But Is It Kind? Ep208

Episode 208. But is it kind? Kindness is such a subjective word, and how can we ensure that we're making kind decisions for the pets in our care and for our own pets? Because there are many pet owners listening to this podcast, also.

So how do we take that away from being subjective and actually define it better? Let's find out this week./

You are listening to the Creating Great Grooming Dog Show. I'm Chrissy Neumyer Smith. I'm a master groomer behavior specialist, master canine stylist, certified behavior consultant for canine certified professional dog trainer, and a bunch of other things along with being an educator and the Dean of academics at the whole pet Grooming Academy, and this, my friends and colleagues, is the show where we talk about teaching pets to be good for grooming and other types of care./

A few recent experiences really prompted me to do this episode. I had one experience at a dog training conference where two two of the speakers at this dog training conference mentioned not understanding why people get their dogs groomed. Now you might be thinking, what does this have to do with being kind?

Well, their point of view was, I guess they just want them to smell nice. Now I want you to think about, if you don't understand that these dogs need to be groomed, there are some dogs that you can probably get by with, you know, just a little bit of a bath and keeping their nails trimmed. But we have a lot of really complicated coats out there that Mother Nature did not design, that these dogs cannot take care of on their own and that many owners cannot take care of.

So if we start thinking that like, oh, it's just frivolous and unnecessary, then there's a chance that they start thinking that grooming is unkind. If a dog finds it stressful, then let's just not do it. Now, the other side of that, 'cause here's the opposite end of a recent experience, was a video going around of a dog being patiently and lovingly traumatized by a groomer, and the amount of people applauding this groomer for being patient.

I just can't wrap my head around it. I, how can you watch a dog who is clearly having difficulty, who is clearly terrified, and being manhandled by someone who is loving and patient? How can you watch that and not see that it is unkind? So, we're gonna explore these two very different points of view, because the middle ground is someplace.

, where we need to be. Those are two extremes. And the one extreme is that grooming isn't necessary. And the other extreme is that grooming is so necessary that we no longer need to consider what the pet is experiencing. And I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that both of those. Points of view are wrong.

I know usually I'm not up there saying like, right or wrong. I'm like, well, there's nuance. No. The both of those points of view are incorrect. , because we need to think about are we being kind to these dogs? So let's start off with the dog training point of view, or the owner who doesn't understand the need for grooming because.

I think, um, maybe they haven't seen the videos of stray dogs being picked up that have the kind of coat that stray dogs can't live with, who are stuck in a cast mat that has been moist and wet and filled with parasites, and they have sores underneath that hair. And I think if you aren't a groomer, you might not know how much of that we see.

You might not realize that there are dogs probably within a mile of your house living in cast mats and a cast mat is when every bit of fur is matted and we have to peel it off meticulously with a clipper, whether that's what's best for their coat or not. Um, it is so. Common. So unless you have no neighbors within a mile, maybe you live out in the woods.

But there is a really good chance that someone close by has a dog in that kind of condition. And it breaks our hearts as groomers. We see it way too often. It happens all the time. So if we start thinking that grooming is unnecessary. As dog trainers, we need to understand that many of these dogs do need grooming.

They might not need a professional to groom the dog. It might be the owners doing the grooming, but grooming is necessary. It is not optional for so many of these breeds. Now, what breeds are we considering? Um, I think I would say there are some breeds that only need nail trimming. Okay. I, I'm willing to do that.

Right. Um, your average boxer, I mean, someone can clean him up real, real easy. He doesn't have a lot of coat and he's gonna shed a lot, but, you know, it's, it's not gonna be something an owner can't handle. Sometimes as groomers, we hear people saying, I never brushed my dogs before. It's like you had a beagle.

You know, like you had a, a, a short hair, double coat that didn't get tangles. That doesn't need a lot of brushing. But so many of our dogs do need brushing. One of my border colies, will get tangles on his back end if I weren't brushing him. He has about, uh, say about eight inch long hair on the back of his legs, on under his tail, eight to 10 inches on his tail.

Like that's a lot of , length of coat that could become tangled. We see it a lot in dog grooming and sometimes dog groomers go to the other extreme and become so jaded with seeing pets in horrible condition owned by people who love them and have no idea, that we start thinking, taking these mats off is the most important thing that we can do today, but that's also misguided.

