Do any of these situations describe your pet?
- Your pet is a rescue, or at some point in their lives has endured traumatic events
- Your pet fears the groomer, and shows signs of nervousness and aggression towards the groomer
- Electric clippers would be a borderline traumatic event for your pet
- Your groomer has presented sedation as a last-resort option
Don’t give up – gentle, sedation-free home grooming is a possibility! Read on for tips that will help your pet to tolerate – and perhaps even enjoy – being groomed.
Getting Started
1. Recognize that reconciling a pet to in-home grooming requires time and patience – don’t hold your pet down to groom them in one session
Our approach to in-home grooming is not going to modify your pet’s behavior in a day, a week or even a month. However, most pets will respond positively to small steps relatively quickly. Expect delays in progress, backsliding, and sessions that just don’t go well. Remember that since you live with your pet, you’re the one person who can take the time they need.
2. Make time to work with your pet. Even ten minutes a day can make a huge difference.
Set aside time to accustom your pet to grooming tools. Don’t expect to get a lot of grooming done.
3. Make every grooming encounter a positive one.
Every encounter with grooming tools must be positive. This might mean that you lay your nail clipper on the floor and lure your pet with food to accustom it to the clippers as a non-threatening object. Gradually, the goal is to associate grooming tools with positive experiences to the point where your pet will accept being touched, its nails being clipped and various parts of its body being handled.
4. Remove grooming tools that stress your pet.
To reduce stress, avoid or eliminate any grooming tools that emit sharp or vibrating noise. You may find that scissors and combs will serve to keep your pet’s coat neat once you get used to handling them with greater skill and experience. There are also great silent grooming solutions like Scaredy Cut, the Silent Clipper. You may never need to go back to vibrating clippers and, if so, you have just removed a stressor from your pet’s life.