The Basics Ep168

Episode 168. I was brave and I did a thing to expand this audience. So the podcast is now also available on YouTube.

So this week I'm going to talk about some of the basic stuff and things that we talk about on this podcast so that anybody who's new to the show or just beginning to understand that, like, oh, hey, creating great grooming dogs is a thing, they can go on to YouTube and not be lost. So let's start off with some. Some basic stuff that I think newcomers will listen to and think, oh, hey, let's go ahead and follow the show.

And some longtime listeners might need for review. This is the Creating Great Grooming Dog Show. I'm Chrissy Neumyer Smith.

I'm a master groomer, behavior specialist, a certified professional groomer, a certified professional dog trainer, a certified behavior consultant for canines, an instructor at Whole Pet Grooming Academy, and the owner of Happy Critters in Nashua, New Hampshire. And this, my friends and colleagues, is the podcast and the video cast where grooming and training meet.

So I want to start off by saying that while many people have been following the podcast for a long time, I did hear a number of people say that they just have trouble with audio only. And I can understand that. I can respect that. But as you can tell, if you're watching this video, oh, man, is there a learning curve? It's.

There's a learning curve to doing this live, to do it well, to doing this on video. Well, first of all, I have to be thinking about what things look like behind me.

It's going to be harder for me to pause something if I need to pause something. It's much harder for me to look at my notebook and take a quick look if I need to take a look. But I really think that I want to expand the audience.

So this is still the podcast you have grown to love. I will still be doing the audio. I will probably clean it up more than I can for video.

The thing with editing things in video, like editing out the ums and the likes and the all those little filler words, is that if you edit too much in video, your head just jerks around. It looks really, really weird. But I just want you to know that it will be available in both formats.

And if you go to creatinggreatgroomingdogs.com both formats are available there, too.

So up at the top, you can either click on video and it will bring you to any of the YouTube videos that I do for this podcast, or you can just go through the episodes like you always have listen on any podcast hosting service you have always used. Nothing else is gonna change. This is just an addition. I want to talk about who the show is for. So, again, this is for a new audience.

I've tried to make this show for groomers, of course, I mean, it is about teaching dogs to be good for grooming. But also, I want you to think about this show being for trainers that you might want to work with.

This might be for vet techs, this might be for veterinarians, this might be for owners. This might be for all dog pros who are interested in teaching dogs to be good for grooming, vet visits, and basic handling.

And I'm saying that because all of those people often work together in a dog's life. So if we can all join forces a little bit, that'll be helpful for all of us. I think that we tend to stay very separate. And why? Why?

So if you have someone you're working with, maybe you're an owner and you're like, hey, I want to talk to my groomer about how this can be used with my own dog. And I'm trying to do stuff at home and I want my groomer to do it. Send your groomer here. That's great. That's exactly why it's here.

This is all inclusive. Anybody from any background, please just join in if you are interested in this type of discussion.

I want to start off with the idea that behavior problems, when a dog has problems being groomed, behavior problems during grooming are when dogs get hurt, people get hurt, equipment gets broken, and customers get upset. From a grooming point of view, I want you to think about the behavior problem is terribly unsafe.

It is definitely when we start having issues and we can be teaching dogs to be. And this is something you're going to hear a thousand times on this show at least once every episode.

But we're teaching dogs to be calm, comfortable, and cooperative. Now, when I say calm, comfortable, and cooperative, those are things that we can identify easily.

Different than saying, like, I want to avoid fear or I don't want him to be stressed. It's much, much easier for us to say, but is he calm? Oh, he's not yet. Is he comfortable with this? Is he physically comfortable with it?

Is he emotionally comfortable with it? Is this dog cooperating with me? Now, notice I said cooperate, not obey.

And I know we come from a variety of different training backgrounds and stuff, but what I think is really, really important in the grooming process is that we need to know that a dog can be taught to be good. We want them to actively work with us and be really comfortable with grooming. So cooperation is a give and take, not just the dog.

