talk about some things that owners can do at home. In the second part, we'll talk about speeding up the process by naming and explaining what we're doing. 

This week, we’re talking about cooperative care in the real world. What do we really need to focus on? This episode is primarily for trainers, but also for anyone who communicates with them. The grooming world has some unique challenges and specific goals that set it apart. We'll talk about Grooming as a Very Elaborate Stand Stay.

The Bitey End of the Dog: Chrissy Neumyer Smith 

For full transcripts, go to the audio episode on CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com

You can also listen to this episode as a podcast on my website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can watch episodes at youtube.com/@creatinggreatgroomingdogs

For more information about my classes, go to MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist.com or go to the Whole Pet Grooming Academy website https://education.wholepetnh.com/master-groomer-behavior-specialist

Want to support the show? Buy Me A Coffee!

In the first part, we'll talk about some ways to tell if a dog has learned to be afraid. In tge second part, we'll talk about physical responses to fear.

In the first part, we'll talk about how important it is for owners to be able to work with and on their dogs. In the second part, we'll talk about introducing owners to the "3 C's" Calm, Comfortable, and Cooperative. 

In the first part, we're going to talk about habits. We all have some things that we do on auto pilot. Our dogs have habits too. Changing habits can be tricky. In the second part, we're going to talk about tracking progress. How do you know if the dog is doing better than before? Is it the finished grooming that shows that we were successful? How can we count all of the tiny successes? 

This week we're talking about the business end of grooming dogs with behavior issues. You might be thinking "Im not a groomer" or "I don't own a business" so I don't need to listen to this one, but this one is for groomers as well as owners and other dog professionals. I want you to understand how a behavior problem can impact a business. You should not be losing money working on challenging dogs.

In the first part, we'll talk about "energy" and how we can better describe what we mean. In the second part, we'll talk about "intuition" and what we're really observing. 

In the first part, we're talking about being scared, startled, and spooked. In the second part, we'll talk about if we need a training plan for every dog and talk about having a safety policy. 

Episode 187 Desensitization. What is it? How does it work? Why could it be helpful? What are a few reasons why maybe you haven't had good luck with it. That's what we'll be talking about this week.

This is the Creating Great Grooming Dog Show. I'm Chrissy Neumyer Smith. I'm a master groomer behavior specialist(MGBS), a certified professional groomer(CPG), a certified professional dog trainer(CPDT-KA), and a certified behavior consultant for canines(CBCC-KA). I'm an instructor at Whole Pet Grooming Academy, and I am the owner of Happy Critters in Nashua, New Hampshire. And this, my friends and colleagues, is the show where we talk about teaching dogs to be calm, comfortable, and cooperative for grooming and other types of care.

Full transcript available at CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com

Class info at WholePetNH.com 

Diploma program info at MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist.com

Will using distractions make grooming easier or make grooming harder? What kinds of distractions could we use? Find out this week.

Find the podcast on your favorite host or check it out on the web site www.CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com to listen or watch there!🎙

Watch on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9UN5lbdF3qq3xI1Y2BHRzQ

If you'd like to support the show I'd appreciate it. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/creatinggrV 

Want to learn more about behavior? My Master Groomer Behavior Specialist program consists of 4 eight week courses. They are entirely online and include weekly zoom classroom time. The program is through The Whole Pet Grooming Academy. For more information about this fully online course go to WholePetNH.com 

#dogtrainer #dogtrainers #dogtraining #dogpodcast #dogpodcasters #doggroomer #doggroomers #doggrooming #MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist #petstylist #petstyling #ccpdt #iaabc #apdt #cbcc #cpdt #fearfree #fearfreecertifiedprofessional #fearfreepets #positivereinforcementtraining #positivetraining #dogsofinstagram #doggroomersofinstagram #dogtrainersofinstagram #akcsafetycertifiedgroomer #dogbusiness #schoolforgroomers 

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This week, we're talking about our role as dog pros who are not veterinarians. Gathering clues about what behaviors are normal and abnormal and helping owners understand that their Vet may have some medications that can help their dogs be comfortable. 

Animal handling skills are super important but we can add training to our handling skills to teach dogs to be better for grooming.

This week we're talking about science-based training. What does that mean? Why is there a controversy and what do you need to know? You'll get my take on that this week.

CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com

Ep182 What Does Science Based Dog Training Mean 

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[00:00:00] Chrissy: . Episode 180 2 of the show this week we're talking about science-based training. What does that mean? Why is there a controversy and what do you need to know?

[00:00:09] You'll get my take on that this week. This is the Creating Great Grooming Dog Show. I'm Chrissy Neumyer Smith. I'm a certified professional groomer, a certified behavior consultant for Canines, a certified professional dog trainer, the owner of Happy Critters in Nashua, New Hampshire, and an instructor at Whole Pet Grooming Academy. And this, my friends and colleagues, is the show we're grooming and training meet.

[00:00:31] Science-based dog training. So there's a big debate out there because there are two warring factions in the dog training world. And each of them thinks that they're doing science-based dog training. And I'm gonna tell you, my humble opinion is that they are both correct. They both are.

[00:00:50] But it has become this marketing tool. So I want you to thoroughly understand it. I want you to understand why it's a term that's being used and what it really means. I will say that I am definitely further on one side of that debate. If you are kind of new to the show, you might not know, but there are, , balanced trainers, trainers who feel that rewards and punishments as long as it, we get the job done and safely, rewards and punishments are all fair game.

[00:01:20] And then there are the positive reinforcement trainers who think that punishments should be avoided. I'm far more leaning toward that side. But that doesn't mean that I'm not open-minded. , in fact, I am what's called a crossover trainer, which means that I started off with a lot of punishment based kind of training, and then over time started incorporating more positive reinforcement type training.

