How We Handle Nervous Nellies

Not every dog loves leaving the comfort of their home to come see the groomers. Sometimes, these dogs don’t like to leave the comfort of their homes for anything! While we all picture a happy-go-lucky, head-out-the-window, tongue-flapping-in-the-breeze dog when we think of taking our canine companions on a road trip, this isn’t always the case. (I live with two dogs who hate the ride but love the destination! Go figure!)

Nervous dogs exist. Some are nervous to the point of needing meds to help them through their daily lives while their people work with them to accept the world around them. Others can just be a little anxious when things change. All Nervous Nellies deserve a little extra kindness and understanding, which we definitely provide!

Most dogs will act like a nervous wreck when they walk into the salon. They are in a place they have a serious love/hate relationship with. They love seeing the groomers. They love the extra attention they get. They love how they feel afterwards. But then there is the bath, the kennel, the dryer, and the actual haircut process that they might not care for as much. Don’t even talk to them about nail clips! It is not uncommon for your pets to shake, shiver, and hide behind you when you drop them off. They play it up for their parents! They make it look like this is the most horrible place you possibly could have brought them too, maybe even worse than the V-E-T! However, as soon as you leave, most dogs will do a complete 180. They whine and cry as you walk out and down the steps. As soon as you are out of sight, the fussing stops, they turn to look at us, and they say “Hey! Hi! How are you?! I missed you!”

There is a small group of dogs who don’t have this turn around though. They might not fuss quite as much as when you are in the lobby, but they still act quite nervous even though they have been in to see us a dozen times. What do we do with these Nervous Nellies?

Well, we treat them much the same as we do every other dog! Nervous dogs need to learn to have confidence in themselves and in the world around them. Many times a nervous dog is not one that has been abused or had a bad experience with a groomer in the past. It is a dog who has been under-socialized. They didn’t get key experiences at the right times during their development. Or it could be that they suffer from chronic anxiety and depression just the same as many humans do. By not coddling them, cooing at them, and baby talking them, we can slowly start to help them know that grooming is no big deal!

Wait. Why no baby talk and extra cuddles? Isn’t that going to help the dog feel more secure?

Yes and no. There is no hard and fast answer. For some dogs, and extra snuggle will make them feel safe and sheltered. Other dogs will feel restricted and trapped. High pitched baby talk can have a similar effect. Some dogs will react positively because it is something they are used to at home and associate with good things. Others might associate high voices with small children which might make them even more nervous. Some dogs will also view this sort of treatment as a positive reward for acting fearful. They shake, they get extra attention. They cry and jump at their mom’s ankles, they get picked up and snuggled. Dogs are incredibly smart and can very easily manipulate humans into giving them what they want! While it is not entirely possible to reinforce the fear the dog might be feeling (rewarding fear does not make for a more fearful dog), rewarding the behaviors does mean that the dog will likely continue showing them!

Nervous dogs will always be handled with care and consideration. If they react in a truly nervous manner to anything such as the clippers being turned on, their feet being picked up, or even the grooming loops being put over their head, we step back and modify what we are doing. Nellie hit the roof when we turned on the clippers? We turn them off, distract her with a few pets and ear rubs, then turn the clippers on further away while also giving her positive attention. Now the clipper noise can be associated with good things like ear scratches! We might turn the clippers off and let Nellie sniff them, showing her that there is nothing to be scared of before moving them away and turning them on again. After a few repeats, most dogs will figure out that there is nothing to worry about. If Nellie tries to yank her paws away from us, we hold them gently while talking softly to her. We rub and massage her paw. As soon as she stops pulling, we let go and tell her she is a good girl. We don’t want to teach her that yanking away fearfully is going to give her what she wants. We want her to know that calm behavior is better! If putting her head through the loops causes her to panic, we will pick her up for a moment until she calms down and then put the loop over her while we hold her. She gets the reassurance she needs while we can put on the needed equipment to keep her safe.

Things like the bath and dryer can be hard for even the most well adjusted dogs. Being nervous by nature, Nellie is likely to have problems with one or both of them! We adjust the water temperature, pressure, and sprayer settings until we find something she will tolerate. It could be the shower setting and warmer water or the soaker setting with cooler water. If it takes an extra minute to rinse her because she doesn’t like higher water pressure, so be it. We can always start low and raise the pressure slowly until it is at a rate that makes it quicker and easier to wash her coat. Nerves for the dryer can be reduced by placing cotton balls in her ears, wrapping her head in a happy hoodie, using only one dryer engine, or just not using the dryer at all! While the high velocity dryer makes drying faster and makes the final groom look better, if Nellie is that nervous and fearful about it, we will just skip that step. We can let her dry in a kennel with a fan or kennel dryer and then fluff her up with our smaller stand dryer before her final cut.