We have to meet them part way, and that's part of what you'll hear about over and over and over again on this podcast, on this show. Oh, it's going to be hard to stop calling it a podcast. I know. And I know, I know, I know. All right, getting off topic.

But there are a lot of people who are going to tell me, like, oh, but video is a podcast, too. No, no, it's not. That's a video cast. It's different than a podcast. I. This is a podcast also.

And I have to think about my audio only people, which, by the way, if you're finding this is video first, you should be listening with your headphones on while you're drawing dogs. Right? I've been saying this for years because the podcast has been around for almost four years now.

While you're wearing ear protection, you could be learning about dog behavior, and it could help you with that very dog that you are drying. So I still encourage people to listen to the audio and do that.

So this show is for lots and lots of background, and it's really about teaching dogs to be good for grooming. One of the other key concepts that I want you guys to know about is that if you've heard humanity over vanity, I think we've all heard it a lot.

In my point of view, that is not just about matted dogs. I know we tend to use it when a dog comes in matted and we're like, I can't brush through these mats. I need to take his coat down.

You know, humanity over vanity, and we all raise the flag, you know? And that is true. But I want you to extend that out to when a dog is terrified.

The behavior problems that we see aren't because a dog has decided to be a jerk face today. I'm not just being a jerk face. I'm not just being annoying.

The problems that we see are because a dog is finding grooming unpleasant, uncomfortable, or scary or maybe even painful. So think about that. They're having a hard time. They're not giving us a hard time.

So if we start thinking about humanity, we also have to think about the experience the dog is having and use our same kind of discussions we do with our owners. When dog comes in really matted, and we're like, I can't give you the haircut that you want today that's not in your dog's. Best interest.

So we can use that same kind of idea when we're like, I can't give you the haircut that you want today because your dog is terrified of everything that we have, and that's not in your dog's best interest today. Let's work on helping your dog be comfortable with it. Let's work on doing the training part. Now, I know that.

I know that many, many groomers do not want to become dog trainers. And honest to God, dog trainers. I need you to hear this.

If you're a dog trainer in the audience, I need you to hear this and hear this really, really well. Dog groomers don't need to be dog trainers. I want them to, but that's not what they do.

And they're really, really frustrated because dogs are showing up as if they're just feral and have never been touched. And then we get told that we're doing it wrong. Okay. I feel for the groomers. I really do. So we need to think about, oh, this is a collaborative thing.

I may, as a groomer, send that dog to the vet for a workup and make sure that there's nothing physical happening. I may consult a trainer. We may get on board with some stuff that the owners need to do at home.

But it's not the groomer's job unless the groomer decides to take on the training part also. And I encourage groomers to do that. Clearly, that's where I geek out. And I think it's so much fun. I love working behavior cases. I know.

Did she just say behavior cases are fun? Yeah, but. But I want you to think about the. The owner has to be part of it. There's a lot going on. But it's not for groomers to teach dogs to be good.

Okay?

So anybody who thinks that, like, oh, well, the groomer must have caused the problem or the groomer identified a problem, identified a problem that was already there. So when we talk about humanity over vanity and maybe not proceeding with a groom if a dog is terrified, because. Why?

Well, let's think about that for a minute. This one's kind of a tough sell sometimes. So if you're new in my audience, this one might be a tough sell. But think about this.

If a dog is scared and we just keep adding more people and more straps and more, more, more to get it done, I think sometimes we've been taught. I was taught, right? Like, this is the wayback machine.

When I started, I was taught, I think sometimes we think the dog will figure out that it doesn't hurt. Oh, yeah, that's a beautiful, beautiful dream.

But I have known plenty of dogs that were scared of grooming and terrified of grooming for their entire life, because it's not about if it hurts or not. It's about if it's scary. So a different perspective and now thinking, huh?

So if those dogs are afraid and that's what causes aggression and that's what causes the behavior problems, there's a possible training solution. Ooh, Right now we're like, oh, that doesn't sound so bad. Maybe we should work on solutions. Maybe we should collaborate with others.