[00:01:44] So I've done both, and I can tell you that. There are plenty of wonderful caring dog trainers out there working in both angles. All right, so first of all, this is a safe space. My show is always gonna be a safe space. I'm not here to judge anybody, [00:02:00] but I wanna present you with some information. Now, when I say that I am far more leaning toward positive reinforcement, , a lot of the positive reinforcement camp, talks a lot about science-based dog training.

[00:02:13] And they do use a lot of science, but so does the balance trainer camp also. So the science part comes in because the purpose of us doing our training is to try to figure out, why the dog is having a problem. The why. Okay. This is where we break away from. , he does something and I just leash. Correct.

[00:02:38] A good trainer is not doing that. They don't just go. I don't know. He did something. So I'm just gonna do a leash correction and a stern no. , the science-based part is about separating ourselves from the emotions of punishments and rewards, separating ourselves from the emotions of all of that, and instead thinking about what do we see with this dog?

[00:03:00] Why is this dog behaving this way? Why is this happening? What can we do to help this dog be better? Now, that's a different point of view than what many of us were taught long ago when I first started. Back in the eighties, it was choke collars and prong collars. I was lucky enough to be around a bunch of adults cuz I was 14, um, to be around a bunch of adults who were super into continuing ed.

[00:03:27] So even though we were using a lot of those things, there was always this open-mindedness about like, woo, how did they do that? Wow, that's neat. How will that work? Can we try that too? But it's not just about taking every idea that comes down the pike, okay? There are some crazy ideas out there.

[00:03:44] There's some really outdated stuff. , but that doesn't mean that any one group of dog trainers has cornered the market on science-based dog training, okay? It's really important for us all to understand that if [00:04:00] someone does something that's a punish, And they do it once and the dog never does that again.

[00:04:06] They have used science-based dog training. It might not be the way I would have done it, or maybe not the way that you would have done it, but it is scientifically sound. , so we need to break away from the idea that one is right and one is wrong. That's really important. As a crossover trainer, I think it's really important and I'd like to see more crossover groomers.

[00:04:31] Let's make that a term. I'm a crossover groomer because many of us as groomers, and I think if you're not a groomer, you might not know this. Many of us as groomers, we're always taught. You just cannot let him take charge. Things like that, that really don't speak to what the issue is. We need to help these dogs feel more comfortable, calm, comfortable, and cooperative.

[00:04:53] You've heard it many, many times here, so when we talk. Science-based dog training. There are a couple of different lenses we can use now. One of those, and one that I use a lot is, , least intrusive, minimally aversive, dog training circles. That's something that we often sign off on as part of our codes of conduct for the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, the certification council.

[00:05:20] Professional dog trainers in the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. So those three big groups will often ask us like, do you use least intrusive minimally aversive? Are you following the humane hierarchy? Which is, I know it sounds super complicated, but what it is, is what it is, is.

[00:05:42] The purpose of these is to have a roadmap when faced with a behavior that we would like to change or that we do not want. We first have to think about, , the dog's comfort. We have to think about why the dog is doing it, and this is a [00:06:00] roadmap for us to follow so that we're doing the most gentle version.

[00:06:05] Now, why is gentle important? So let's say we have a dog on the grooming. And we're grooming along and we get up near his ear and he turns around and growls. And we assume, what if we assume that this dog just means to harm us, or he's being stubborn, that's a story that we tell ourselves, stubborn, that he's spoiled.

[00:06:30] That's another air quote. Spoiled. , what if we start making assumptions that this dog is just trying to. Take charge doesn't respect us when actually this dog has an injury. Well, I think I would know if a dog was sore. Not really. So there are times where we are responding to a dog's behavior, assuming making some assumptions about their motivation.

[00:06:57] And to break away from that is where we start talking about science-based dog training to break away from our assumptions to back. Boo boo boo. Back up the bus and think about, okay, why might that dog be responding that way? Now, let's say you're brushing an ear and you're like, I don't know. His ear looked fine, but maybe he has a neck problem.

[00:07:20] Maybe you could do some real damage by continuing. Maybe we need to stop, pause. Think it through and listen, when this dog is saying, I'm uncomfortable with that, especially if it's a dog who normally is comfortable with that, and we see that a lot. So humane hierarchy starts off with when we're faced with a behavior problem that we are concerned about, that we don't want to have happen again.

[00:07:48] Our first thought should be, is there a medical reason, a physical reason, like what is going on in this dog's? So that's a really big one that I think most of us [00:08:00] don't do. I say US cuz I've been there. I mean I do it now, but, but many of us don't do that first and we have to think about the medical reason.

[00:08:10] No, that does not mean, and I know there's someone out there going, but I'm like, that does not mean that a dog who's sore is allowed to bite people. Okay. That's not the purpose here. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, is that we need to figure out the reason so that we can fix the cause so that we can get in there and really find out what is going on.

[00:08:34] Frankly, if a dog is sore, I want to be gentle with. I want to help them feel more comfortable. And a dog who's sore, while they shouldn't turn around and try to bite us, I can understand why they might have that knee jerk reaction if something suddenly hurts or something twists. You know, like there are times where a dog's just like ow it looks like a bite. It looks like an air snap, and we need to be aware of that. We also need to help dogs feel comfortable with us, even if something does hurt. Okay? It's not okay for your dog to just go after you because things hurt. It's important for them to trust us to know that if I signal that something's uncomfortable, this human listens and will try to find out what's wrong.

[00:09:21] That's really, I. And, it's one of the first parts of the humane hierarchy, just looking at what is the problem and is the right physical reason. A lot of the dogs that we groom have discomfort. They are uncomfortable. They have hip problems, they have tooth problems, they have ear problems, they have skin conditions.

