Most people do not think about groom training their dog until their beloved pet is banned from a groom shop. The dog is often referred to a veterinarian for grooming, where the unfortunate pet parent discovers that sedated grooming costs an additional $100 more at the minimum.
Meanwhile, the general recommendation is to “work with” your pet, but if you know they bite for grooming, how do you go about it safely?
Muzzle Training
If you know your dog bites for grooming, muzzle training should be your first step. A dog who is properly conditioned to wear the muzzle will not be afraid of it, and should you misread your dog and they snap, the muzzle protects you from the full force of their bite.
Muzzle training should be a part of groom training anyway, so if your dog for some reason needs to be muzzled during the grooming process, it is not a shock to them. This is especially the case as dogs age, because while your dog may be well behaved now, there may come a time when arthritis or other illness changes their behavior.
Although muzzle training should be your first step, it shouldn’t be your only step. It’s easy to think that since you can now stop the biting, the groomer should be able to arm wrestle their way through the groom, but the result will be a muzzle-wise dog who doesn’t like grooming or muzzles.
Don’t fall into this trap. Teach the dog to feel comfortable with a muzzle for safety during training, but follow up with training that makes them feel comfortable with grooming afterwards.
Learning Dog Language
Muzzling your dog for training (and making sure that they like being muzzled) is one of the best ways to ensure your safety. A second way you can assure your safety is to get as good as you can at reading dog signals. We went over a few basics, but you can continue your education through watching videos of dogs signaling discomfort, etc. on YouTube.
Eventually, I hope to get enough video of my dog’s various signals to have a resource here on All Things Chihuahua, but that is one of those things that will take time.
Hire a Behaviorist
For those who can afford it, a behaviorist can often get to the bottom of what specific part of grooming causes your dog to be fearful. They can create a program customized to your pet. Although I’ve done my best to be as thorough as possible on this blog, I can’t predict your dog’s individual behavior.
Use caution when selecting a behaviorist. Ask for a recommendation through your veterinary clinic, and ask for the behaviorist’s credentials. A veterinary behaviorist is a veterinarian who specializes in animal behavior. This is what you want.
That being said, there is remarkably little oversight in the animal training world, and anyone can call themselves anything without any education to back it up.
If you can’t find a veterinary animal behaviorist near you, a fear-free trainer is your next best bet.
If your pet is known to bite, it’s better to be as safe as possible. Please use caution when handling your pet, and keep yourself safe at all times.
Similar Posts:
- Breaking Down Muzzle Stigma with Social Media Celebrity Duo Kaylah and Stanley
- 6 Different Types of Muzzles and When to Use Them
- Interview with Muzzle Designer, Hillary
- A Crash Course in Reading Body Language
- How To Muzzle Train A Chihuahua