Maybe we should get this under control. And that's my goal for all of us to be able to get this a little bit more under control. And that's what the show is for.

Don't forget to subscribe if you're enjoying the show and tell all your friends, because we need to get this message out. I also want to talk about some ways that we can work on things.

Now, I did mention that calm, comfortable, and cooperative is a guiding light for us here on this podcast. Here on this show. God, that's going to take a while to get used to. Podcast show.

Anyway, I want you to think about every time you're looking at a dog and they start maybe wiggling, my first thought is going to be, okay, he was calm a minute ago, and now he's not, and he's starting to wiggle. So that's. He's kind of being uncooperative, but he was cooperative a minute ago. So my first thought is, is that dog now comfortable or uncomfortable?

One of the first things you can start doing if you're a groomer and you're new to this is start thinking in terms of, okay, why did he wiggle? Hmm. Everything was going great. Then we get a little bit of wiggle. I will say it's really common, and I've done it before myself.

I will tell you all of the mistakes I've made. Oh, yeah. If you tune into the show, I'll tell you all the mistakes I made, all of the things I've done, because I'm with you, I've done it.

If it's something that was. Yep, yep, I've probably done it. I want you to think about if they're uncomfortable. Sometimes we, as groomers, let's say, are picking up a foot.

We pick up that right front foot, and we go to line up the clippers, and the dog wiggles a little bit, and we instantly think, this dog is resisting us. That's Our first thought, think about that. Maybe you have a dog on your table right now.

If that dog wiggles a little bit, do you clamp down tighter and just keep going? Or do you pause and ask yourself, does this dog just need to readjust? I know, right? Somebody out there just went, what?

Sometimes that isn't a dog who's trying to refuse. That's a dog who just needs to readjust. And I have had so many groomers, so many groomers tell me that that piece alone really changed their day.

Because when you pick up a dog's foot, for instance, that right front foot, you pick it up and you go to trim a nail, and that dog starts to wiggle. If you first ask yourself, well, you were calm, comfortable, and cooperative a minute ago. What's going on, buddy? You okay?

And let them get their balance back. Sometimes they calm right down in your hand. And you can do that now. Oh, how cool is that? That taking a pause and asking, are you comfortable?

That can change everything.

Because if they're uncomfortable, if they're off balance, or you're asking that lassa with the super twisted legs, not that all lassas have that, but the one that does, I think we've all met that one that does has a super twisted legs. And we're asking them to pick one foot up and stand on the other foot. Sometimes they just need to readjust.

Sometimes they just need a little bit of help relaxing into whatever pose we're trying to get them into. Sometimes what we are doing is uncomfortable, and they aren't trying to resist us as much as they need a little bit of help being comfortable.

So I know, and I know I hear it once in a while, so I'm going to adjust it here. I know there's going to be someone out there saying, oh, my God, if we have to spend time making the dogs comfortable, this is going to take forever.

Okay, let's address that. Asking dogs if they're comfortable or not, and helping them be comfortable is part of our job.

What I know that's a really hard sell sometimes, but you. Yeah, and it's good for them. It's good business. I want the dogs to be comfortable. You know what? They don't resist when they're comfortable. What?

I know it seems crazy. They're usually pretty good if we can help them be comfortable for it. So every time that we say, okay, why are you wiggling? What happened there?

What's going on?

Another example, some of these dogs with, like, really, really short ducts, tails, you know, and you're trying to lift that tail up, and they press down on it like, hey, what are you doing, buddy? Are you okay? If I spend a minute and let them just kind of adjust that tail, just rub a little bit underneath the tail, like, hey, can you.

Can you lift that up for me? Most of the time, the resistance ends. And you might say, I don't have time for that. So let's address that.

Doing something in a different way will feel like it takes a long time, because what we're used to is that we're doing things the same way every time and we're on autopilot. So when we're on autopilot, everything feels like it's flowing great. I just need to get this done.

I need to lift it up, lift it up, lift it up, lift it up. Get it done, get it done, get it done. You know, and maybe you spent five minutes trying to get underneath that dog's tail. Done.