[00:09:42] They have, , toenails that are super huge and long and it's been, putting pressure on their feet and on their legs. They're all sorts of reasons why a dog could be sore. I'm not saying that that's the only cause for behavior problems that would, that would not be true, but we need [00:10:00] to rule those out and we need to really think.

[00:10:02] And along with physical issues like medical issues, we also need to think about what kind of dog is this? Are we expecting a terrier to just kick back and relax or maybe hide if he's scared? Terriers aren't likely to get scared. We've been breeding them to just jump into fight mode, the way to keep a terrier calm is to not let them get into fight mode.

[00:10:25] So this is part of us taking a little bit more of a. Pausing and thinking about why is this dog behaving this way? Why? , the things about this dog's body is this dog an adolescent, and we're expecting it to act like an adult, which is common, all right? That happens a lot. We go through the puppy phase and they're doing really, really well as a puppy, and then they hit seven or eight months old and we're like, Hey, why are you acting like this?

[00:10:52] But it's seven or eight months old. They have less patience than they did when they were a puppy. They're still little. They still need lots and lots of patience, lots of little break. And we expect them to act like adults. So we're in conflict with them, and it's something that we could prevented if we're like, Hmm, okay, that's a physical reason.

[00:11:13] Right? He's just darn young. He's not an adult yet, not gonna be able to act like an adult. , 14 year old Chrissy was not the same as this Chrissy, just think about your own self, like, oh yeah. Teenagers are impulsive, usually frustra. and our adolescent dogs are too. So sometimes we need to look at the dog's age, the dogs breed.

[00:11:33] There are so many things to consider. That's part of scientific dog training. The science of dog training. It's not about letting go of all of our emotions. It's about backing up and really taking a closer look. Why is this dog behaving this way and what can we do about it? I want you to think about that one first.

[00:11:57] That's the first one. And on the humane hierarchy, [00:12:00] it is least intrusive minimally aversive, it's a very dog friendly way to approach a behavior problem. Why is he being like this? And to step back from, from some of our stories, you know, well, he's just bossy. , that's a weird story that I think we've all told ourselves at some.

[00:12:17] Very rarely do I find a dog who's bossy. So I want you to think about the, the physical health of the dog, the physical needs of the dog, other things that could be happening. And this dog's breed and this dog's age, , is this a dog who's always been good for grooming, but now he's nine and today's the day he doesn't wanna stand up.

[00:12:36] Maybe this is the first time that he's starting to have some trouble with his hip. These are things that we need to think about, and that's part of science-based dog training. To look at the big picture. Let's get away from just responding with punishments or reinforcements. We can't just throw a cookie at everything either anymore than we can just leash correct and say no.

[00:12:58] It's more about a step back, take a beat and think about why the dog might be doing this, because then we can solve the problem or work on the problem. Not every problem can be solved. If a dog is really sore. Sometimes that's just gonna be the way it is. But for us to step back and think about why is this dog behaving this way and let go of some of our emotions about it, let go of some of our ideas.

[00:13:25] If you are enjoying this show, please remember to tell everybody, you know, subscribe or follow, and I wanna remind you that it is available as a podcast and it is also available on YouTube.

[00:13:37] You can watch them as videos and you can watch or listen at creating great grooming dogs.com.

[00:13:44] So as we talk about science-based dog training and separating yourself from some of the knee jerk reactions that we have, , one of the things I wanna point out also is that there's a process and not everyone agrees with that process. Okay? [00:14:00] But I'm gonna present the process that I use. All right, so full disclosure, I'm a positive reinforcement trainer and I'm gonna follow least intrusive minimally aversive, and I'm gonna follow the humane hierarchy because that's what I am firmly believing in.

[00:14:16] But, those are still hotly debated, even amongst trainers who use those because these steps can be kind of gray areas. But I wanna dress here. When we are talking about dog grooming, I do dog training. I do lots of dog training, but the grooming process is a different angle of dog training. 

[00:14:36] If I were working on dogs, , barking at the front window, I might use a wider variety of tools than I do on the grooming table. Dogs, , during grooming have difficulty with grooming because they find it unpleasant, uncomfortable, and or scary. And I'm gonna drill that into your head. Dogs have trouble with dog grooming because they find it unpleasant, uncomfortable, and or scary.

[00:15:03] So what does that mean for us? It means that if we want a dog to be better for groom. We are not likely to get good results if we incorporate more unpleasant, uncomfortable, and scary to try to fix a dog who is finding it unpleasant, uncomfortable, and scary. , that, that, that kind of makes us all feel icky the first time we hear it, doesn't it like, oh, oh, wait a minute.

[00:15:31] Am I adding more unpleasantness? No. Unpleasant. As an example of unpleasant. Even the dog who's super, super. Is finding it unpleasant that they can't just go off and play. That's why they're wiggly. That's why they're a jumbled up, wiggly, goofball mess, and they're, we're having trouble holding them still and trying, having trouble getting the grooming done safely because they're super, super silly.

[00:15:53] That dog is finding it unpleasant because they can't just go off and play. That's a dog with a problem being [00:16:00] impulsive and silly and active and maybe overwhelmed with the distraction level. But it's still unpleasant and a lot of dogs find grooming uncomfortable, and then a lot of dogs find it scary, and it could be a combination of all of three of those things.

[00:16:17] Now let's talk for a moment about punishment and reinforcement. So punishments are things that decrease or end behavior, decrease or end. A punishment isn't necessarily a bad thing. We get, we get a feeling of icky, right? We're like, Ooh, but a punishment works because the dog thinks it's unpleasant, uncomfortable, or scary, and does not want to have that thing happen again.

