Grooming Puppies

I know so many groomers that hate grooming puppies. I love them as they are the easiest to talk into letting you do just about anything. The key here is positive and negative reinforcement. This also works with dogs that don't like their legs/feet messed with or anything else for that matter. Most anyone (owner or groomer) will say "no", "stop it", "quit it", etc....just over and over. A dog already knows that those words are associated with negativity...so they react as such, pulling even harder, getting more scared. Now, if you change those words to POSITIVE words, like "good boy/girl", or "it's ok", you automatically put those words in a nicer voice (baby talk) instead of the gruff "NO". They respond by relaxing. They are JUST like human children in that if they think they are doing something that pleases you, they will continue to do it. Ever see a child fall down and you laugh? What do they do? They will do it again and again...because you gave them POSITIVE reinforcement (something they like)...the laugh and attention. They will continue to do it until you stop paying attention. Puppies are the exact same way. I have only been grooming a year and a half, but since I have started doing this, my hard puppies/difficult dogs have gone down to 0%.

Wendy Delrie
The Schnauzer Shop
Tyler, TX