I Love Puppies!
I Love grooming puppies.
I know...
I am crazy.
I love giving puppies their first groom because, I feel it is so important for them to have as good an experience as possible for their very first groom.
I like to play and make it fun for them.
At the same time, I want to start teaching them gently, how to be good on the grooming table.
This is 'Sadie'.
She is 10 weeks old.
'Sadie' did really good in the tub.
I talked her through getting her face washed.
No water in the nose, Yah!
I hate when they turn their face right into the sprayer when you are trying so hard not to get water in their nose.
One good experience down, moving on to the dryer.
"I didn't sign up for this!"
I like to hold puppies up close to me when I use the HV dryer on them for the first time.
I feel it helps them to stay calm while they get used to the noise and air from the dryer.
Cuddle, cuddle, cuddle.
I also do a lot of talking to and hugging while I dry the puppies.
Actually, I do that with all of my dogs, young and old.
Boy, would my teacher from grooming school be yelling at me.
She felt that you should always be all business with the dogs, NO playing.
She was SO wrong.
Time to move on to the fluff dry and the brush.
Did you ever notice that puppies love to chew on brushes.
As long as someone distracted her, 'Sadie' did okay for the nails.
She only chewed on my fingers twice.
She is still learning what the word 'No' means.
Shih-Tzu's have a mind of their own.
They have no problem ignoring you when they want.
I think that the word 'NO' to a Shih-Tzu means, 'okay, I'll do whatever I want.'
:)
They also have no problem letting you know when they don't like something.
'Sadie' did not like the nail clippers.
This will most likely be something we will have to work on during future groomings.
Right now we'll just chew on the nail clipper.
I was not sure how she would be for the face.
She was good for her face in the tub, that's usually a good sign.
First, I let the puppy smell the scissors.
Then, I try to find what is the best hold to keep them from moving too much while scissoring around the eyes.
Then, I rub my fingers between her eyes so that she gets used to having something around the eyes.
I slowly move in with the scissors.
Some times I will just hold the scissors closed next to the corner of the eye to make sure they will stay still before I start cutting.
I use my fingers to pick up hair away from the eye.
Then I scissor again.
'Sadie' did so good.
The cup hold worked the best on her, she didn't move.
"You lookn' at me!"
'Sadie' liked to watch everything that I was doing.
I always stop and let them investigate what I am doing.
It really does seem to keep them calm.
'Sadie' survived her first grooming.
She is very young, so I kept the grooming lite.
Bath, brush, blow dry, and trim the rear, feet, and around the eyes.
I Love Puppies!
Happy Grooming, MFF
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