Creating Great Grooming Dogs

Why can it be so much harder when it's your own dog? What makes it so different? There are some extra steps that we need to take when it's our own dogs. We have some blind spots, and sometimes, we get in our own way. We're going to explore some of those blind spots this week. 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!

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!

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 incredible Stephanie Zikmann from The Holistic Grooming Academy! She is  the renowned author of "The Magic of Holistic Grooming" and "A Teacher's Guide to Low-Stress Grooming." holisticgroomingacademy.com For more info about Stephanie go to holisticgroomingacademy.com 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

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!

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!

Episode 190 Warnings and Bites. What is the difference between a dog giving you a warning and a dog trying to hurt you? I don't want you to think a dog can't hurt you. Maybe you think they're too small, old, or young. Any pet can hurt you. I also don't want you to think that maybe a dog missed. “You got lucky that he missed.” They rarely miss. So we're gonna talk about the difference between warnings and a dog that's trying to hurt you and why we, as professionals, should take warnings very seriously.   https://www.dogstardaily.com/training/bite-scale https://www.wigglebuttacademy.com/post/ian-dunbar-s-dog-bite-scale Dogs Bite: But Balloons and Slippers Are More Dangerous by Janis Bradley https://a.co/d/9WRz2na For more info go to CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com

There are lots of ways we can define learning. I think these 4 stages are going to be helpful. If you've ever wondered, well, we worked on it last time, why doesn't he understand this time? Or why does he need to practice this? There are lots of things that we can do better if we understand how dogs learn. 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 behavior consultant for canines(CBCC-KA), a certified professional dog trainer(CPDT-KA), a Fear Free certified professional(FFCP) in training and grooming, I'm an instructor at Whole Pet Grooming Academy, and I own 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 in other types of care! 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

Episode 188, is punishment necessary?  Is that something that we need to do to get our jobs done? Is that something that's going to be helpful? We'll explore that 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 behavior consultant for canines(CBCC-KA), a certified professional dog trainer(CPDT-KA), a Fear Free certified professional(FFCP) in training and grooming, I'm an instructor at Whole Pet Grooming Academy, and I own 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 in other types of care! For full transcripts go to the episode on CreatingGreat GroomingDogs.com You can also watch this episode as a video on my website or on my YouTube channel youtube.com/@creatinggreatgroomingdogs For more information about my classes go to MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist.com or go to the Whole Pet Grooming Academy website 