Holding a dog down and restraining them for taking these mats off. Like the mats didn't happen overnight in most cases. Okay. I mean, dogs that run through pricks and stuff might have become matted overnight, but in most cases, this is something the dog has been living with. This is not a medical emergency and we can spend time teaching them to be comfortable with it and working at a pace they can handle. , I think that we want to get those mats off. Because we're so, so jaded with this idea that, listen people, if you're not brushing your dogs, then we have to do this. And we do , in many, many cases, we do need to do it. But we do not get to roughhouse that dog to do it. And I'm really gonna say this, and I know I've been saying it a lot lately.

The modern dog groomer is not gonna do that for you. And I really want us all to start thinking in terms of, am I a modern dog groomer? Yeah, you should be, you know, the, the modern dog groomer who realizes that these pets could become very, very frightened. The video I'm thinking of was just one of many, but she is being patient and she is being loving, but she's also got a dog who's muzzled and wrapped up every which way who's struggling against restraint.

That's how dogs get hurt. Even if you think the emotional side is all wishy-washy and baloney, like, 'Oh, we have to worry about his emotional needs.' Right. Even if you don't care about scaring him, that's how dogs get hurt. Guarantee that dog was injured and they're like, no, he was fine when he left.

And a lot of dogs will be fine when they leave because, and think about this because they're riding this adrenaline rush. That they're not feeling the pain. They're not sore yet. Have you ever played sports? I've done, done something where you're like really athletic and you've got the adrenaline rush going and you're like, Ooh, that's gonna hurt tomorrow, because you know, you don't feel it right now.

You know, you're like, you take a hit or you fall and you're like, ah, it's gonna hurt tomorrow, but it's not hurting right now. Those pets are walking away injured. If someone is adding more straps, adding more control, crushing that dog and forcing them through and doing all sorts of restraint techniques, that's not modern dog grooming.

We need to just. A hard line say that is not necessary, that is not appropriate. That is not okay. I don't care how patient and loving they are. While they do it, it is still misguided, outdated, not appropriate. And now here's the question. Hmm. But how do we get it done? And we'll talk about that in the next part.

If you enjoy the show, please share it with somebody. I feel like I'm the best kept secret around and I don't wanna be a secret. 'cause people keep saying, why isn't anyone teaching about behavior? And I'm like, hi. I'm Chrissy.

I'm over here teaching about behavior. Well, what about something for our owners? Hi, I am Chrissy. They can listen to any of these episodes, what about dog trainers? Hi. You know, so if you like the show, please share it. Please let somebody else know. When you're on a grooming thread and people are like, oh, look at her.

Like holding that dog down so patiently. Yeah, mention the show, please. Please. We need to reach more groomers because groomers don't necessarily know that they're using misguided and outdated techniques. And I think a lot of groomers would change if they knew.

So as we talk about how do we meet the dog's needs of getting mats and tangles off, so dog trainers. Yeah. I want you to go look up matted dog and see the kind of stuff that groomers see. Yeah. Um, matted dog clip down, like do some searches. And see what we see almost every day. Some of us don't see it every day because we are very selective about our clientele and our books have been closed for a long time and we're like, listen, if you're not on a four to six week schedule, I don't have any place to put you.

But we've all seen it and it is. I, I, I can almost say epidemic. It's, it's constant. It's everywhere. So dog trainers need to know that there is a reason for grooming, and groomers need to understand that there's a reason for helping these pets be good for it and not getting them stressed out. So if a dog is so, so mad at.

That we're really concerned about skin health. Underneath that may be he needs to go to the veterinarian, get knocked out, as if for surgery, wake up. All groomed. And then the next day we start working on handling and touching, and we start working on the things that he needs to know, not when he needs to be groomed next, but when he is completed and the next day we start working on touching, whether that's the owner or a trainer, or the groomer or the vet, I don't care, but somebody's gonna start working on teaching that dog to be good.

Now, the idea that just send them to a vet groomer. Okay. We need to put that one to rest because it's not like a groomer at a veterinary hospital is suddenly like magically equipped differently than we are. What that means is, is as a veterinarian on staff who might use meds, many of us can use meds too if an owner brings their dog in with medication.

But medication, the modern use of medication is to lower anxiety. It does not mean that we can just do whatever we want. It does not mean that we just push through. And that's why often we're finding people saying, well, medication didn't really work. We still had a hard time. Um, because it's not magical, it's, it's to lower their stress levels.

