It’s always exciting bringing a new puppy home. Their boundless enthusiasm & energy fills the house with joy.
Of course having a puppy also comes with new jobs and responsibilities. A lot of training is required to ensure your puppy grows into a happy, well-adjusted and polite dog. There’s obedience school, potty training, boundary setting and, of course, grooming training.

Topics Covered:

• Choosing a breed & their grooming

• Grooming Training at home
  - Feet/nails, tails, faces

• Brushing

• Puppy coat transition

• When should my puppy start getting professionally groomed?

Choosing a breed & their grooming

Grooming preparation starts before you bring your pup home. Before choosing a breed, make sure you are aware of the size, food requirements & cost, potential health issues, temperament, exercise requirements AND grooming requirements. Grooming commitments can vary greatly between breeds. For instance, a Jack Russell needs a brush one a week & can be washed in the sink at home every 2-3 months for free, whereas a Samoyed will require daily brushing & at minimum 6 weekly grooms costing anywhere from $120-250 each appointment.

Grooming should be considered when choosing a breed, both how much time you’re willing to dedicate to home maintenance, as well as your financial budget for grooming each year. Before choosing a breed, research their grooming needs first. Your best bet is to call/email a few groomers & ask about the breed/s home maintenance requirements, grooming schedule & a ballpark quote for a groom. We’re always happy to help potential pet parents make an informed choice on their new

Grooming Training at Home

It is ideal to start getting your pup used to grooming as soon as you bring them home. This doesn’t mean giving them a full haircut the day they arrive. It means slowly introducing the building blocks of grooming in a fun, positive way from the start so by the time they need a haircut, it’s something they have experienced before & not a big new scary thing. What this will involve can be different depending on breed & coat type but some areas will apply to all dogs.

A note on training before we jump in; as with all dog training, the key is short sessions regularly. Obedience training recommends 5 minute sessions 3-4 times a day for the best results. The same is true for grooming training, short sessions a few times a day will keep your pup from being bored & they will learn quicker. Positive reinforcement is always the key here. We’re not punishing for getting it wrong, only rewarding for getting it right. When talking about rewards, this could mean food or treats, their favourite toy, playtime or a good cuddle/scratch. Work out which motivates your dog the best & use that for training.

So what does grooming training involve?

FEEt & nails

Many dogs do not like having their feet touched or their nails trimmed. Dogs are smart and, just like your children, they’ll figure out your weaknesses & manipulate you. Like a kid throwing a tantrum to get their own way, many dogs learn that if they just wiggle around & carry on enough, Mum/Dad will give up & I don’t have to get my nails trimmed. As a groomer, I have spent a lot of time having to teach dogs that that trick will not work with me, simply by being patient & not giving in. Consequently, I have a lot of clients that I am the only one that their dog will let trim their nails without fuss.

Getting your puppy used to their feet being handled is essential. Not just for grooming, paw injuries are very common & having your pup comfortable with their feet being touched makes checking for injuries a lot easier on everyone involved.
Start by just touching & holding pups feet when they’re laying down & relaxed. If they let you hold it, release & give big praise & rewards. Make sure you’re doing this with all four feet. If they start squirming or pulling away, gently keep hold of the foot & move with them. Don’t let this turn into a game, we’re not playing tug-of-war with their leg. We’re not yanking, causing pain or forcing them stay still, we’re simply keeping hold of the foot until pup is calm & still on their own. If pup starts nipping you, a calm but firm verbal correction of “Ah” or “No” should be enough to stop them. Once they relax, hold the foot for another second or two then let go with big praise & big reward. We want to reward them for relaxing while having their foot held. Do this regularly, whenever you are sitting relaxing with pup.

Once they have that down pat, start holding their feet when they’re in a sitting or standing position. Again, if they resist, move with them keeping hold of the foot until they relax, wait a second or two then release & reward. This is usually easier if they are elevated on a table or surface.
Teaching the ‘Shake’ command is really beneficial here too. Just remember to teach them to do it with both front paws, either with different verbal cues or hand signals. (ie: My dog knows ‘paw’ means left foot & ‘foot’ means right foot)

When your pup is super comfortable with their paws being held, start poking around between their pads, their nails, between their toes. Do this gently, we’re not trying to cause pain or discomfort, just have them used to the sensation. Again, big praise & reward.
Once your pup is grown, it is good to keep touching their paws so the training is reinforced & not forgotten over time.

