Cats and Other "Non Dogs" Ep171

Speaker A
00:00:00.160 - 00:20:42.240
Episode 171. This week we're talking about the non dogs. I know it's the Creating Great Grooming Dog show, but let's talk about animals that are not dogs.

Because many of us as groomers want to apply some of these principles to animals that are not dogs. And there are a lot of things that do apply and a lot of considerations. So let's talk about it this week.

This is the Creating Great Grooming Dog Show. I'm Chrissy Neumyer Smith.

I'm a master groomer behavior specialist, a certified behavior consultant for canines, a certified professional trainer, 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 show where grooming and training meet.

We talk a lot about behavior for dogs because of course, this is a show about grooming dogs and teaching dogs to be good for grooming. But there are many, many groomers who groom other types of animals. So what can we use and what can't we use? It's a really interesting question, huh?

And this came from a discussion with someone who's learning how to groom cats right now. And I was like, ah, you know what, you're right. We really don't talk much about that.

But let's talk about some of the principles that we talk about on this show. So one of those things is our goal is an animal who is calm, comfortable and cooperative. And that will be true for any species that we work with.

Okay? That is, that's just going to be a goal no matter what it is.

If you are trying to groom an octopus, we want the octopus to be calm, comfortable and cooperative. Now I'm trying to think of octopus grooming needs. Anyway, I want you to think about any animal that we're working with.

That's going to be a really effective goal for us. So calm, comfortable and cooperative.

Now, the way we reach that might be different for each species, but I think if we think about each species as also who they are as an individual and that's why behavior is a little bit different. The behavior portion is very individual. There are lots of reasons why an animal might not like grooming. We can think of number of reasons.

Perhaps they're afraid of people, perhaps they're afraid to leave their house. Perhaps the tools are scary, perhaps their body is uncomfortable in whatever positions they're being asked to be put in.

Lots of reasons why they might find it uncomfortable.

So even though this is a show about dogs, I want you to think about Anytime you're working with another type of animal, ask yourself the same kind of questions. Does he seem calm? What's calm for this animal?

Is that dog or cat or rabbit or ferret being very, very still because they're frozen with fear, or are they being calm and that's why they're holding still? Very, very different. And different species will show that differently.

I want you to think about the different species are going to be different, blah, blah, blah. Different species are going to be different, right? Yeah, that's really obvious, Chrissy.

But I want you to think about the times when you have an animal that's on your table and you're like, I think this animal is really relaxed and calm. They aren't breathing heavy. They're not frozen with fear. They're not giving me the whale eye, that.

That kind of side glance where they're looking at you with the eyes wide open, almost like they're watching a horror movie and trying not to look, but need to look. We have an animal who's relaxed, their muscles are loose. If they're staying still, it's because they're just calm. Okay?

We still want to look for that. If you're grooming a cat, that's still our goal.

If you're grooming a ferret, if you're grooming a rabbit, the great Angie Coates, I'm sure, would agree. If you're not familiar with Angie Coates, you should be teaching rabbits and cat grooming.

But I want you to think about calm and is that animal comfortable? Now, the ways that we can make an animal comfortable will vary depending on their species.

You know, perhaps for a cat, the way we're going to make them comfortable is to let them lie down and don't expect them to stand on a table the way a dog would. I think most of us wouldn't try to make a cat stand on a table the way a dog would.

We already know that they're going to be more comfortable if we let them lie down. But how do we help that species, that individual, feel more comfortable? Now, along with a cat, what if you're grooming a horse?

We wouldn't ask a horse to lie down. We wouldn't ask them, like, hey, can you lie down so I can braid your tail better?

You know, there's another species that perhaps their most comfortable position is actually standing. Okay? So it really is going to vary by that individual and what we know about their species.

But if we're helping them be comfortable, then we're helping toward the goal, which is to be also be comfortable with grooming, to feel like grooming is safe. Now, we're also going to talk about cooperative, right? The three Cs. Calm, comfortable, and cooperative. Cooperative.