[00:16:47] They choose to like, Ooh, don't want that to happen again. I don't want that outcome again, so maybe I won't do that thing. Okay. They're unpleasant, uncomfortable, and or scary. That does not mean they're mean. All right. And I really wanna make that clear in the grooming setting. I'm calling this this line here because, We can't teach dogs to calm, comfortable, and cooperative on the grooming table and start thinking the grooming table is safe.

[00:17:16] If we keep incorporating more and more unpleasant, uncomfortable, and or scary on top of a situation that's unpleasant, uncomfortable, and or scary, do you see how it starts to build up? And it just doesn't make sense in this particular realm? Okay, not a judgment call about those of you who are using punishment, you know, like your dog.

[00:17:38] Does something at home. You know what? We can talk about that another time. But this is all about grooming. This is about the grooming process. Cooperative care. Can I touch your foot? Even if you're injured, cooperative care, I need this dog to trust that they're safe with me. Okay, so reinforcement is when we have a behavior that [00:18:00] we want to maintain or increase.

[00:18:03] Maintain, or increase is reinforcement. These terms get used all the time in weird ways. Okay, so this is, this is science-based dog training. Reinforcement is when the behavior maintains or increases, not necessarily that you did something really nice. Okay? Some of the things that we do as groomers, some of the things that we do when we're trying to get a dog to knock it off, and we're holding that foot more and we're telling him no, and that dog is wiggling more and wiggling more.

[00:18:33] Actually, what did it do? Maintained or increased the very behavior we wanted to stop right step back from our emotions and let's look at the result. And when we're doing reinforcement or punishment, we need to think about what is my theory about what's going on and what's my best guest about how this dog is going to respond to what I do next?

[00:19:01] Okay, now you might have heard a positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement. Positive punishment. Negative punishment. So let's dig into that. Positive and negative. Okay. Again, this is a spot where we step back from our emotions. It does not mean lovey dovey or mean. Positive means something added.

[00:19:23] Negative means something subtracted. So if I'm using positive reinforcement, it means I saw a behavior. That I want to maintain or increase and I'm going to add something. So when we add something to maintain or increase the behavior, it's probably something pleasant, maybe tasty, something the dog will like.

[00:19:44] That would be positive reinforcement based training, if and only if actually maintains or increases the behavior. That's the part that I think a lot of us have trouble. Lot of trainers have trouble with that too when we're [00:20:00] first wrapping our heads around this whole idea. So let me give you an example.

[00:20:05] If I see you do something, like, let's say right now you're listening to this podcast and maybe I saw you just write down a couple of notes and I'm thinking, wow, that's great. I want them to do that some more. If I hand you a piece of licorice, did I just, I did positive cause I handed you something. Was that positive reinforcement because you like licorice and will work for licorice?

[00:20:30] Or did I just hand you something that you thought was yucky? Like, Ew, why would she hand me licorice? Are you likely to do the thing again or not? Could I have accidentally used positive punishment? Here's some licorice. I'm not gonna do that again. She's handed me this gunk. Ooh. Um. Licorice is often my example because I think it's a love-hate thing.

[00:20:54] People either love licorice or hate licorice, and there's not much in between. So think about our best idea of what a dog likes and dislikes, why a dog does the things they do, and that's where science-based training comes in. . There are lots of other versions of science-based dog training. There's a lot more to it, right?

[00:21:15] Not everything is, punishments and reinforcements. That's just opera conditioning. That's not even getting into classical conditioning. So there are a lot of things that I think many, many trainers can agree on, and one of those things is, why is the dog doing it? Let's take a look at why. Let's see if we can teach 'em to do something.

[00:21:35] Even if they use methods that are very different than mine. The fact is, , if we all look at the same dog doing the same behavior, we will all come up with slightly different variations of what we think we should do. And some of them will work well, some of them might not, but it doesn't mean that anybody is right or wrong.

[00:21:56] We'll just have to see what happens. . But I think. [00:22:00] Trying to get away from the emotion and really take a look and see why a dog is doing so. Why, , applied behavior analysis. The functional behavior assessment is all about finding those chains. What happens before the behavior, what the behavior is and what happens after.

[00:22:17] Okay. That's a functional behavior assessment. I know now I'm getting a little bit techy, little bit too techy. Chrissy, back it off. But those are two. Find out why a dog is behaving that way. So if we look at something like least intrusive, minimally avers, The humane hierarchy and our first thought and the humane hierarchy is not ad treats.

[00:22:39] It's not Give them a stern. No. The first thought following the humane hierarchy is, is there something going on with this dog and in grooming? I think that's the first thing we should talk about. Is there a physical reason? Dog grooming is different than the dog who's barking at the window or the dog who pulls on.

[00:23:00] Dog grooming is we are up there up against their body, touching them all over doing things that maybe they have a history of being frightened of. It's really important in dog grooming for us to first think, is there a physical problem? If you wanna know more about how to work with me, you can find out more at creating great grooming dogs.com.

[00:23:23] I do work for the whole Pet Grooming Academy. That's whole pet nh.com, where I teach the Master Groomer Behavior Specialist Diploma Program. You can also, if you're interested in that program, master groomer, behavior specialist.com.

This week, we'll talk about what's happening when we say things like "It's almost to the point where I can't get this dog done" and "I just couldn't get this dog done today". These statements tell me quite a bit about what is happening. 

In the first part, we'll talk about pricing. Are "Handling Fees" a good idea? In the second part, we'll talk about physical comfort and anatomy. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/creatinggreatgroomingdogs/message

This week we'll be talking about "Old School" mindsets. Is "old school" thinking making your job harder? Could you be holding on to out dated information without eben knowing it? How can you open yourself to learning new material? 

This week, I'm talking adding training tech talk to what we do in the grooming room. What principles are we using? What is it if it increases or maintains a behavior? What is it if it decreases or lessens a behavior? Why does that matter? 