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

Emotions And The"Why?" Ep 186  Episode 186. Is it okay to talk about emotions and animals? Is it anthropomorphic to talk about emotions and animals? Where is the line, between what we see and the story that we build around what we see? And let's talk about emotions and what we observe this week.  Find all show details, including transcripts, at CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com You can find my online classes at Whole Pet Grooming Academy WholePetNH.com For more information about my Master Groomer Behavior Specialist diploma program, go to MasterGroomerBehaviorSpecialist.com You're listening to the Creating Great Grooming Dogs show. [00:00:21] I am Chrissy Neumeier 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 I'm also the owner of Happy Critters in Nashua, New Hampshire, and an instructor at Whole Pet Grooming Academy. [00:00:38] So this week we are talking about emotions. I had an entirely different topic started off this week, but it kept circling back to feelings and emotions. And I really wanted to delve into that a little bit deeper before we get into a topic that makes some assumptions that we would be on all on the same page. [00:01:00] We're not going to be all on the same page. So I decided that I really needed to revisit this particular piece all on its own. We've talked about anthropomorphic before, , which is when we attribute human feelings and desires onto dogs or other animals without really thinking a little bit more basically, what is this animal trying to do? [00:01:21] So we as humans talk about emotions and feelings, but let me ask you this. Let's consider this. Are we always correct when we try to figure out the why of another person? Oh. Do we always understand why another person is feeling the way they're feeling? , are we good with that? Do we always get it right? [00:01:45] When we are interacting with another person using shared language, expressing thoughts and feelings, do we always get it right? Hmm, that's interesting, isn't it? do we? Another question. Are we always good at explaining the reason for our own emotions? Are we good at explaining the why of what we're feeling and how that's affecting the way that we're behaving today or yesterday or last week, right? [00:02:16] Are we good at that? This answer is going to vary from person to person. Some people will be really good at that. , others are constantly trying to work on it. And some are blissfully unaware, but here's something to consider. Ask someone close to you. Ask, maybe it's a parent or a sibling or a spouse or a child. [00:02:38] Ask someone really close to you. Maybe it's your best friend. Are you good at understanding their point of view when they're trying to explain something to you? Are you good at expressing your own point of view when you're trying to explain how you feel? What you're going to find is that most of us are not great at this. [00:02:56] We're not very good at figuring out the why of emotions and expressing those emotions and figuring out why we behave the way we do. We observe behavior in the humans around us, but we don't always understand the why. So why are we talking about this? It probably seems a little off topic, doesn't it? But how does this relate to dogs? [00:03:21] Yeah, but you thought I was getting off track here. Um, the way it relates to dogs is we observe behavior. We see what the dog is doing with their body, but do we always understand why they are doing it? Do we understand the feelings, the emotions being expressed through that behavior? We see the behavior, what is observable to us, but how many of us can correctly guess why the dog is doing it? [00:03:51] It's not easy. It's not easy. And as we just discussed, even amongst other humans, when we are trying to figure out what another human feels, what another human thinks, and they're literally trying to tell us, We're not good at it, it takes a lot of understanding of humans and of dogs to be able to figure out why a behavior is happening. [00:04:16] So, maybe it's not so easy. Maybe this takes a ton of time and takes a ton of effort and we aren't used to thinking about it that way. , I will say there was a point in my career when I would have described looking at dogs and what they're doing as I have a feeling about why he's doing it. I have a feeling about why he's doing it. [00:04:38] All right. I think many of us do that. I have a feeling. But here's the thing I was watching what the dog was doing. And now that I've really been training my eye to watch what they're doing and think about what they're responding to. Now I realized that I didn't have a feeling. I was noticing things in the environment, noticing things about a dog and what they were doing and maybe making correct assumptions, right? [00:05:07] Or making assumptions and maybe they were incorrect assumptions. But that's the tricky part. We're observing body language. We're watching. We're listening. Sometimes we're smelling, right? Anal gland smell. Oh, that's a definite signal. That's not a happy moment most of the time if they spray their anal glands. [00:05:28] But you think about all of those things that we observe, but are we good at understanding why? And we're not really good at it, even with other human beings that we talk to that are literally trying to tell us. Well, the dog is literally trying to tell us also. Now I want you to think about we're viewing what the dog is doing, and we're trying to guess at why they're doing it. [00:05:55] And I want you to start thinking about gathering clues. Gathering clues about the behavior before we make assumptions about how a dog feels before we start jumping into, I think this is going on or this is going on. This dog is an individual just like we are. And we have to think about what is this dog responding to? [00:06:15] What is happening in that moment? , and what kind of emotions might this dog be having based on what is happening? Okay. Dogs have emotions. I think we can all observe a dog who is scared, a dog who is fearful, a dog who is happy. Come on. We know they have emotions. The problem comes in when we try to, make our stories around what we think that emotion is caused by. [00:06:47] That's where anthropomorphism comes in is when we're trying to say, well, he's happy , and that isn't always a bad thing. He's happy because we do need to kind of ask that question. The problem is, is if we're not on target, if we're trying to say, well, he did this because, or he did that because, then that's where the emotion part can become really kind of a blurred line. [00:07:14] , and while they have emotions. And , I think that we can all agree if you've worked with dogs, you've seen a variety of emotions we respond to different emotions differently. So there is some worry when we think a dog is, let's say, angry at us. How are we going to respond to that animal? We're probably going to be defensive, right? [00:07:40] How do we respond to other humans when we think they're angry at us? Right? Um, now if we respond to a dog thinking he seems stressed, then it becomes clearer that we are going to try to help them calm down. I'm going to give some examples here. I know I'm always giving examples and I feel like I'm spending my whole life saying I'm going to give some examples here. [00:08:04] , a human customer comes into your office and she is upset. Always understand why. Maybe we think that person is mean, that person is cranky, that person is, let's see, what other terms might we use? Some of the terms get really mean, right? But are we really good at noticing that this person is running late for something? [00:08:29] , is very, very stressed out, , is confused. Maybe they're really confused, but I do brush him. I don't understand what you're talking about. Now they're being defensive and you're being defensive and it all falls apart. Customer service stuff is also about thinking about the other side of the story, the why, why. [00:08:52] Is this customer having difficulty today? Like I said, it is not cut and dry. This is not easy for most of us to get a good read on why a behavior is happening and what emotions they are around it. So when we look at that customer, , maybe we're looking at her thinking she is really cranky. She is really mean. And is that really the motivation? Is she just a cranky person? That could be true. Okay. I think we know there are a lot of people out there who are just playing cranky, but why, why? I love people. I know a lot of groomers don't. [00:09:33] , I see those cranky people and they often become my really good customers. Cause I think about why I think about why the cranky, , what is this person responding to? And that's what we need to do with our dogs. If we see something that we interpret as an emotion, step back for a minute and instead think, what is this dog responding to? [00:09:54] And why, why is this happening? Because if we assume that a dog is angry, Or we start making big stories, that can really lead us down a path that doesn't make any sense. And next thing you know, you and the dog are in conflict of some sort when it didn't need to be. So in the next part, we are going to talk about where communication can really go wrong. [00:10:18] If you're enjoying the show, please remember to follow or subscribe or like wherever it is you are. The show is on YouTube, so you can watch it as videos. It's as a podcast, so you can just listen to the audio. And to find any of those things, go to CreatingGreatGroomingDogs. com, where you can also find full transcripts. [00:10:38] Well, since I started doing transcripts, you can find full transcripts. Um, there are a lot of other things there. There are a couple of blog posts, CreatingGreatGroomingDogs. com. When we talk about how we are figuring out what a dog wants or needs, when we're figuring out thos