And we still need to proceed gently and patiently in watching for, is this pet having a good time or not? Is this pet feeling like this is safe? Is this pet able to trust me that I'm not hurting them? And I know people like to say like, I would never hurt a dog. Yet the videos I'm seeing of groomers who say they would never hurt a dog literally showing themselves hurting a dog because clamping down on dogs while they struggle against you is how dogs get hurt.

If you don't believe that, then I want you to ask a friend to hold you down and wrestle with you while you try to frantically break away. And tell me if how you feel the next day. Are you sore? Let's say we do that for two hours. Let's say we do it for an hour. Let, okay, you're gonna be sore, I guarantee it.

Anybody who wants to like come back and say, no, I wasn't sore. Um, yeah, you will be sore. We cannot just break away from the idea that, um. That the trimming is so important. It's just not okay. They can go to the vet, get sedated as if for surgery, wake up the next day, LA look at me, I have no fur on me anymore.

And start at the beginning's. Clean start. But misguided idea of we have to get all these mats off right now, it's just not true. We do not, and we're hairstylists. This is not a medical emergency. It's a medical need and it's, and it's necessary. And I know as groomers, we are so frustrated by seeing it all the time.

I can't walk down the street without noticing like the dogs around me. And I will tell you there are dogs lovingly being walked around, going places that I look at and go, I know that dog is matted. If you're not a groomer, you don't have the eye for it. I get that. But it is important. So what can we do?

We can pay attention to, is this pet well prepared for our services as groomers Is the reason why they're so mad at because they don't allow that type of handling at home. Not all grooming problems happen at the grooming shop. If you can't handle your pet at home, frankly, you have a lot of work to do because that's not a safe situation to live with a pet that you can't handle at home.

So we need to think about like, all right, is, is this dog really mad at because he won't let you take that stick out of his tail. You know, is that why he's coming in like this? And if that's the case, that's not a grooming fix, that's a training fix. As groomers, we can offer behavior services that are a little bit different than our grooming services, but you have a much bigger problem if your dog won't let you do stuff.

And that's a lot of why we see. These tangle tangled dogs. And also because people just have it in their head that grooming isn't necessary and it's just to make them smell nice. And grooming is part of skincare and grooming is part of coat care. Grooming has a lot of, um, important things for dogs, and it's beyond the nail trimming.

Nail trimming is important, but that skincare, that coat care. And I also want you to think about if your groomer grooms your dog on a regular basis. When we are going over every little bit of their body, that dryer, the dryer isn't a cruel thing. The dryer is an awesome tool. It's actually so much better for their coat.

It gets all that shedding out without needing to do thousands of brush strokes. Um, it's also when we get to look at every little teeny tiny millimeter of skin. Because the dryer parts, the hair all the way down to the skin. Every groomer out there has some story of, they found the, the mole or what turned out to be cancer because they were drying.

And it's a very important tool. It, I think it's one of the things that people think, oh, that must be cruel. Why would they use something so loud? Listen, they happen to be loud even if the motor isn't loud. Forced high velocity, forced air onto wet coat is gonna be loud. But would you believe if you're not a groomer, you might not believe this.

Many of our dogs can be taught to be totally okay with that. Yep. It happens all the time. So we also need to suspend our disbelief that these dogs can be taught. Happens all the time. Plenty of us out there teaching dogs to be good for things that they used to think were scary. We have to circle back to, is it kind now?

Just using a high velocity dryer on a dog who is terrified is unkind, but having a dog who would really benefit from this particular tool and gently. And , with purpose, teaching them to be comfortable with the tools so that we can use it to full extent for the 15 years they're gonna be alive. That is kind, that's a kindness we're gonna teach them to be getting used to a tool so that we can use it in their future.

You know, we have to circle back to, is it kind, if these mats are terrible and they're, they're, they're skin problems underneath that should probably be going to the veterinarian anyway. So groomers, you don't need to push a dog through that. That is not kind. People have already failed that dog. We don't get to abuse it because it came in matted.

I know somebody out there just went, well, I'm not abusing animals, but I would agree that you're not abusing animals if you had no idea that that's animal abuse. But I'm gonna say the modern groomer does not do that because we know it's animal abuse. Think on that for a minute. I know I'm not making any friends here.

I have people who are like, yes, say it, say it louder. And then other people who just like put up a wall. I do not abuse animals when I'm holding them down and, but let's take a moment, and think about the animal who is. Stressed out, screaming, flailing, , torquing around. You're adding more straps, adding more people, holding them down, forcing them through.