In the first part, we'll talk about a puppy that I worked with on the grooming table this week. In the second part, we'll talk about the training history of that puppy. 

We're going to discuss what it means to have a behavior reinforced. What exactly is reinforcement? What makes a reward? What links a behavior to a reward? 

In the first part, we'll talk about what flooding is and the 2 possible outcomes. In the second part, we'll talk about why that's helpful to understand. 

This week we're talking about the very first step of any training- Goal Setting. Why do we need a goal?

This week we'll talk about some middle ground between letting a dog go and pushing them through. 

In the first part, we're going to talk about the Crossover Groomer. Making the switch from "Get it done even though the dog has a behavior problem" to "Work on the behavior problem to get it done". It's a big difference. In the second part, we'll talk about some limiting beliefs that may be holding you back. 

Working with dogs is really hard work. How can our worries, and frustrations, or anger affect the dog on our table? And what can we do about it? Find out this week.

This week we're talking about change. When we're talking about dogs who have trouble being groomerd, who have difficulty with the grooming process, that's going to involve some training and training is all about changing how they feel about it and what they need to do.

In part one, we'll talk about the variety of professions and people in the dog world. In part two, we'll talk about helping owners find the right pro and how that helps your business.

What do you do with the really difficult cases? We're going explore that this week. What do you do when a dog is really, really "bad" for grooming when we already know everything about him. We've been grooming him for years and he's just not going to get better. What do you do?

For full transcripts, go to the episode on CreatingGreat GroomingDogs.com

You can also listen to this episode as a podcast on my website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can watch episodes at youtube.com/@creatinggreatgroomingdogs

For more information about my classes, go to MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist.com or go to the Whole Pet Grooming Academy website WholePetNH.com

Want to support the show? Buy Me A Coffee!

In the first part, we'll talk about what the training goal is. You can't reach a goal that you haven't defined. In the second part, we'll talk about how good behavior starts at home. Getting owners playing with and handling their dogs. 

This week we're talking about how to make owners happy. How do we make a living working on dogs with difficulty with grooming? Now, this is very much for the groomers, but this is also for owners to understand where groomers are coming from and for the trainers and for anybody else because our customer service angle in the grooming industry needs to be tweaked and needs to be changed.

My example of a Safety Policy. 

"To provide the highest level of care for your pet, we have a safety policy. If at any time your pet gets nervous, anxious, scared, aggressive, or even overly silly, we slow down and help your pet to be comfortable and calm. It’s very important to us that the pets in our care are kept safe and stress-free. We use sharp tools and need to prevent injuries. We will work with your pet to help them feel comfortable. This will build a great experience for successful groomings for your pet’s lifetime. Your pet may not be groomed to perfection today. We will charge for the time that we spend working with your pet."

Ep183
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[00:00:00] Chrissy: Episode 180 3. This week we're talking about how to make owners happy. How do we make a living working on dogs with difficulty with grooming? Now, this is very much for the groomers, but this is also for owners to understand where groomers are coming from and for the trainers and for anybody else because our customer service angle.

[00:00:19] In the grooming industry needs to be tweaked, needs to be changed. This is the Creating Great Grooming Dog Show. I'm Chrissy Neumyer Smith. I'm a master groomer behavior specialist. I'm a certified professional dog trainer, a certified behavior consultant for canines, a certified professional groomer. I am an instructor at Whole Pet Grooming Academy and I own Happy Critters in Nashua, New Hampshire.

[00:00:40] And this my friends and colleagues is the show. We're grooming and training Meet. Start off with the common story that I hear from groomers. Okay. Because a lot of groomers reach out to me. My Facebook group and my Facebook page haven't been very active because I think that, um, most of the time people just reach out to me directly.

[00:00:58] And that's awesome. That's great guys. If you feel like we're friends, we are. So just go ahead and reach out and I will contact you. But what happens is, this is when I hear a lot is, , he was so bad that by the end he was being really aggressive. What should I do next time? How do I work on a dog like that?

[00:01:15] Now my question is, did you complete the groom? And they're like, well, yes. But by the end he was really getting so much worse. But that is because you keep trying to get the grooming finished. Okay. So I wanna talk about how we can help our owners be happy and understand what we're doing while also helping the dog, because there's a customer service angle that needs to be tweaked just a little bit.

[00:01:44] We are allowing our customers to think, I want this haircut. I'm buying a haircut. Like it's an object on a shelf. You know, you sold that. Guy a haircut, and that's the haircut I want for my dog. So that customer got one and my dog can't, you know, like as if it's [00:02:00] available for purchase. It's just an object.

[00:02:02] Okay? The things that we do are not objects on a shelf. We are selling services. Services are different than an item. Now when we think about it that way, we know as groomers, some dogs are a lot more work than other dogs. Every dog's gonna be a little bit different. Every BK is gonna be a little bit different.

[00:02:23] Maybe those owners brush every day and are very, very good about keeping that dog maintained and others are not. We understand when it's coat issues, but we need to take that into behavior issues. We need to take that information and pull it back. To behavior issues too. The dog, that's a lot more effort to groom because the dog is having trouble being groomed, and unfortunately, if we get stuck in the mindset that we have to get this trim done, we need to get this haircut done, we need this dog to look a certain way.

[00:02:58] That's what our owners are buying, and that's what we are selling. What happens is the behavior ends up getting ignored. Or just worked over. So in the case of he was so bad by the end, you know, like, what do I do next time? By the end, he was being really aggressive. I mean, he was bad from the beginning, but wow.

[00:03:17] By the end, right? That's predictable. He, this dog is literally trying to tell you, I am not comfortable with this. This makes me very, very uncomfortable. And we're saying, uh, sorry dude, your daddy wants a haircut and, okay. I hear you. I've been there. You know, you're like, I, I've gotta get this trim finished.