Why Some Dogs Get Worse Every Time Ep185 [00:00:00] Episode 185. Why do some dogs get worse about grooming time after time and they just keep getting worse? Shouldn't they eventually realize that it doesn't hurt them? Why don't they learn to just go with the flow? That's what we're gonna cover today in episode 185. The Six Reasons Why Some dogs get worse every time. [00:00:18] I am Chrissy Neumyer Smith. This is the Creating Great Grooming Dogs Show. I am a master groomer behavior specialist, a certified professional groomer, a certified behavior consultant for canines, a certified professional dog trainer, an instructor at Whole Pet Grooming Academy, and I'm the owner of Happy Critters in Nashua, New Hampshire. [00:00:35] And this my friends and colleagues, is the show where dog grooming and dog training meet. So I wanna talk about six reasons why some dogs get worse every time. There are plenty of other reasons, but I narrowed it down to about six. But the first and foremost, before we even get into those six reasons, I do wanna clarify. [00:00:55] Dogs are having difficulty with being groomed. They aren't giving us a difficult problem. They are having a problem. So at its very core, if a dog is continuing to have problems, then their issue isn't being addressed. And I want you to pause and think about that for a minute. 'cause we don't often think about it that way. [00:01:16] Does this dog have an issue that maybe has been overlooked? Maybe we haven't really found out what makes this dog tick and that's really common. So we'll go through six reasons. Why many of these dogs have an issue, but really at the end, there are lots and lots of reasons for a dog to continue to have difficulty being groomed, and that's what's happening. [00:01:39] If a dog is getting worse every time or staying the same, staying at the same level of, nervousness, aggressiveness, , it's because they have an underlying issue that maybe hasn't been addressed. So let's get into our six reasons. And I'm gonna say I did pull this off of a Facebook discussion. [00:01:58] This was directly out of a Facebook discussion. , I didn't join into the discussion. I know I probably should have, but I decided to make a podcast episode instead. , because there are so many reasons, and it's more than just a quick post, but what I found was a lot of groomers, , were concerned about just one aspect. [00:02:17] So a lot of these six reasons came up. We aren't always thinking about all of them. Everybody had like a quick one or two answers, maybe not six or 20,000. 'cause really it's more like 20,000. So let's talk about the first one. And if you are involved with any of my classes or anything like that, or involved with dog training, one of the first things I always want us to do if we see a behavior problem, whether you're a trainer or a groomer, Anything. [00:02:46] If you see a behavior problem or a behavior problem that's continuing to get worse, our first question is, is there a health issue? Is there a physical reason for this pet to be behaving this way? And I'm gonna say pet, because these are not just for dogs. A lot of these things are for, for cats too, for other types of animals. [00:03:05] If there is a behavior problem happening, I want us to first think, is there a physical reason? So health issues could be something like pain. And I know that a lot of people who are not groomers might not realize that. A lot of our dogs live with a lot of different types of pain. Just like people come on, they get older, they maybe have sore hips or sore toes, or ear problems or tooth problems. [00:03:33] , lots of things that could be causing pain. And a lot of our owners don't recognize that. They don't see it, they don't notice it. And sometimes they kind of beat themselves up when we tell them. , but I want you to think about. Is there a reason why this dog could be in pain? So I think we tend to think about older dogs, you know, our senior dogs, but I'm gonna throw out here, let's not forget our adult dogs. [00:04:00] Maybe they had an injury, maybe they were running up the stairs and just, you know, fell funny. There are lots of things that could happen. And with our puppies, our puppies are teething. Think about that as a source of pain, what do human babies do when they're teething? They cry, they're fussy [00:04:16] so think about there are lots of different types of pain and discomfort. Discomfort. Let's think about how many dogs just find this uncomfortable. The reason why dogs have behavior problems during grooming, Because they find it unpleasant, uncomfortable, and or scary. I say that a lot on this show, and if we can all just take that in because it helps us to refocus, like, oh, what is this dog having a problem with? [00:04:45] Does this dog find it unpleasant, uncomfortable, and or scary and uncomfortable is part of this health issue, so perhaps. It's about how, , this dog can balance while we're trying to move them around. A lot of our dogs have some balance issues. Perhaps it's range of motion. Now you might think, oh, this dog is young and he's just being fussy about this one foot. [00:05:07] If it's only one foot, that to me says What's going on with that foot, or what's going on with the foot that I'm asking him to stand on while I lift this foot? So let me clarify that a little bit. If you are lifting up the dog's right front paw and that's when he gets a little bit fussy, it could be that the right front paw is sore or that's what he's having difficulty with you working on the right front paw. [00:05:33] Or it could be because you're asking him to hold so much more weight on his left front paw if his left front paw