Bijou's Law, Grooming Behaviors Transfer to Vet Visits Ep5

Bijou's Law, Grooming Behaviors Transfer to Vet Visits Ep5 You're listening to creating great grooming dogs I'm Chrissy Neumyer Smith I'm a certified professional groomer a certified Behavior consultant for canines and a certified professional dog trainer and this my friends and colleagues is the podcast who we grooming and training meet

Right now here in November of 2018 we have a couple of places um couple of states in the United States that are trying to pass laws about needing um licensing for groomers. One of them is Buu's law which is getting closer and closer to actually becoming a law for groomers to have licensing and what this really tells us is that the people are speaking up and what they want is safety and how can we as dog Pros everywhere make that happen.

Well the most obvious of course is industry standards and professional education which many of us are for in in in a variety of different ways. I'm not so sure I want um a state to handle that I think I'd rather have our industry do it. But the more important part and the part that I'm not hearing as much about is that we need to educate our customers and other dog Pros about our specific business needs so that we stop putting up with unsafe situations.

A lot of the things that I'm seeing that are being brought up when people are complaining about you know dogs getting hurt at a groomer are things like then know I saw one picture with a dog whose tongue had been cut and everyone who's not a dog groomer or a dog professional is saying how could that possibly happen. Well we as groomers know that that dog probably bit the scissors things like that do happen they make a difference.

And so when we start telling people this is how we keep everybody safe and we educate them about what we need to do to teach their dog to be calm and Cooperative so that we can have safe grooming and um also to help other dog Pros know more about our business.

But right now I also want to talk about um because these things are coming up and owners are are really saying that this is what they want they want safety they want to know their dog can go off and get a haircut and a bath and not get hurt and they don't understand what we're where we're coming from. So I want to talk a little bit about the dog owner responsibilities and one of those things I want you all to take a deep breath and be thinking about this it's going to feel a little bit odd at first but dogs are a luxury.

You do not have to have a dog a dog is a luxury and owners have some responsibilities that come with that and one of those responsibilities is to make sure your dog doesn't hurt anyone. I think that's pretty obvious we all think about it in terms of well we can't bite the neighbor or you can't bite the mailman or you can't bite the neighborhood kids and can't hurt the neighbor's dog but we also need to extend that to um you know vets groomers cuz we're people too.

But to make sure that your dog doesn't hurt anyone also means that as an owner you have to seek out training Solutions if your dog has a problem and you also have to warn people about your dog's problems. So let's put a little bit of responsibility on some owners um and when we're talking about safety policy and I talked about it in my first episode so if you want to go back to episode one learn a little bit more about the safety policy there too.

But an owner who tells me up front in the past my dog has been really bad about his ears now they're informing me about a dog's problems and I can tell them that there are training solutions for their dogs problems. A lot of dog owners don't know that there's a solution um and a lot actually a lot of vets a lot of grimmers a lot of trainers don't really know what the solution is either which is part of why I'm doing this podcast.

But to help people understand oh wait this isn't forever so if I tell you what my dog's problems are that's part of me as an owner keeping everyone safe and preventing my dog from hurting anyone and seeking out Solutions and trusting the professionals around me including my professional groomer and my trainer and my vet and my vet tax and my Doggy Daycare person. You know that to trust the people around me that we're all trying to work together to help this dog be better.

Now the other dog responsibility dog owner responsibility that I think is really important here is to make sure that you keep your dog healthy that's a pretty obvious one we all know well have to keep your dog healthy and you know your veterinarian is necessity okay but a lot of vets will turn dogs away if they have huge behavior problems and we're seeing it more and more.

And they might not turn them away during an emergency but they might say yeah we don't just don't bring your dog back and I've worked with a couple of dogs who have been kind of told we don't want your dog back um so we are also telling them that it's your responsibility to keep your dog healthy but if you have this Behavior problem you must address it you as a dog owner must address your behavior problem and we're here to help you.

I want them to find Solutions if I don't have the solution I will send them to someone who does so the vet is a NE a necessity but here's the thing this is going to be hard for you guys to to think about but just go with me your groomer is a luxury. Dog Grooming by a professional is a luxury service for a luxury item and I know we don't want to think about dogs as items but I want you to think that it's not your personal responsibility to keep your customer's dog healthy it's your responsibility to do your job and grooming is baths skin care hair care and nice trims.

