The final aspect of the dryer most dogs dislike is the actual feeling of the wind blowing on them. Remember how Rocco would run away any time the heater clicked on? Part of it was sound, the other part was the uncomfortable feeling of wind ruffling up his fur.
It is understandable dogs don’t love the dryer but desensitizing them to the feeling has a host of benefits beyond the groom shop. A dog who is comfortable with a bit of moving air can enjoy walks on a windy day, stretch out in front of the heater, and let you blow-dry your own hair without inserting their opinion.
We will be using a human blow dryer to start this because the air is much gentler, and it’s also not as loud as a velocity dryer.
A Word of Caution
Remember how we mentioned many dogs bite the blow dryer? You may think to yourself that blowing on your dog is even softer and quieter than the blow dryer and to try blowing on your dog. If you already know, from doing this to your dog in the past, your dog is fine with it you could indeed do this. If you don’t know don’t do it.
Many dogs respond by biting the source of the wind. In this case, the wind is coming from your face. A bite to the face is at best uncomfortable, and at worst can be devastating. Working with a blow dryer keeps the source of wind away from your face.
Starting Over
Just like we’ve done with every novel item we’ve brought into groom training, we’re going to put the hair dryer on the ground and let the pup sniff it. (It should not be plugged in at this time, for safety.) Reward your pup for sniffing it or looking at it.
If your pup is at all worried about the hair dryer, end the session there. Keep repeating the introduction to the dryer until your pup is excited about seeing the dryer.
Although it’s possible that your dog is worried about the hair dryer, most likely your pup has figured out by now that grooming is a fun game. If that’s the case and your pup is eager and excited to continue, you can go ahead and move to the next phase in the same section.
If that is the case, go ahead and put your hand on the dryer, give the pup a treat, and remove the hand. Do this 10-15 times. If your pup is still excited and happy to take treats, pick the dryer up entirely, give your pup a treat, and set it down. Repeat this 10 times.
End the session there, even if your dog is completely fine with having the dryer picked up.
Sound and Dryer
Start the next session with the dryer plugged in. Start with a few warm ups of picking up the dryer (while it is off) rewarding the pup, and setting it down. Then, face the dryer away from the pup so they are just hearing the sound, turn the dryer on, and feed them a small succession of treats.
How did your pup react? If they hightailed it once the actual dryer is on, you may have to combine dryer sounds played very softly and the dryer for a while. If they were fine with this, repeat turning the dryer on, feeding treats, and turning it off (no treats after dryer is off) several times. End the session there.
Almost a Breeze
During the next lesson, warm up by picking up the dryer, feeding a treat, and setting it down 2-3 times. Then turn the dryer so it is not blowing on the dog, turn it on, and feed a small stream of treats 2-3 times. This helps your dog by reminding them of the work ahead before moving to the next step.
Now, you’re going to aim the dryer so the current of air is beside the dog. It should not be aimed at the dog directly. The air moving next to their coat will definitely be noticed by your pup but should be small enough to not to make them react—this is what we want.
Turn the dryer off immediately. The dryer should have barely had enough time to produce any kind of wind at all before being turned off. Reward your pup!
How did they react? Did they move away from the wind? Did they startle? Did they run away? If they in any way moved, even if it was to suddenly go from a sit to a stand, move the wind farther away from the dog.
If they completely ignored it and just want the snacks, that’s great! Repeat the session 10 times, but don’t get closer yet. Otherwise, find the point where your pup is fine with the wind, even if that’s 18 inches away from their coat instead of 6 inches. Work on getting the wind closer and closer to them without a reaction.
Add Time
Obviously a tiny gust of 1 second of wind isn’t very much. Once your pup is fine with a short, 1 second burst of wind, add a little bit of time every 3rd try. Do two very short bursts of wind, and then one 3 second burst. After three rounds of two short and one long, make all three of them three seconds.
Work up to five seconds, with varying shorter lengths inbetween.
Contact!
When your pup is fine with the breeze closer to but not directly on them, and they can handle it for a few seconds, you’re ready to move on to the next phase.
In a new session, warm up with a few bursts of wind not touching your pup, then starting at the angled burst of wind, move the currently briefly so it just touches your pups side and then away again. Immediately turn the dryer off and reward your pup.
Aim is important here! If you blast the wind straight into your dog’s face, they will have a poor impression of the blow dryer. Aiming for the feet is also a sensitive spot. Try to blow dry either your pups chest, side or back, but only very briefly. The dryer should be moving away almost as soon as it reaches the pup.
How did your dog react? Did they move away? Startle? Did anything give you impression they even mildly didn’t like it?
If they even mildly disliked the touch of the wind, go back to near passes for the rest of the session. On the next session, do several repetitions of blow drying near the dog, and then try again. If they still dislike it, repeat two complete session of blow drying near the dog without touching them with the wind, but as close as possible without them reacting, and try again.
Never trap your pup during these sessions. If you’re doing them in the bathroom, keep the door open so they can leave if they want to. The goal is to get them to enjoy grooming. Walking away is a signal that they’re not enjoying the session, and that should be taken as a signal to back off on the pressure, not make it impossible to avoid the pressure.
Increasing time
When your pup is fine with a very brief burst of air on their side, go ahead and keep the burst of air on them just a little bit longer. Vary the time it is kept on them. One longer burst, several short bursts, a long one, a long one, etc.
Moving Spots
So far, we’ve only just touched the side or back of their body. Now, you’re going to move out from there gradually. Remember the desensitization protocol we did for touch on the legs, rear and head? You’re going to repeat this protocol, but instead of a touch with your hand, it’s going to be the briefest touch of wind with the blow dryer.
Do them in the same order presented in our touch desensitization protocol. Start at the shoulder and go down the leg gradually, then the rear and tail, then the head. You do not, obviously, have to blow-dry your dog’s eyes or into their ears, but a simply gust of wind on the top of the head will allow them to experience being blow dried on the head safely.
When you can comfortably blow dry your dog anywhere without your pup dancing out of the way, you can consider this section completed.
Similar Posts:
- How to Desensitize the Sound of a Dryer
- Desensitization to Dryers
- Let’s Talk Dryers
- Introduction to Tail Desensitization
- Pre-Training Checklist: All Tools Needed