is sore. And sometimes we don't think about that and we need to. So let's think about how can I help this dog be more comfortable. That is a really important way to help an animal feel better about grooming. [00:05:53] So that's reason number one, why some dogs are getting worse every time. There could be an underlying health or pain issue that we didn't know about and we aren't thinking about, and that if we can work on that or modify our sessions for, for that dog to be more comfortable, we might be able to make progress. [00:06:12] 'cause dogs aren't giving us a hard time, they're having a hard time. Reason number two, and this one is really, really common. Reason number two, why some dogs get worse every time is because they have always been afraid of grooming. Each groom has pushed that dog further and further, and sometimes their fear looks like they're frozen. [00:06:35] And we sometimes mistake that for calm, cannot tell you how often we mistake that for calm while he was being so good and then suddenly, Now, if you're not a groomer, you might not know. So I'm gonna describe when we are grooming a dog and a dog is holding still we are focused in on the hair. I might not notice what that dog's face is doing because I might literally be working on the coat on a back leg. [00:07:01] I might not be facing that dog's face. I might not see a whale eye. I might not see other body signals. I might not have a hand on their body to feel if they're loose. I'm scissoring. So if you think about a dog that is scared, sometimes they freeze when they're afraid. And for a lot of groomers, we miss that one. [00:07:21] So ask yourself if this dog is getting worse and worse every time, is this dog just kind of frozen in fear while we groom? Has that been this dog's experience? I'm frozen in fear, but they just keep coming at me and just keep coming at me and just keep coming at me and just keep coming at me. And then it turns it, it goes from frozen to maybe trying to flee. [00:07:40] Or maybe trying to fight, remember, freeze, flight and fight. , so we don't wanna trigger those kind of responses. So think has this dog always been afraid of grooming and now perhaps due to a health issue, or perhaps due to some other situation has become different in the way they express that fear? [00:08:00] Okay, so that's reason number two. Sometimes these dogs had been afraid of grooming for years. I see it a lot. I see it a lot when I end up with an elderly dog who the groomer said, you know what? He, he's just becoming so difficult and he's so fragile. You know, he's never really loved it, but now he's really having some problems. [00:08:19] We can still train. We have to think about the pet in front of us. How can we help this individual dog? Now, reason number three, remember we had six reasons why some dogs get worse every time, and reason number three is that I. I find this happens a lot. There's some body language that dogs give us that has been misinterpreted. [00:08:42] We as groomers don't often have a whole lot of background in body language. We know what we know. We see signs, but we don't necessarily understand what the dog is doing. I'm gonna give you a couple of examples. , if a dog is nervous and they're trying to tone down the situation, , they're nervous, and they're trying to say , Hey, listen, can you back off? [00:09:02] I'm a little bit scared. They might start sitting or turning away or curling up into a little ball, like pulling those little legs in tight. , Raising one paw. These are all things that dogs do to try to calm everybody else down. Like, listen, I'm really uncomfortable. Uh, I don't mean you any harm. Please leave me alone. [00:09:25] Yet, it makes haircutting harder. And if we're not aware that, that's a very clear signal from a dog that they're saying like, listen, I'm really nervous. I'm really scared. We can end up becoming frustrated. So the dog keeps sitting and we keep pulling up to stand and the dog keeps sitting and keep pulling up to stand. [00:09:43] And as we get frustrated, the dog does it more and more. And I've sometimes heard people saying that, their dog's being passive aggressive. That's not passive aggressive. The dog is saying, I'm really nervous, and you're like, knock it off. I know a l

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. Otherwis

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 === [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

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  === [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 terri

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

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

This week, we'll talk about what you're supposed to do if a dog is worried. If a dog is scared if a dog is being aggressive or acting aggressively, what can we do?  Find the podcast on your favorite podcast host, watch at https://www.youtube.com/@creatinggreatgroomingdogs, 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

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

This week we'll talk about where you may be getting stuck. You're trying to help the dog be Calm, Comfortable, and Cooperative(the 3C's) but it doesn't seem to be working the way that you hoped. You could be making a very common mistake.   If you want more info about the me, the show, the classes I teach, or the services I offer, go to CreatingGreatGroomingDogs.com

A little word like "No" can bring up such strong feelings. This week I want us to step away from our feelings and have an objective conversation about what it means to use a stern "No".   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