But if that dog is crazy and doing something that's um going to hurt the dog or going to hurt you or going to make all the other dogs in the area stressed out then that's not something you have to take on. Refusing service for an owner who isn't willing to help out who isn't willing to work with that dog isn't isn't a problem right anybody who listens to your safety policy and says I don't care they aren't your customer.

So their job is to keep their dog healthy they don't have to have a professional Grimmer do it I would love for everyone to have a professional grommer do it cuz I think we've all seen what people do when they aren't professionals. But at the end of the day if they if they think it's going to be hilarious to wrestle their dog down and do his nails then they can do it in their garage.

So it's it's a little hard for us to think about that grooming is a luxury it's a luxury service and that while keeping a dog healthy is important it's an owner's responsibility and not ours. So when we're talking about things like beu law and safety and education we also need to remind owners that I am here as your profess I'm willing to put beautiful Trims on your dog if your dog lets me do their do my job if not well we need to work on the dog's behavior and try to get the best that we can.

And that's just the way that we're going to help that dog be better for the future and to make sure that they understand that this is for safety because that's what beu law is all about the and the Licensing Laws is that people just want to know their dogs are safe that's what we want too like I don't want groomers losing their their livelihood because you know a dog bites their right thumb and they're out of work for God knows how long or even a career- ending injury.

We want to make sure everybody is safe and so I'm actually kind of thinking that the more we bring back these own responsibilities trainers don't take on training customers if the owner says oh I'm not planning on putting any work in it no I I'm paying you to do all of that so that I can just go about my day and do the same things I've always done. Trainers don't take that on why would groomers why why we don't need to.

So I do encourage all groomers to have a safety policy and to tell everyone about it because you know what if trainers and vets and doggy daycares know about your safety policy and the reason behind it owners will start hearing the same types of advice wherever they go and that's really important for us all to have this united front that we are here all of us to make sure your dog can be cared for to the to our best ability and to make sure that this dog can handle being taken care of.

It'll keep other pros from throwing groomers under the bus and I don't even know if they realize they're doing it but I'll give you some examples you know um some that I've heard because I end up getting called in with dogs who've been bad someplace else but oh something bad must have happened at the groomers if they said he wasn't good for nails because I know this dog and blah blah blah blah blah blah right.

Um something bad must have happened at the groomers gets told a lot but what if instead they now know more about the grooming process and say yeah sounds like your dog had a tough time with the groomers with their nails maybe the things you've tried already aren't complete yet maybe just massaging his feet on the sofa didn't transfer to having his nails tramped which is actually one of the most common ones is that they're they're working on handling feet but not in a way that is going to be helpful for nails.

Another example of being thrown under to the bus I can't believe they let him go unfinished and they're having you come back in a few days to finish him like that's totally inappropriate you know what there are plenty of times I will stop and and reschedule the rest of the grooming. I can think of one pretty recently with a dog who um at about 1 hour in just was having trouble handling anything and it's just a matter of he was young and silly and pretty mted on his legs and before he started Ed to get really antsy or too worked up we stopped and he had a great a great session and then this next one was great too it was in a couple of days.

Because we can't just be in this mindset that it has to get done and it has to get done now so if vets and dayc carees and stuff say oh well that seems reasonable they did a whole bunch and before he got to started you know getting a little worked up and they said well let's reschedule him and do some more maybe they won't throw us under the bus maybe maybe we all can come together and say oh that seems quite reasonable.

And another one another example of throwing groomers on the bus is any version of well the groomer just needs to whatever whatever whatever you know like the groomer just needs to give him peanut butter and say who's a good boy who's a good boy boy you know whatever it is that they're coming up with that they just need us to do that.

When we talk more to the other professionals and the other dog ERS and the the dog community in general for them to realize that grooming is already two hands and a whole lot of work and there's not a whole lot more we can add to what we are doing so we're trying. But the idea of oh well the groomer just needs to do this or this or this and Tada everything's going to be easy that'd be great but that's not the way it works.

Um in fact so I often have people say well what would you do in this situation and a lot of those situations aren't a five minute answer it sometimes I feel like I'm being asked to do like a party trick like well what else is going on. So again this one's all about safety education talking to our owners talking to our our colleagues making sure that everyone knows how to help these dogs be better.