Tails

Similar to feet, many dogs don’t like their tail being touched. This makes it tricky when the vet or groomer need to lift it up to check out a problem or clean their bottom.
The training is similar to the above feet training. Start by holding pups tail when they are relaxed. We’re not yanking or pulling on the tail, if pup squirms move with them. Once they relax, wait a second or two then reward. build this up until pup is comfortable with you holding their tail up while standing.

Faces

Having someone poke around on your face can be very confronting for humans, let alone dogs. Whether they’re a breed that needs regular face trims, or there’s an injury or infection that needs assessing, having yuour pup comfortable with their face being held & touched is essential.

How we train for this depends on the dog. For dogs with short hair, the best way is to teach you dog lay its head in your hand. Hold your hand palm up towards the dog. Use a treat to lure you’re dogs head into your hand, hold for a second then praise & reward. Pair with any verbal command you like (chin, head, face, etc.). Repeat, slowly increasing the time the dog head is in your hand before rewarding. Once they’re comfortable with that, curl your fingers around your dogs muzzle. Start by curling then immediately releasing & rewarding. Build up the time your hand is curled around the face. Once comfortable, use the hand curled around the muzzle to move the dogs head, start small & build up. Always keep the movements within your dogs normal range of movement, we don’t want to cause discomfort or pain.

For dogs with longer face hair, I recommend using the above method as well as teaching the chin hair hold. This is how groomers keep dogs still & safe while trimming around the head & face. Start by holding the hair under the chin. Your pup will likely start to wiggle; move with them, not yanking or pulling at the hair but also not releasing. Once they relax, hold for a second, release & reward. Repeat regularly building up how long you hold the face before releasing. Once pup is very comfortable, gently try to move the head while holding the chin hair. Keep it slow & gentle, staying within pups normal range of motion. Big rewards for this one!

Additionally, it really helps pup to be desensitized to being touched around the eyes. This one is quite easy, while snuggling with pup, simply run your finger gently between & around the eyes. Think of it as a relaxing face massage for your pup. You’ll likely send them off to sleep with this move which is absolutely fine.

Brushing

Brushing is the most important part of grooming training & something longer-coated breeds will require for the rest of their life. For a demonstration on how to brush your puppy, see the video below.

Puppy Coat Transition

You heard Melanie speak about coat transition in the video above.

When puppies are born, they have a softer, finer puppy coat, much like baby hair on humans or the soft, downy feathers on many baby birds. As they grow, they will transition from this soft puppy coat into their hardier adult coat. Their adult coat will be slightly coarser and may change colour slightly depending on breed. How and when this happens varies between breeds but usually happens as they move from the puppy to adolescent stage, anywhere from 6-18 months and can take 2-6 months to fully transition .
For short coated dogs, this transition is usually only noticeable by an increase in shedding.
For medium to long coated breeds, this transition can be trickier and is the time they are most likely to get matted as the texture difference between the soft puppy coat & coarser adult coat rub against each other & tangle more easily.
During this time, brushing & combing routines need to be increased to reduce the chances of matting. If that’s not possible, then clipping your pup shorter during this period will also reduce the chances of matting. Once a coat is matted, the only option we offer is clipping short. Extensive dematting is painful, especially for a puppy. For more information about matting click here.

When Should My Puppy Start Getting Professionally groomed?

As early as possible. We start taking puppies from 10 days after their final puppy vaccination. Unvaccinated puppies should not be anywhere there are a high number of dogs due to the risk of transmissible infections. This includes public parks, dog parks, doggy daycares & groomers.
The earlier your puppy is introduced to grooming, the better their chances of having a happy, life-long relationship with grooming. This does not mean your pup has to have a full haircut or shave at 12 weeks old. We offer Puppy Intro grooms for pups under 6 months which focus more on introducing them to the sights, smells and feelings of being groomed. It can be quite overwhelming for puppies so these sessions are guided by the puppy and where their limits are. We do not push them past their limits, but work with them to build their confidence & establish trust with the groomer. We use treats, toys & cuddles to break up the session so grooming is a positive thing they want to do. For more information on our Puppy Intro grooms see our Canine Services page.

We recommend booking your pup with the groomer as soon as you get them or before you get them as many groomers (ourselves included) have a waiting period for availability. Don’t wait until you want your puppy groomed to book. Book ahead of time to ensure you get an appointment for the time you want.