Speaking of kennels, what if Nellie hates to be kenneled? What do we do then? Again, there are a few options we will try. First of all, we have two main types of kennels we use. One is the kennel bank which has solid sides, top, and back with a wire grate floor. These kennels have wire front doors so the dogs can see out but not to the sides and back. Some dogs prefer these as they feel safer and more secure in a “den.” The second type of kennel we have is wire crates. These are the crates with a solid tray on the bottom but open wire sides and tops. Some dogs feel better about being able to see all around them so they know what is going on. If we put Nellie in a wire kennel and she panics, we might try placing her in the kennel bank just to see if she feels better. Some dogs like to have a towel to sit on. We can arrange that too. If neither of those options work, depending on the day, we can try placing her in an exercise pen in the grooming area with us. This is made from just wire panels. It is larger than a kennel and has not top on it. Some dogs like it. Some dogs don’t because they are still enclosed. If none of these options work, we will talk to you about doing an express type groom where we groom Nellie straight through without stopping. This type of groom only works if she accepts either the HV dryer or the stand dryer though!

A nervous dog might also benefit from being groomed on a quieter day. While we cannot ever guarantee what days will be quiet and which days won’t, we can at least make more of an effort to not book dogs we know to be barkers on days with dogs we know to be nervous. In other words, we will make an effort to try! If Nellie’s appointments are pre-booked, it will be even easier to control who is there with her. She might benefit from being the first dog of the day or one of the last. We will always make the effort to figure out what works best for her!

While we modify our techniques for each dog, we will always make an extra effort for nervous dogs. We want them to know that the grooming salon is nothing to be worried about. They might take a little extra time, require a few extra breaks, or even require frequent, short visits to get used to it all, but we will always make every effort to help them feel happy and confident through the entire process!

No Sedated Dogs!

We have all heard of That Dog. The one that maybe lives next door and never has a very pretty hair cut. The one that gets way too long before being shaved way down. The one that screams bloody murder for being brushed. The one that turns into Cujo when it’s nails or feet are touched. That dog that has been kicked out of every salon in the area and now must go to their vet twice a year for a fully sedated groom. We might have thoughts like “Well the groomer clearly didn’t try hard enough,” “All dogs can be trained!,” or “You just need to find the right groomer!”

The truth is that by the time a dog is to the point of a sedated groom, the groomers have tried many, many, many times. They have tried different times, different techniques, different frequencies for grooming. They have tried using different tools. They have tried getting assistance. They have tried grooming when there are no other dogs in the salon. They have tried having their coworker groom the dog since sometimes dogs and people just don’t click for many reasons. If they are a good groomer, they have likely tired more things than you can think of trying to gain this dog’s trust and find that one magical key to getting them groomed. And while most dogs can indeed be retrained for grooming with time and patience, many will also need a little extra medical help in order to get there. That is where sedation comes in.

“Sedation” can be anything from a mood altering medication like Prozac to help lessen anxiety to Trazadone which, while it is an antidepressant, has the benefit of making dogs sleepy, to Acepromazine which can tranquilize an animal for 6-8 hours. Sedation can even include full anesthesia at the veterinarian’s office. It all depends on the dog. A dog who is just scared might benefit from the Prozac or Trazadone. A dog who is full on aggressive might need the Acepromazine or full anesthesia.

At TLC Pet Services, we have decided that we will not groom any dogs who take any prescribed medications for the sole purpose of grooming. If your dog takes Prozac on a daily basis for general anxiety, that is acceptable since you are likely to already know any possible side affects and can let us know about them. If your dog takes Tramadol for pain and they end up sleepy, we don’t want you to not give it, but we might ask you to ask your vet about changing the dose on a groom day to avoid the sleepies. Daily medications, even if they are or can be used for the purposes of altering moods and sedation, are okay as long as you let us know what they take, when they often take it, and any side affects you have noticed. We don’t want anyone skipping daily meds just to get groomed after all!

The reason we do not groom sedated dogs is safety. While many, many groomers out there will groom sedated dogs, the risks often far outweigh the benefits. Every dog reacts differently to drugs. Some dogs will seem sleepy and woozy but then snap and become extra violent, lashing out without giving any warning signs. They might loose any bite inhibition they have, resulting in worse injuries for the groomer or even for themselves. Some dogs will fight through the sedative, causing the unpredictable behaviors. They might suddenly start thrashing around, trying to escape from the grooming loops and table, resulting in injuries to themselves and their groomers. There are heavier sedatives out there that might be prescribed if others have not worked. These can cause the dog to be completely aware of what is going on but be unable to react to the stimuli. How scary would it be for you if you were terrified of a vacuum cleaner and someone then gave you a drug, waited for it to kick in, then started vacuuming around you? You are 100% aware of the noise and the sensation. You are still terrified. But, you can’t do anything about it. You are not likely to react well next time someone brings a vacuum near you while you aren’t sedated!