And that's really what Buu's law is about that owners don't understand that we're using dryers that their dog might be in a cage with a dryer on him people freak out with that idea I'm like well he's not good for standing and doing it by hand so that's actually a nicer way to do it we're not like cooking them in there but they have these crazy ideas.

We just need to make sure everyone knows what we're doing you know like how could possibly hurt an eye how does it not happen every day I mean you know that we're using Sharp Tools right um in fact I've had customers who really had no idea that our tools are sharp like it didn't occur to them they kind of assumed that we were using safety equipment like safety equipment doesn't cut hair.

So like all of our stuff is razor sharp and the ball tip scissors next to an eye can still poke an eye you know that um we're all trying to be really really safe and now with laws that are coming out to really kind of change our business and our industry whether we like it or not because I think some of those laws are going to be a little bit crazy um you know next thing you know we won't be allowed to have dryers or you know scissors of a certain size who knows what they're going to come up with.

But for us to be able to say okay we're trying to make things very very safe and if your dog is crazy struggling having a hard time we're going to slow down and calm them down and work on their behavior and not worry about getting the trim perfect because that's how dogs get hurt absolutely without a doubt dogs get hurt people get hurt equipment gets broken.

And when we present it as a safety policy then we're also presenting it as hey this is just the the way we do business and it's not um a response to a dog being naughty it's something we present before the dog is even on our table we talk to them when they book it it's not it's not like they're being singled out we just explain it to everyone.

So just some thoughts about some of these laws that are coming out and uh I would love some feedback people I haven't heard much feedback at all but I am here for your questions and I would love to talk.

When we're talking about keeping a dog calm and relaxed and just working on their comfort zone one of the things I want you to start thinking about is that that's helping them learn that this is safe and that they can cooperate with us and that everything is all right.

We already talked a little bit about safety policies and we've talked about ways to to we've talked about fear and avoiding fear and by avoiding fear we're helping the dogs to relax More For What needs to be done. But I also would like for you now to be thinking about telling dogs what we are doing and I call it um just naming the stuff just telling them what it is.

So for instance um I say loud noise an awful lot before I turn something on so especially with a dog that isn't used to being groomed or is new to me and I don't know how they're going to be like I'll turn on my clippers down low like I'm holding them down toward the floor when I turn them on and I say loud noise turn on the Clippers and see how they react.

If they're fine with that then the noise come closer if they're not fine with that then that's where we work on it and I turn them off again. Okay here comes loud noise Here Comes loud noise right um and you can get them used to terms like loud noise or you know my hand on your hip right you know or brush I I name my tools a lot brush here's the comb and I'll let them sniff them but not play with them.

And sometimes if it's too rigorous of sniffing like no no no cuz some of the stuff is sharp uh but to tell them what we are doing where we're doing it you know I often will um run my finger over an area before I run a tool over it so for instance I might run my finger over an ear and say okay this ear with the brush so first I run my finger over it the way I would with the brush and then I add the brush then I add the dryer then I add but start talking to them start talking to the dogs and coming up with your own lingo.

Um I believe I have a video on there with um oh gosh I've got a couple of videos on the on the creating great grooming dogs Facebook page of you know me talking to the dogs telling them what I'm going to do this ey toward me toward you with the comb with my finger with the Clipper um so talking them through it is important also and when we're talking about all of our tools and staying still for it all of those grooming behaviors that type of training transfers to Veterinary behaviors.

Now there are a lot of Veterinary behaviors that do not transfer to grooming behaviors and that's kind of why I really push the grooming behaviors more U because you know like at the vet's office something like um chin targeting is is really great it could be very very useful to have a dog who places their chin on your hand or on your leg so that you can work on something on their body on a grooming table it's not likely to be able to be usable.

But a dog on a grooming table who knows how to be still in our hands while we touch a back leg or do range of motion on a back leg right not that groomers are practicing it as range of motion but through the grooming process we are working that leg in various angles so it does transfer to a vet appointment where someone might say okay relax you're in my hands and they're going to migle your leg right so it transfers the grimming stuff transfers to vets.

And I want give you an example a specific example one of my guys um we had had some problems with a urinary tra infection and the vet had my vet had said I would like to get a sterile sample from him so you know we made an appointment to catheterize him the next day to get a sterile sample and I thought to myself well is there anything I need to teach him before we do this tomorrow.

