04/09/2025
Here’s a little back story about Fred
Not long ago a video circulated around the grooming community that raised some eyebrows. The video showed a dog (Fred) being dried that was very distressed while also wearing a muzzle. It was titled “why groomers are refusing to groom doodles” and Fred was labeled as an aggressive dog. (We don’t refuse doodles and actual love our doodle clients)
His owners ended up reaching out to us and we booked him not knowing at the time he was the dog from that video. We did end up putting two and two together. After meeting Fred we realized immediately he was definitely not aggressive but a submissive and fearful pet. We also found out he was EXTREMELY food motivated and used that as a tool to encourage positive behavior and positive reassociated with grooming. We have never needed to use a muzzle and he has made such incredible progress.
How we were able to make such quick progress?
Fred maintains a two week schedule with the same groomer every time. This helps him build a trusting relationship with his groomer, and also helps build his confidence. We work within his comfort level. We utilize things he already has positive associations with during grooming (like food). This rewires how the brain perceives an experience.
It’s important that we as professionals understand dog behavior as well as using proper training methods or resources to help dogs learn to love the grooming process. The get them done mentality is outdated and we need to stop doing this to animals and use empathy and compassion when work WITH them.
Mobile Grooming Services! Your pet is an individual and should be treated that way!