[00:03:37] I didn't suspect that you were gonna act like this, and your coat is in good shape. And that's what I told your owners when you were in our office, and that's what I thought we were gonna sell you. So we need to step back and go, wait a minute, wait a minute. This dog is not handling this process very well, and this is the customer service angle for us to talk to our owners.

[00:03:59] . Your dog [00:04:00] is not handling this very well. Your dog is not well prepared for our services. Now, grimmer, I want you to make this distinction. We say that when a coat isn't well prepared for our services, right? The dog that's totally, totally matted, and they're like, we just want a bath and a little bit of trimming.

[00:04:18] Can we come back in an hour? And we're like, oh, I'm very, very sorry. That cannot happen because the coat, what's going on with your dog's coat is not gonna allow us to do this in an hour. Even if maybe another dog could have a quick bath and brush out and dry in an hour, your dog cannot because your dog's coat condition.

[00:04:37] We need to do that with behavior. Groomers we're used to saying no. We're used to telling people that they can't get what they wanted today and how to get them on the right track. So if we think about it that way, now we can say your dog's behavior, he is not ready for this. If your dog panics when the dryer is on, your dog cannot be fluff dried.

[00:04:59] Yet. Yet there is training we can do, and that's why we need to talk about this. As an industry, we need to talk about this, but also we need to talk about this with our owners. I would like very much for your dog to go home in a beautiful trim, but your dog's not well prepared for our services today. Your dog doesn't understand what's happening.

[00:05:21] Your dog finds this difficult. Your dog finds this scary. Your dog finds everything we're doing, very threatening, and I think that a lot of the time we think aggression. A dog who's being very forward, very direct with us and hard eye and air snaps and stuff. , we think of that as a dog who's very, very brave.

[00:05:39] But that's a dog who, while they might be being brave, is being brave because they feel they're being threatened, they are uncomfortable with what is happening. So at its core, it is still fear. We need to teach these dogs to trust us and to feel comfortable so that we can continue to work with them throughout their whole life.

[00:05:58] So if we talk to our owners saying, [00:06:00] your dog is finding this really difficult, have you done anything at home to prepare him? , have you worked on anything? Let's talk about what's happening at home, or how are things going at home? And I'm gonna say here, Non-G groomers don't understand what groomers do.

[00:06:14] Everybody in the world thinks they know what groomers do, but if you're not a groomer, probably have some gaps in your knowledge, even if you have groomed your own dogs for years, all five dogs in your lifetime, you have gaps in your knowledge. But the same is true for dog trainers. Non dog trainers have no idea what dog trainers do.

[00:06:33] So when we meet in the middle, we have to think about how we can help this dog. Be comfortable with the things that are going to have to happen. And I'll tell you, like I said, non trainers, like every Tom, Dick and Harry, who's taught a dog to sit, thinks they're a dog trainer. And I'm sorry you're not .

[00:06:53] You're not. , but the thing is, is that trainers, if they don't know what a dog needs to know how to do, They might be preparing them for things that really don't apply to the grooming setting. And so groomers get frustrated with trainers. Now trainers, trainers are thinking, well, if the groomer's just gonna force this dog through the whole grooming, Then this dog is going to get worse because yes, that's often what happens.

[00:07:20] It is. But they don't know that groomers are trying to get a trim done because groomers feel pressured to sell haircuts and pretty looking dog grooming. And I need groomers to think about that for a minute. Like, okay, wait a minute. This dog is literally telling me, please stop back off. I'm not comfortable with this.

[00:07:41] This makes me really, really scared. , I'm gonna have to keep air snapping or twirling or screaming or whatever it is they're doing, and it's going to accelerate. We should not be surprised when by the end that dog is much, much worse. That's not a surprise. That is. Exactly what we should be expecting [00:08:00] and to think that this dog is going to be worse than next time.

[00:08:04] Okay? Pushing dogs past what they can handle does not help them be better the next time. We have to think not just about today's grooming, but we have to think about next time. Now, the other part about that is what should I do next time and , when groomers ask me that, what do I do next time?

[00:08:23] What I tell them is we have to go back. We have to circle back to the beginning. We have to help this dog feel calm, comfortable, and cooperative. We're gonna have to set up some sessions that do not focus in on how beautiful this trim is, and we need to talk to our owners about it. I would love for him to look perfect, but frankly, if he's trying to bite at me, I cannot get his face beautiful.

[00:08:49] We need to teach him to trust us and to let us put our tools on him. Owners do not understand the safety part. Think about that for a minute. I think a lot of non groomers do not understand the safety part. I've had people say, how could a dog get nicked during grooming? I'm like, you work with dogs for a living?

[00:09:09] Have you ever tried putting something sharp? Next to an ear or a toe while they're wiggling around, of course accidents happen. We're using sharp things, and they all say, why would you use something sharp? Wow, guys, if you're not a groomer, let me, let me tell you right now, if it's not sharp, it won't cut hair.

[00:09:33] It doesn't trim nails, right? I mean, a grinder, grinds nails, but a nail trimmer needs to be sharp. Scissors need to be sharp. Clippers are sharp. Pretty much everything we put on your dog could injure your dog. If your dog bites down hard on a comb, that metal comb is gonna do some damage bites down hard on a brush.

[00:09:50] Yep. They can rip their tongue open. There are a lot of ways that a dog who is not handling this well. Can hurt themselves. And as groomers, we need to [00:10:00] remember that there's a safety portion to this for us to tell owners, I want your dog to get a beautiful trim. Oh, I love beautiful trims, but your dog is not well prepared for that.