And you know what no I couldn't think of anything that I was going to need to teach him for something brand new so when I got to the vets office there was a tech I hadn't met yet um and I I do bring my guys there often enough even if it's just a matter of checking their weights cuz my guys are flyball dogs and I try to keep them in really good shape and I'm watching their weights and making sure they're not getting too skinny or too heavy but um they go to the vets for at least a weight in cookies pretty often.

So I got um Rocky on the floor this new tech came over and he's being his silly self um he's doing the Border col ferret dance thing you know and I didn't realize while I was talking that she had put one of the thermometers next to his ear one of the ear ones and I so I put my hand on his head and I said okay Bry still y thermometer they taken their temperature it's going to beep in a minute okay loud noise beep beep here it comes and he's staying perfectly still I've got my hand on his head and I just told him to be still for it.

And then when It beeped I told him okay good job nice job buddy you can play but until I calmed him down he would have just sat there wiggling for her right like she's got you know the thing in his ear not knowing that he has a behavior that he knows. And so then we went into the into the room to do this uh procedure minor procedure but still you know catheterizing him something he's never had done and I know the vet very very well I just this Tech was new to me um and uh you know she had asked me if I wanted to be in there I'm like yeah I would like to because he has some words that I know I can talk him through it he has a pretty good vocabulary.

So thinking about what he's going to need to do right so I get him in the room and I tell him okay picking you up and I put him on the table all right lie down on your side and I got him on his side okay we're going to hold you this way who's a good dog great job okay we're going to clean you up right these are all things he understands and then when it came time to actually do the catheter you know those are body parts that have been named like okay she's going to poke you and I put my finger on his side like poke she's going to poke your Willie.

I know not very professional but we come up with words right but it's a body part and he knows what that is because you know he's a male dog he's been cleaned you know he's had haar trimmed. Right so when we told him that everything was a breeze right so okay here she comes she's going to poke you and what three two one poke yeah nice job buddy all right and he was perfectly still for it because he knows relax still he know understands what I'm telling him that we're doing to him.

Right we're not asking him to do anything other than to be still and allow us to do things to him which is really what grooming is about it's not so much about um him trying to interact with us as much as he's just okay follow instructions some simple instructions about being calm and where I need to be so that they can do things to me.

And so he was great and then when we were done I put him back on the floor and he went back to being the hoppy jumpy silly little guy um and U you know the thing is is that you wouldn't expect from the silliness he was doing earlier for him to have been so calm and collected while this was going on but that's because we've worked on hey be good and relax and it's not the end of the world he's totally comfortable with people doing stuff to him and knowing that playtime will happen later.

So things that we teach in grooming can apply directly to that's office stuff um I will give you another example I have a couple of bons that I groom and they had a vet who was coming to the house for them who was having a little bit of trouble getting drawing blood so we booked it so that I could hold for blood jaws and the dogs are fine for me I would just hold and like okay Tinkerbell yeah Tinkerbell and Buttercup aren't those the cutest little names for ban right but okay Tinker Bell and relax and I'm going to hold your leg okay and here comes the Poke.

But a lot of vets aren't used to saying like here comes the Poke right like here it comes 3 2 1 poke and I see that 3 2 1 do something almost like when we're trying to organize lifting something heavy with more than one person right we're trying to get us all timed together 3 2 1 lift right 3 2 1 poke when they know what poke means and they know when it's coming and you're having them be calm.

Right when they know what dryer means or loud noise um all of those things help a dog to remain calm and to be able to handle the things that we want them to do they directly help with grooming and definitely H help with the vet's office also you know um my guys have been good for things like X-rays and and tooth exams and I mean all sorts of things that uh many dogs have problems with and I really feel that it's because we spend so much time on some of these grooming behaviors and making sure that my dogs are comfortable being handled all over.

For any of you out there who are looking for some some one-on-one help we have these wonderful devices in our pockets these phones that we can do live video with each other. I can definitely definitely set up a lesson with you with the dog that you're having trouble with right there on your table and be able to guide you through some of this stuff um definitely reach out and let me know I'm at Chrissy happy critters.com dogs um Facebook group and we can definitely set up times to work on these things together because you might be surprised how much I can do for you um live where we're actually looking at each other being able to observe what you're seeing helping guide you or even showing you on a dog over here on this end of video so there are ways for us to help each other there are ways to learn this from a distance.