Is this animal easily allowing you to do the things that you are trying to do to it, on it, around it, with it, with stuff and things. That's the word breakdown, right? Is that animal allowing that? Is that the cat that is pulling their legs really tight under their body?

Or is that the cat who's, like, letting you maneuver their leg around? Is that the. The cat that's letting you move their tail around? Is that the animal who's easily like, oh, yeah, sure, you can. You can move my leg. Cool.

You can do it. You can touch it with whatever tool you want. These goals are still important.

And when I talk about behavior and behavior goals, those kind of apply for every animal, including. Including our humans.

So let's give a human example of behavior, because I think it's funny, if we break it down for humans, let's say a customer comes in and she just won't let go of her dog. Is that customer calm, comfortable, and cooperative? No. So what do we do? We try to calm them. He is going to be just fine.

Is there any particular reason why you're so worried about dropping him off today or passing him to the groomer or. And then we address their fears. Because we're animals too, so calm. Can we calm our customer down? Is this customer comfortable?

Is this an emotional support animal? Is this customer really physically uncomfortable when the animal is not nearby? And how can we help with that? Ooh, interesting.

Never thought about people training, did you? It's all about people training, especially when you're house call. Oh, my God. Especially when you're house call. So is the customer comfortable?

Is the customer comfortable dropping that dog off or not? How can we make them comfortable? I don't know what happens behind closed doors. Ah. Would you like to watch.

Would you like to watch on the video camera instead of in person where your dog is clearly not calm while you're here? There are lots of advantages to having some video cameras going, you know, but anyway, be thinking about that.

So even when we're dealing with our humans. Calm, comfortable. Is that owner cooperative? All right, that's the owner that's holding the dog.

You know, she's got her dog like she clutching, clutching, clutching, holding onto her dog for dear life. Like, I don't know if I can drop him off or not. Yeah, she's not cooperative right now. How can we help her be Cooperative.

How can we help a person be calm, comfortable, and cooperative? Now, again, this is about taking some of these behavior principles and just applying them all over the place. All over the place. Spread that around.

Do it with everything. All right?

So even if it's a cat, even if it's a ferret, even if it's a rabbit, even if it's a horse, if you are grooming a goat, if you've ever trimmed goat hooves. I have trimmed goat hooves. What do you want?

You want a goat who is calm, comfortable and cooperative and lets you do the stuff and things on their body with your own weird stuff and things and tools. So anything that you're working on, any animal that you're working on, this goal is going to be the same, all right?

And that's where we have an animal who's now willing to let us do all of our weird stuff and things to them. Now, like I said, every animal is an individual, and the species have some very specific things.

So we're going to talk a little bit more about how dogs are unique and some special considerations for other animals in the next part. 

If you are enjoying this show, please remember to subscribe and tell all your friends and get the message out.

I feel like I'm the best kept secret in the industry, so get the message out. Thank you. Now, what makes dogs a little bit different? What makes dogs really unique? We have an interesting relationship with our dogs.

We have dogs that live in our houses. Everyone's like, yeah, of course our pets live in our houses, but they live in our houses.

We tend to do a lot of training with our dogs that maybe we don't do with other animals. So our dogs are very likely to pick up on human cues, and some of that is believed to be just the way dogs have evolved near us and around us.

They pick up on a lot of our human cues in a way that some animals might not have learned how to yet. Individuals may. But I want you to think about the average kitty. The average kitty lives in their house. They don't go anywhere.

They go to the vet, but they don't really go off for like, hey, we're gonna go for a walk, or we're gonna go for a play date, or they often don't even leave their house. All right? That's the average life of a house cat.

And I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but what I am saying is that they often don't have much experience when it comes down to being picked up, brought in a car, and Brought someplace else and then having a stranger doing stuff to them that maybe their owners don't do. Now, what I mean by that is there are a lot of owners who barely touch their cat.