And you know, now that we've discussed it, that that dog's gonna be sore tomorrow. That's abuse. I can't. Give people a free pass because they were being patient or because the dog bit her. Oh, look at her arms. Oh, and she still loved on that. Poor baby. Yeah, but she abused him. Right? We need to step back and think about, is it.

Kind. There is a kind way to get those mats off. There are lots of ways that we can use kindness to take those mats off. There are lots of ways that we can use kindness to teach them about grooming. To not groom them at all doesn't mean that we're using kindness. Okay? So the people who are like, oh, grooming doesn't really matter.

We don't need to do that. That is unkind, right? Groomers see dogs all the time in terrible condition. Which is also neglect. I know we're using some big words this week, right? That's neglect. If your pet comes to us with a couple little tangles, . That's normal, ? But if your pet comes to us because his elbow is matted to his chest, that is not okay.

And yet we see it all the time. So this is the big disconnect. The non grooming world doesn't know why we need to do it, and the grooming world doesn't necessarily know that we can teach them to be good for it and that we shouldn't force it. Even though we see them in this kind of condition, we shouldn't force it.

That's, that's not our job. We shouldn't be. Tormenting these dogs, somebody has already let them down. You know, like, okay, so you're already scared about however you got into this matted situation you're in. And then we go in and we're like, well gotta take it off at any cost and we don't care how you feel about it.

And that's a terrible message and it is unkind. What if we just circled back to, is it kind that's gonna be different for every individual? But let's pause for a moment and think, what if the dog was leaving us a review? What would the dog say about their experience in the grooming shop? But the dogs say I was really uncomfortable, but they were really nice and maybe they were uncomfortable because of the matting.

You know, not all discomfort is because of the groomer. If your tail is matted to your back leg, you're probably gonna be pretty uncomfortable. And you have been for weeks. I wish I were making this up. I'm not the things that we see. And it breaks our hearts. So that's part of why groomers have become very jaded about it.

We're like, well, gotta take these mats off. I gotta help this dog. Um, and we don't need to traumatize this dog any further than their owners have by letting them get in this condition. Think about kindness. Think about kindness. Those mats didn't happen overnight. If it's a medical emergency, send them to the vet.

But we don't need to strap 'em down, wrestle them, watch them flail, um, dogs get hurt that way. We need to put a stop to this. And if you're an owner, here's a question to ask your groomer. If my dog becomes afraid, how will you handle it? Just ask. , because you're gonna get a wide variety of answers.

Hopefully they say, you know what? If he's really afraid, we're gonna calm him down. We'll reassess what we need to get done. Do you suspect that he will become afraid, like, let's talk about the behavior stuff now, but maybe they say, don't worry, we always get the job done. He will look perfect. We don't put up with that around here, and I hear it way too often.

And that's someone you just walk away. It's like, okay, thanks. I'm just gonna go take my dog someplace else. Do not go someplace that says the trim will be perfect. , we don't let dogs walk away. Partly done here. Don't go to them. I know I'm not making friends in this episode, but the, my, my patience level has changed lately because I just keep seeing videos of groomers doing stuff that is absolutely inappropriate.

Absolutely inappropriate. Not, okay. Basic animal handling. Basic animal handling. 1 0 1. If an animal's nervous, calm them down. If they're scared, calm them down. If they're having difficulty, calm them down. Just, I mean, it's just common sense animal handling, and I don't know when it became such a big controversy, but here we are.

So, like I said, think about kindness. Is it kind? , and sometimes we have to balance, , things that are uncomfortable , and try to still teach the pet to let us do things that maybe they wouldn't have wanted to do, but to teach them gently, lovingly teach them to be comfortable with us and that, that they can trust us and they can trust our equipment and work around those problems in a way that helps the pet feel like they're safe.

Do you wanna know more? I teach the Master Groomer Behavior Specialist Diploma program at the whole Pet Grooming Academy, and that is an eight month program. It's the big, big one. It's a diploma for experienced groomers. To learn more about the behavior part of grooming, I also have a couple of workshop style.

Online class. And one of them is groom smart, talking about how to use. Calm, comfortable, and cooperative and make that a process for your daily grooming. And the other one is modern handling and behavior for groomers. And that one is important because I think , we sometimes forget about all of the humane aspects and the wealth animal welfare issues involved with grooming and how we can implement that into our shops and into our daily work.

So everybody have a great week and don't forget to share the show. Bye.