Puppy Owners
Weather you are an experienced puppy owner or first time dog owner starting with a puppy. Getting your dog groomed is something we will all have to do at some point. Even though starting to bathe them at home and using a human hair dry or towel drying is a normal experience for the pup. It really isnt the same experience when they go to a salon or mobile grooming van. There are a lot more noises, vibrations, surfaces texture, restraints and handling maneuvers required of dogs when they go through a grooming session.
The emotional process for grooming for puppies varies greatly. I relay they react like toddlers, you have to slowly get them to learn and understand. Little over time one appointment at a time they think its not so bad.
Starting them immediately once their initial shots I find is the best way to give them the best start in life with grooming especially if they require it regularly for haircuts. Even for pups whos breeds will require grooming later in life should still have a schedule to get them used to being groomed. In many cases d
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In my experience i’ve seen a huge difference in progression with puppies who don’t take to grooming easily and are afraid or reactive. I recommend a few appointments depending on severity to be scheduled on a 2-3 weeks schedule and they get used to it so much better,
For puppies in general I recommend them to get groomed every 4 weeks or less in the first year to help them grow up with grooming training and help keep their coats with coat change. Depending on the puppy as they grow and mature then they an progress to 4-6 week ( as my recommendation for coat maintenance) if owners prefer shorter trims later on 6-8 weeks work well with shorter trims.
“ I don’t want my puppy shaved and keep my dog long and fluffy”
The realistic expectations all depend on the owner. There must be a level of commitment. As well as the longer the coat the more at home care and more frequent the care at the salons.
Puppies typically go through coat change at 9-11 months. Which is hard to maintain the puppy coat during that time as the coat tends to matt more.
I always relay for longer coats becomes show dog maintenance, which in those conditions their owner/breeder/handler usually does a weekly bath blow , and daily brushing maintenance. They actually keep some coats banded or wrapped to protect the ends. They typically don’t let their dogs be “dogs” when in show coat. So that does limit the activities to prevent damaging the coat. But once their show career they trim them down in a pet trim.
I am always happy to give a lesson in brushing for all owners.
Once a dog is matted to a degree it is very inhumane to de-mat their coat as it is very painful and entirely impossible in many situations. I practice Humanity Over Vanity, I want to build a trusting relationship with my dogs and owners. when you start de-matting and Cause pain to the dog the trust goes out the window and dogs tend to react