[00:10:12] And we need to help them prepare for that. We need to help them trust us and use our tools, and use our tools in the way that will help them have a beautiful trim, if that's what that dog needs. But even the, the regular bath and brush out. A lot of our dogs, if you think about like the labs, okay, as an example, labs don't get a whole lot of trimming, but they get a lot of de shedding and so much of that is done with our high velocity dryer, which is noisy.

[00:10:40] A lot of dogs have some issues with the high velocity dryer. There's a learning curve before they feel comfortable with letting us de shed them with a big dryer. So there are lots of things that dogs need better preparing. To be able to do so if we get away from this idea that we're selling a haircut.

[00:10:58] If you think you're selling a haircut, please send one to me. I would like to have two border collies groomed. You can ship that to Nashua and New Hampshire. I will give you my information. If you can ship it , we'll talk that's the difference between a service and an item, and we need to help our owners understand that.

[00:11:18] This isn't a catalog sale where they can like point and say, that's the haircut I want and I want this style head and this style tail on this dog. No matter what. This is exactly what I'm going to get. We as groomers know that it's more complicated than that, but people who are not groomers do not know.

[00:11:37] We need to really spell it out. If you're enjoying this show, please remember to follow or subscribe, tell all your grooming friends and , reach out and let me know. I would love to get some reviews. Hey, if you don't ask, they won't do it. I would love some reviews. Make 'em five stars, if you will. Thank you.

[00:11:54] So how do we talk to our owners , about this issue? So really I [00:12:00] want you to think about every owner is gonna be a little bit different, and when we talk to an owner, that's our opportunity to say, you know, Hey, before we book anything, I wanna talk to you about safety. About safety. When we explain that this is about safety, this is about keeping their dogs safe.

[00:12:20] This is about treating their dog gently, keeping their dog safe, helping their dog learn to be good for their 15 years of grooming. And at any age, a dog can learn to be better for it. In fact, , I'm gonna be so bold here as to say, I know it's very, very bold, but in my opinion and in my experience, this is true over and over and over again, a healthy dog can be taught to be a safe dog.

[00:12:44] Maybe they will never enjoy grooming and they will never like grooming. I'm, I mean, my dentist is wonderful, but I don't like to go, you know, my doctor's wonderful. I don't like doctor's appointments. If you think about dog grooming, is this like, oh man, I have to, but we can teach them to be safe.

[00:13:02] We can teach them to trust us. We can teach them to be safe with all of our tools, and that will last a lifetime. Teaching a dog to trust us and that this is safe will last their lifetime. Later on, when they start having hip problems and shoulder problems, or , arthritis in their toes, they do not go back to trying to bite us.

[00:13:24] If we do the homework now, if we see the problem we have today, today, and address it now, not at the end of a screaming, flailing two hour groom. . It's not okay. It's not okay. And I'm not saying that to be mean. I've been there, I have done that. I have forced dogs through a trim because I just didn't know.

[00:13:48] I didn't know. But here's the thing, if we can teach them to be good, doesn't it make a lot of sense to spend the time teaching them to be good, to calm them down, [00:14:00] calm, comfortable, cooperative, Izzy, calm. Then how can I return him to calm before I move on? , does he seem uncomfortable? Okay. Is it uncomfortable 

[00:14:09] with the tool? Is it uncomfortable with the noise? , is he physically uncomfortable? Is he having trouble standing? , does he have, problems with his teeth? , are my tools causing discomfort because of an injury that this dog has or a health problem that this dog has? How can I help this dog be more comfortable?

[00:14:27] When faced with a behavior problem or something that we don't want, I want you to think, can I make this dog calmer? Can I help this dog be comfortable? And is this dog being cooperative? And cooperative takes two. It's not calm, comfortable, and obedient. It's calm, comfortable, and cooperative. Will this dog work with me and can I work with this dog and helping them have a better experience?

[00:14:54] And if that means. I do some modified trims that maybe don't look beautiful. That's okay. Everybody take a deep breath. What? But my trims need to be gorgeous. Somebody's gonna call, someone's gonna get upset, or their neighbors are gonna see the dog. Or a dog's gonna leave my shop and he is gonna be a little bit lopsided.

[00:15:12] Or take a deep breath. Take a deep breath. That dog isn't well prepared for our services. That dog is very likely to get hurt, behavior problems are when dogs get hurt. People get hurt, and equipment gets broken. You lose money forcing trims on behavior problems. You will lose money. Maybe you haven't yet, but you will.

[00:15:35] Okay? The day after an injury is the day you're gonna be like, why did I push that dog through that trim? It was never ever worth it. It was never worth it. if you have to bring a customer's dog to the vet, all right, that could be a couple hundred dollars. Now I have business insurance, but I believe my deductible is 500.

[00:15:59] So out of [00:16:00] pocket I could be paying a lot more than that. Groom was out of pocket paying vet bills with an owner who is furious. Okay, let's also talk about that. If owners don't know that there's a safety portion to this, they will be incredibly upset that their dog got hurt, especially oh, especially if you've been giving them a handling fee.

[00:16:25] And we're gonna talk about that for a minute cuz I came up in a recent discussion with one of my students. Handling fees are interesting. Handling fee implies that they can just pay more money and have it done. Yeah, think about that. Well, I paid the handling fee. I pay her $5 extra and she nipped my dog.

[00:16:46] Ooh, , but I want you to think about from an owner's point of view, they think it's an upsell because he's more work. They do not understand that it's because he is dangerous, because someone could get hurt because their dog could get hurt or a groomer could get hurt. They do not know.

[00:17:04] They will be furious. And they think that they can just buy the service, an upsell, right? Like it's a box on a shelf and we need to make it much more clear. There are additional fees for handling dogs with behavior issues because they take a lot more time. Okay. If you, if you label it a handling fee, there are plenty of people, and we all know them who already have the check written out.

