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As a pet owner, you want a lot for your furry friend. You want them to be happy, healthy and of course, to look and feel good! As part of their care regime, you bring them to the groomer, hopefully, on a regular basis.
After becoming a groomer, I realized that a lot of the things I would do myself as a pet owner were actually making my dog’s grooming experience more stressful than it needed to be, OR giving my groomer an impossible task.
Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. Yes, I’m a groomer, but i’m also a pet owner, and a pretty paranoid one at that. (I have cameras in my home to watch my pets when i’m not there…yup…I’m that person.)
It’s a fine line; we want your pet to have a stress-free grooming experience, and we would love your cooperation to make it a success, but we don’t want to hurt your feelings or insult you as a pet owner. With that in mind, I’ve decided to go ahead and talk about a few things most groomers would love you to know. These are things that I wish someone had told me, since I’m guilty of almost all of them.
1. Don’t wait until your pet is older
Your puppy or kitten’s first grooming experiences are essential! They pave the foundation for all future groomer appointments. Don’t wait until they are older to bring them in. It doesn’t matter if their fur isn’t in need of a cut, or their nails are still short. The first few grooming appointments shouldn’t be about that. They should be a fun, but short experience for your new friend. A way to introduce them to the new environment, sounds and smells.
The younger your puppy or kitten, the easier they will adapt. Don’t wait until they are 6 months old. If they have all their vaccines, it’s time for their first grooming appointment.
Rule of thumb: by the time they are 16 weeks old, they should have at least 1 grooming experience.
2. Relax
Easier said than done, I know. But try to remember that your pet looks to you to know how to react. If you drop them off and you act anxious and worried and give them a million kisses goodbye, chances are, they will pick up on that and think there is something to be worried about. It can be hard to leave your pet somewhere, trust me, I understand that. If you act calm and drop your pet off without too much fuss, chances are they will start to adapt to the process quicker and will be less stressed during their grooming.
3. You can stay… but you probably shouldn’t
You hand your pet’s leash over…and they’re whining, jumping, barking…anything to get back to you. You feel awful. Obviously your pet needs you to stay and comfort them right? Well…. not really. The fact is, pets act significantly worse when their owners are around. It is very hard to work on a dog that is jumping and scrambling to get to their owners across the room. It can be especially difficult to work on a pet when their owners insist on “helping” and “comforting” their pet during their grooming.
Trust me when I say that most pets start to relax as soon as their owner leaves. Don’t believe me? Ask your groomer to take photos or short video clips during their grooming. This way, you can ensure that they are okay, while also giving your pet the chance to relax and adapt to being groomed.
Still want to stay? Don’t give in to your pet’s anxiety. Let your groomer do their job, and try not to interfere by “comforting” your pet. And last but not least, don’t judge your groomer because your pet is anxious during grooming. Try to remember that your pet will more than likely be 100 times calmer when you are not in the room.
4. Don’t hide your pet’s past
You may want your pet to have a clean slate when bringing them to a new groomer. Whatever your reasons are, please understand that a good groomer will not judge your pet by their past actions. Have they bitten other groomers or animals? Tell your new groomer. Have other groomers told you about the difficulties they’ve had with your pet? Tell your new groomer. Allergies? Injuries? Medical issues? Make sure your groomer knows it all. Don’t worry, it doesn’t mean that we will muzzle your pet as soon as they walk through the door, label them aggressive and charge you extra for it. The more we know about your pet, the better we’ll be able to adapt the grooming appointment to their needs.
5. Be realistic
Everyone wants a fluffy pet with a perfect haircut. Your groomer will do their best to achieve the style you want, however, let’s be realistic. If you bring your dog to the groomer expecting a long haired, fluffy puppy cut when you get back, you should be ready to put in the work beforehand. The hair style they will have after their grooming will match the effort you put into maintaining their coat at home. If you brush and comb your pet properly and regularly, there should be no limit to the hair styles your groomer can achieve! However, if you pick up a brush once a month and only fluff the top of their fur, please understand that there will be limitations to the hair styles that can be achieved. Chances are, their hair will need to be clipped short. Don’t worry, it’s just hair. It’ll grow back, and if you have your heart set on that fluffy longer hair style, ask your groomer about proper at home brushing and combing so they can achieve the look next time!
*Stay tuned; one of our future blog posts will cover proper at home grooming.
6. Be specific
If we don’t know what you want, you won’t get what you want. If you want something specific, make sure we know it. Tell us the length of fur you want, the shape of ears/tail etc. Bring us photos and/or sketches. We’ll tell you if it’s possible and do our best to get it right! If we don’t get it right the first time, don’t be shy to tell us what you’d like different the next time. Trust me, a groomer wants to make their customers happy. We won’t mind you telling us what you’d like done differently. We won’t take it as criticism. We just want to make sure we get it right.
That being said; understand that not all looks can be achieved on all coats. For example, your poodles curly fluffy fur will likely never be as straight and silky as a yorkshire terrier’s and no matter what we do, if your dog has floppy ears, there’s not much we can do to make them stand upright. As long as your expectations are realistic, and you voice what you want, you’ll probably get it.
7. Matted fur is more than just a few knots
Your pet’s fur got away from you! It’s happened to the best of us….yes..even us groomers. I’ve had to take my dog’s hair short on multiple occasions after putting off brushing for too long. It happens. Bring your pet for a grooming appointment as soon as possible to avoid those small knots from getting worse. Heavily matted fur is no joke. It can be very painful and cause more serious issues for your beloved pet. It pulls on their skin and can be uncomfortable and painful to be removed. Their skin can become irritated and infected. As the matts get worse over time, they restrict your pets movement, tighten around their skin and limbs and can even cut off their circulation.
Don’t try to remove these types of matts at home. They are too close to the skin, and you can seriously injure your pet without proper training.
Be prepared; if your pet has a lot of knots or is heavily matted, your groomer will most likely have to shave your pet’s fur very short and there skin will probably be irritated.
If this has happened to you, don’t be embarrassed. Like I said, it’s happened to the best of us, and most people don’t realize how bad their pet’s fur has gotten because it can still look pretty fluffy. Ask your groomer what you can do to avoid it in the future.
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As I mentioned, I’ve done almost all of these things myself, but was never told by anyone that I could have been making my dog’s time at the groomer better by changing a few of my habits, so I hope this helps some doggy or kitty’s future grooming experience!
Stay tuned for our next blog post, coming out soon!
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