Like, they pet their cat only when their cat comes over wanting love. It amazes me. I don't know why. I used to groom a lot of cats. I love cats. I just couldn't be everything for everyone. I love cats.

But my last kitties, one of them I had had him as a kitten. He grew up pretty much like any other pet I would want living in my house. He knew a lot of words. He. He could follow instructions.

He was crate trained. Yes, I crate trained my cat. He could be easily in the tub. Easily.

I have video, but I'm a little bit worried about putting it up because it's such old video.

And I have him on a slip lead, and I know someone would lose their mind, but keep in mind, this was a long time ago, and I had him on a slip lead, and he behaves exactly like you would expect a dog to on a slip lead in a. In a tub. Anyway, he was used to having people coming over as a kitten. I used to bring him lots of places.

And then I'd say at about a year and a half old, he lost interest in going anywhere. Okay. Cats are different than our dogs.

But that early socialization for that cat, he was a very, very social cat, and he would let anybody do anything, including when he had a loose tooth that was bothering him. We were able to pull it out with local anesthetic while he was awake, wide awake. Like, that's a really good kitty. Okay.

I think we sometimes forget that cats can be trained and that cats can learn a lot of the things that dogs can learn, but they are not dogs. They're not dogs.

So we have to think about the average house cat coming for a grooming appointment, or even if we're going to their house for a grooming appointment. This could be something that they are wildly unprepared for. So we have to work extra to help them feel. Yeah, you're going to hear it again.

Are you ready? Calm, comfortable, and cooperative. So that's an example for cats. Okay.

Often these animals do not live in houses with lots of foot traffic coming through. You know, the ones that do, though. All right.

The animals that have, like, tons of kids coming and going and stuff, like, they tend to be a little bit more like, oh, hey, yeah, a human. Cool. I meet new humans all the time, but the ones that really have a more secluded Life.

Sometimes they're really nervous about a new person, and we want to help them feel comfortable with it. But then again. Now, let me just throw this out there, because this is a show about dogs. Don't we know a lot of dogs like that, too?

The retiree that has, you know, this one dog, and they don't really go anywhere. They're just kind of comfortable couch companions.

And maybe they don't do a whole lot of walks or whatever, but they hang out on the couch a lot, and they don't have a whole lot of company come over. And that dog isn't well prepared for our services either.

So, circling back to why it's so important for us to think about the behavior aspect with any animal. Any of them. Any of them. Now, here is one place where dogs and cats and other animals can be a little bit different.

I want to talk a little bit about the fear responses. Okay. There's freeze, which is when you're just frozen with fear. You're just terrified. You just freeze. And you're like.

You know, in human terms, where that's when you're like, you're just frozen in there. Just don't know what to do next. Some dogs are like that. A lot of dogs are not at all. You don't get to pick which one you're going to be.

But a lot of our smaller pets definitely are in the freeze. You know, rabbits, for example. Rabbits will definitely just kind of. And freeze. Or here's the second choice, flight.

That's when I just have to get out of here. I'm going to just start running. I don't care where I go. I'm just going to climb the walls. I've literally seen cats climb the walls.

I worked at an animal hospital as a vet tech for a while, and we had an owner come in, I swear to God, came in with her cat loose in her arms into a room full of other animals waiting, put him on the counter and let go. And that cat had a meltdown and was just. Just frantic trying to get away. And we trapped him in an exam room.

And I spent about 20 minutes trying to get that cat into a carrier as it, like, climbed the walls, circled the ceiling. And from what I understand, everyone in the other room, all they heard was, it's okay, kitty. Are you. Oh, let me just try to. So, yeah, yeah.

I have seen cats climb the walls. That's flight. That's an animal who's like, I just have to get out of here. Our cats will do that. Our rabbits will do that. Think about that.

