Importance of Starting Grooming at a Young Age

By: Michaela Tallant ZimmVet Professional Groomer

When puppies began to explore and age they go through different developmental stages. Starting from the moment you bring your puppy home at 8 weeks, your puppy is learning and pushing boundaries. This is the prime time to start training, socializing and, desensitizing.

Some breeds of dogs need grooming on a regular schedule. It is critical that you begin desensitizing them to the grooming process. This will help make the experience enjoyable for them and fear-free.

Here are some great Training and Desensitizing techniques that you can start with at home!

Nails & Paws

When you’re at home spending time with your new puppy take a couple of minutes once a day to play with their paws. Rub them and look at their nails while doing this make sure to give them lots of praise and/or treats to show them this is a good experience. This will ensure they are used to having their paws handled for nail trims or vet services in the future.

Ears

It is important to be able to touch your puppy’s ears. When spending time with your puppy make sure to touch their ears, frequently. This will help make sure they are not concerned by the sensation of a vet or groomer examining and/or cleaning them. 

Chin hair

During the grooming process pups love to wiggle and move around. It is important that you take the time to get your puppy used to the feeling of someone holding their chin. That way when they are getting their first puppy groom, they understand what that means. You’ll want to make sure that you take the time while they are young to do this often. Give them rewards to ensure the handling is positive.

Brushing

When puppies are young, they tend to be nervous when being introduced to new things. Therefore, when introducing them to brushes make sure to give them time to sniff and check out the brush first. Once they seem non-interested in the brush you can begin slowly and softly brushing them. Doing this at least once a day will help ensure when they are older that this is a normal, positive, and frequent part of their lives.

Blow dryer

Blow dryers are noisy and “scary” to dogs. Puppies and adult dogs if not appropriately exposed to this when they are younger tend to have higher anxiety levels with the dryer during the grooming process. So, when you are getting ready for the day and you know you’re going to blow dry your hair, bring your puppy in the room with you. Make sure to give them a kong or some kind of longer lasting treat to focus on while they are in the room. If you continue to do this a couple times a week, you should see that your puppy doesn’t seem to react to the sound of the dryer at all! The next step in the process is to let the dryer blow on them for a second or two each time. Slowly you should see no reaction with that as well. The end goal is, you’ll be able to have the dryer on your dog or any amount of time, and they won’t think anything of it.  This will result in your puppy enjoying the drying process.

Baths

Water can be a frightening thing for puppies. Because of this you’ll want to make sure that the first couple of times puppies interact with water, you take things slow. This mean that you should start by only wetting their feet down, and slowly work your way up to washing them fully. Always make sure you end the bath on a positive note.

Picking your groomer

It always nice if you can pick a groomer while your puppy is young. This will give your puppy a chance to build a trusting relationship with their groomer. This will also give your groomer a chance to make sure your puppy experiences everything in a fear free, positive environment.

Check out our grooming program here at ZimmVet! We would love to build a fear free, and trusting relationship with your pup! Contact our groomer Michaela to schedule at 763-856-4848 or grooming@zimmvet.com.