Without professionally trained staff and equipment to monitor even lightly sedated dogs, we will have no way of knowing if your dog is staggering on the table because the medication is working or if it is because they are experiencing a medical emergency. The signs of a heart attack, seizure, or breathing problem might be reduced or not even present because the sedative is masking them. By the time the signs are clear, it might be too late for your pet. Even if we are fortunate to see the signs early on, we still have to rush your dog from the salon, to our cars, and then to the nearest vet who can help us. It will take a minimum of 5 minutes to get to the vet. Those 5 minutes could mean the difference between a healthy recovery and one with complications or even the death of the pet.

Even if your pet does not experience a medical emergency under sedation (which is most likely to be the case), their behavior can be a challenge. A sedated dog is a wobbly dog. They sway and stagger. They might randomly fall over. They move unpredictably. It is much more likely that your dogs is going to step into our clippers or shears and receive an accidental nick or cut. They might end up with bumps and bruises from accidentally staggering toward the edge of the table and stepping off. It is much, much harder to achieve a decent groom on a head that is always lolling to one side or the other. It is also much, much more dangerous to groom a lolling head as an eye might suddenly be where the shears are supposed to be!

So what should you do if your pet needs sedation for a groom? Talk to your vet! Not every office will provide sedated grooming but they will likely know which offices in the area do. Depending on how bad the dog is for grooming, some vets will provide fully sedated shave downs even if they do not provide regular grooming services. They are not pretty grooms but they are functional!

We never want to reach a point where we have to dismiss your dog from our salon. It causes us as much distress as it causes you! However, if we ever tell you that you need to talk to your vet about a sedated groom, please remember that we have your pet’s best interest at heart. We want them to be safe and happy. We hope that with time, effort, and retraining, they can reach a point where they can come back to see us in the future!

Meet Glacier!

Every now and then, a groomer will run into a dog they just have to help. It could be a dog that has been severely neglected and needs relief from their impacted, matted coat. It could be a dog that struggles with trusting the process. It could be a dog who has been handled roughly and despises everything about groomers and grooming. But there is a spark. There is a need. We have to help this dog no matter what. Many times, these types of dogs will do best when they stay with one certain groomer so they can develop a bond. That bond helps to create trust. Grooming is all about trust between the dog and their groomer.

 

Glacier is one of those dogs. This handsome boy has been one of Stacey’s friends for many years. They met at a corporate store back when Glacier was just a youngster. He was not a fan of his grooming! Some of the groomers were not fans of Glacier! He acted out in typical husky fashion but Stacey could tell that he was just a scared, frustrated dog who needed someone to trust. She could also tell that the corporate environment with the rush, rush, rush attitude, constant noise, and ever changing bathers were only setting him on edge. This was a dog who needed to take his time for grooming. He needed a quiet, calmer environment with a single person so he could learn to trust the process.

It didn’t take long for Glacier to be dismissed from the corporate environment. Stacey knew she had to do something for him. As a life-long husky owner herself, she knew the importance of keeping him groomed, even if he didn’t appreciate it! So she talked to his owners. She explained that she would be happy to try grooming him at her house if they were willing to drive him out there. As you can guess, they agreed.

Stacey and Glacier began forming a trusting bond. She slowly taught him that grooming is nothing to be scared of. They developed a firm routine which helps him know exactly what is happening and when. Knowing what to expect is so very important for many dogs! He went from acting out because he didn’t know what was going on to actually being excited for his sessions!
Glacier now knows that he will be visiting Aunt Stacey and her pack of dogs. When he arrives at her home, he gets to play in the backyard with his friends Jack, Sophie, Tiberius, and Lucky. After play time, he goes inside for his bath, blow out, brushing, and nail trim. He might sing the songs of his people as huskies tend to do, but he knows exactly what is coming next. Glacier even holds his paws out for his nail grinding! He trusts Stacey that much! Weather pending, he might get to play with his friends some more while he waits for his mom and dad to pick him up!

Glacier’s story perfectly illustrates why we do what we do at TLC. Even though he does not come into our salon (he would not be happy to give up his play time with his friends!), he shows exactly why all dogs need a steady, predictable routine in an environment tailored to their needs with a groomer who is willing to do whatever it takes to make them comfortable.