That's hardwired. That's instinct. That's. That's when the brain says, I can't handle this anymore. And the body takes over. So the flight response, Huge, huge response.

And they don't get to pick which one they're going to do. Okay. And then there's fight. A cat will definitely, at some point reach a point where they're like, okay, freezing didn't work.

Getting away isn't working. Their body goes into. I will fight you. Okay. This is why we need to work on calm, comfortable, and cooperative for any animal we're working with.

Calm, comfortable, cooperative. Can you handle the things that I'm asked to, to do to you? Can you handle the tools that I'm using? Can you handle me?

Can you handle me just getting near you? Okay, so bunnies. Bunnies. Bunnies can fight, but they're going to go through the other two much quicker.

And bunnies are more likely to do the scratching, trying to get away. So there are lots of different animals out there.

Now, part of my background is going to an agricultural high school for animal science, Essex Aggie in Hawthorne, Mass. For any of my, my Aggie geeks that I've worked with horses, I've worked with goats. I worked on a dairy farm for a while.

And even with something like a cow who is, let's say it's a heifer, it's her first time having a calf, fresh heifer, first time putting a milking machine on her, we had her in the barn with the other animals who were being milked so that she was around that we were getting her used to all the process that we could get her used to. But the fact of the matter is the first time you milk a cow is always going to be the first time you milk a cow.

And it's new for her and it's uncomfortable, and you're trying to keep her calm, comfortable, and cooperative. Yeah, I know I keep saying it over and over again because it really is the easiest way to break it down.

And in that case, the dairy farm I worked at was not a milking parlor. So we were actually bringing the machines next to the cow, kneeling next to them on the floor and hooking up the milking machine.

So basically, it's a really unsafe place to be if a cow is upset, if a heifer is upset, because she could easily, easily kick you and do some serious damage. And yeah, at some point it's going to happen, but you want that animal to feel safe with you. You want them to Trust you.

And even with something like cattle, the same principles apply, even though they're going to go through some other version of the things that we do to them. And it could be that we're grooming them for show. We did that a little bit in high school. There's a show trim for dairy cows.

I know, it's kind of fun. I don't remember it much, but I remember we spent a long time trying to make the ends of their tail but poof out like it's cotton candy.

It was really pretty. They looked really cute. The beef cattle also have their own show trims and their own prep for show.

So any animal that we work with, any animal we work with at all, we want to think about these behavior principles and still put them into place. Okay. Use them with your customers. The human end, you know, how can I help this human? Be calm, comfortable, and cooperative.

And with humans, because we can use language if they are not calm, comfortable, and cooperative. And maybe we can't help them be cooperative. Maybe it's a. I'm not going to brush my dog. Oh, I'm. I wish I could convince you.

I will spend all sorts of time trying to convince somebody, but sometimes at the end of the day, you just can't convince them.

But even when we're dealing with other people, even when we're dealing with our own pets, be thinking about why the behavior happens, why it's the why that's so important. Why would this be scary? There are lots of things that could be scary about being groomed by somebody. Yeah. Or going to a vet visit.

You know, maybe it has nothing to do with if it hurt. In fact, I find most of the time it has nothing to do with if something hurt or not.

But the frightening part is being held and being touched and maybe not being able to walk away from someone who's trying to hold you or touch you. Or maybe not being able to walk away from someone who's grabbing hold of you and restraining you. And that can be. That could be the scary part.

So think about any of the animals we're working with. Any of them. There are lots and lots of types of animals out there. And even though this show is particularly.

Particularly about dogs, what we can do is we can think about the individual in front of us and the lifestyle they lead and make some guesses about what we think they might find scary and then work toward helping them be calm, comfortable, and cooperative.

If you're enjoying the show and you want to learn more, you can find me@creatinggreatgroomingdogs.com you can find the Facebook group Creating Great Grooming Dogs or the Facebook page for Creating Great Grooming Dogs. Or you can also look up my courses@wholepetnh.com have a great week.