But what I'm suggesting might take three or four minutes or maybe the same five minutes. What have you lost? And maybe he'll be better next time. What? I know it's crazy. So maybe that dog is going to be better next time.

But it's unfamiliar and unfamiliar. Feels like it takes forever. You're like, this is going nowhere. I know my way I could get it done. But maybe that's why the dog behaves that way.

So I want you to think about if we are trying to help the dogs be comfortable and we're responding to, why are you suddenly wiggly? And ask why? I don't think we do that enough. I know Sometimes I even forget myself and go, why? Huh?

Everything was going really smooth, and now why did somebody just enter the room? Did someone in another room start hammering? That happened to me yesterday during a house call groom. I'm like, okay, no hammering during grooming.

Thanks, guys. If you want him to have both of his eyes. Oh, right. As I got clippers next to his eye, I want you to think about, like, what is happening? Why?

Why is the dog behaving differently than they did a minute ago? And maybe they are uncomfortable. Maybe what we're doing is uncomfortable.

A lot of our behavior problems stem from the idea that dog grooming is unpleasant, uncomfortable, and or scary. What we do is weird. We bring out a whole bunch of tools, this weird stuff and things, and we do weird stuff and things.

And these dogs are looking at us like, what is happening? Until they learn how to be good, until they learn about this process and they learn that they can trust us.

So so in the end, teaching dogs to trust us and that grooming is safe always pays off. Always pays off. And that seems like a tough statement, doesn't it? Like, you sure, Kirsty? Oh, yeah, I'm sure. That always, always, always pays off.

Because what happens is, is that we have a dog now who, if they are a little bit worried about something, they can give us a small signal.

Like my little guys, if something hurts or something, they just kind of go and wiggle a little bit because they know I'm gonna say, are you comfortable? Is everything okay? They don't need to turn around with teeth. They don't need to go crazy. I'm not just gonna keep clamping down harder.

I'm not just gonna grab more straps and more tools. Now, that doesn't mean that I'm against the straps and the. I usually just sum it up as straps.

But that doesn't mean that I'm against things like belly bands and groomer's helper and muzzles and things like that. Just that those things are meant to keep everybody safe, keep us safe, keep the dogs safe. And part of safe is helping them feel safe.

We have to help them feel safe if we want the kind of change that I want you to see.

Now, one final thought before we really kind of start to wrap this up, one final thought is that I want you to know that every dog that we groom, if we thought about their whole lifespan, I want you to think about 15 years of grooming appointments, 15 years worth. Wherever they're at right now, if we spend time teaching them to be comfortable with it, that can go through the rest of their life.

Now, I know a lot of the time people will say, oh, he's already 14. I meet a lot of elderly dogs that now can't be groomed, and that's where I start with them. And we usually make progress.

Yep, I know even at 14, we can usually make progress. We might have to adapt things, but I'm willing to do that.

And our progress might not be beautiful, great trims, that's okay because they're 14 and they have seizure problems and they've had a stroke. And as one particular example, some of them have dementia.

Some of the dogs that I meet have some pretty significant health problems going on, and I can keep it stress free for them and still help maintain their nails and their cleanliness and get their SANI done and all those other things that we tend to forget they're gonna need when they're 15. If a dog is always afraid of this. They can turn into monsters when they turn about 14.

Any dog can can be untouchable if they want to think about that for a minute. Any dog of any size can make themselves untouchable. Just that. It's nice that they usually don't. So, wrapping it up. Thank you for listening.

If you want to contact me, you can go to creating great groomingdogs.com, fill out the page there. There's a contact form there if you would like more information.

You can also go to the Creating Great Grooming Dogs Facebook group, the Creating Great Grooming Dogs Facebook page. You can join conversations there.

I do private lessons with groomers over zoom, so I can help you real time with the dog that you're grooming, and that's pretty fun.

Or you can also find out more about the Master Groomer Behavior Specialist course that I teach through Whole pet, and that's holpetnh.com have a great day.