[00:17:32] I, I mean, who even uses checks anymore except for the people who wanna make sure that they don't have to pay any more. , in case you guys didn't know, that's a definite thing where it's like, oh wait, but if I bring my card, Then I can't say, oh, I already wrote out the check. I mean, it's, it's this much plus the $10 handling fee, right?

[00:17:51] Sorry, I already wrote out my check. . They're just gonna think it's a purchase. They will not understand that the training problem is real, [00:18:00] that their dog is having trouble, their dog could get hurt, or that there's a solution set. So basically what happens is you end up with a dog that is bad like this and has trouble with this.

[00:18:12] For their entire life. Owner's not working on it. Don't care. Mm-hmm. And then what happens? Now, let's play this out too. We've all heard it. Then what happens? You know, he's just getting so bad that I can't do it anymore. I think it's time to bring him to the vet for sedation grooming. . Or bring him to a vet groomer.

[00:18:32] guys, I wanna tell you, there is no veterinarian on the planet who is going to sedate that dog as if for surgery every four to six weeks for their regular grooming. That behavior problem needs to be worked on. That's not the way it works. It's gonna go, oh, well, we have this magical way of doing it.

[00:18:51] Okay? This problem needs to be worked on. So if we talk to our owners and say, this is a problem that needs to be worked on, and. Forcing your dog through is not gonna solve it. Putting beautiful haircuts on dogs who are thrashing and screaming and biting and air snapping is never going to solve the behavior issue.

[00:19:15] Take that in. That's one of the very few, always and nevers. Okay. Have you ever seen a dog who decided at the end, oh, well that was bad and everything's gonna be fine. Okay. And I know, I know I sound a little cheeky when I say it that way, but think about it. How often do we have a dog who looks like he's just like, hello?

[00:19:37] Oh, well that's bad. Thanks. , for pushing me through it, you know, while I screamed and sprayed my anal glands and alligator rolled and I'll be great next time. It never happens. It doesn't happen that way. , if you had an owner who every time they touched their dog's face, the dog tried to bite at them and they did it a lot and they kept doing it all the time, what would [00:20:00] we tell them?

[00:20:01] What would we tell them? We tell them, stop teasing your dog. You need to do some training. He needs to be comfortable with you touching his face. Yet when he goes to the groomer, they're expecting us to magically be able to take care of that, right? A lot of these dogs have trouble outside of grooming.

[00:20:18] There are times when we need to talk to trainers, so send your trainer friends to this podcast. Absolutely. Send your owners to this podcast, everything I say on this podcast. Is for owners, for trainers, for other pet professionals. I'm trying to be, , open-minded about everybody's opinions, ? But I'll tell you what, as somebody who works with a lot of behavior cases and people come to me from their behavior cases, here's another fact that I think a lot of groomers don't think about.

[00:20:45] A lot of owners really feel lied to if you never told them their dog had problems until that day when you're like, we just can't get it done anymore. Tell them. A lot of them are like, wait, has this been going on all along? Oh yeah, he's always been bad for this, but now we can't get it done anymore. And they're like, what?

[00:21:04] What happened? Why didn't you ever tell me? Why didn't you ever tell me? And it's something I hear a lot of, we need to feel more comfortable talking to owners about. You know, your dog's not having a good time. Your dog is finding this frightening. Your dog is finding this uncomfortable. We need to get down to the bottom of this and help teach him to be good for grooming.

[00:21:26] And, I know I'm wrapping this up now, it's been in my 20 minutes, but, , if you go to creating great grooming dogs.com. , I have the safety policy written out. You can use that if you'd like. You can change it up. It's not a contract, but it is a way to explain to owners that behavior problems are safety problems and that this is how I do business.

[00:21:47] This is how I handle behavior problems when they come up, and how you will be charged because in fairness, You know whether the trim gets finished or not, I will be paid for my time. We're not here to lose money. Working on dogs with behavior [00:22:00] problems, you need to feel more comfortable with saying, I charge for my time, and to bring it up before we see a problem.

[00:22:07] Bring it up before the problem comes up. Or if you've had a dog for a long time that has always had problems, that's harder. But you can say, you know what? I just learned something new and I really wanna try this with your dog because he's not getting better. Things we've tried already have not helped this dog yet better, and we need to help him get better because, um, I saw a video of a dog who died during a nail trim, 

[00:22:29] Go ahead and cite that video. Have you guys all seen the video? . There's a video online of a dog dying during a nail trim. , because he was muzzled and they thought he was just flailing around because of his feet and he choked out. Things happen. Things happen so we can talk to our owners and say, this is the way I do business.

[00:22:48] This is what I'm gonna do. I am not going to force your dog through that trim. We can say no, just like we don't put haircuts over mats. We need to stop putting grooming over behavior problems because we can fix behavior problems. We sure can. So if you enjoyed the show, please remember, subscribe, follow.

[00:23:08] If you want more information, you can find more information about me at creating great grooming dogs.com. , I'm also teaching the Master Groomer Behavior Specialist Program at Whole Pet Grooming Academy. That's whole pet nh.com. And if you wanna know more about Master Groomer Behavior Specialists, master groomer behavior specialist.com and come find me if you are interested in learning more about my classes.

Working with behavior cases should not be frustrating. If you are frustrated working on behavior cases or working with dogs and pets who have difficulty with grooming, we will troubleshoot that this week.

For full transcripts, go to the audio episode on CreatingGreat GroomingDogs.com

You can also listen to this episode as a podcast on my website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can watch episodes at youtube.com/@creatinggreatgroomingdogs

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In the first part, we'll discuss what we would do if were "in crazy land" and wanted to teach dogs to be aggressive for grooming and vet visits. What would we do if we "wanted" dogs to struggle and wiggle against us? In the second part, we talk about avoiding tunnel vision and thinking about the bigger picture.