DOG GROOMING/HANDLING AND CONTAINING When choosing a new puppy or dog - please bare in mind the work that will need to be done on its coat. Long and thick coats take a lot of time to keep in a healthy condition. They also need regular trips to a grooming parlour which is an extra cost through out the dogs life. You must keep up to scratch with this grooming, as to leave coats in a matted and dirty condition is very unfare on the dog and you will often miss a lot of skin complaints, lumps and cuts under all that coat. Once coats are matted the only way to get rid of it in most cases is to be all clipped off - which will not look nice on some breeds. De-matting a whole dog every visit, is unfare to both dog and groomer and is very stressful to the dog. Please ask for advice on the care of a breeds coat before you buy it...dont ask just the breeder as some do not say the real amount of time needed...ask a groomer - you are quite welcome to email me!! If you decide to go ahead with a breed with a coat that needs grooming parlour visits..then as soon as you get it, choose your groomer and start getting your puppy socialized with them and all their equipment. This will help them when the time comes for their first clip....what happens here can change your dog for life and in some cases a bad experience is totally irreversible - so take plenty of time choosing the right groomer - not the cheapest - the one who knows not just about grooming but the handling of dogs and spend lots of time preparing your puppy for their parlour visits. Copper my own dog, on my grooming table.   Massage in dog grooming This is an extremely important part of handling dogs that come into the parlour and helping them to relax. Light massage during bathing and drying promotes a soothing affect to dogs while in a stressful time, but it is important that the groomer understands how to achieve this correctly and also the times when massage should not be used. For people who involve their dogs in sport; massage is an important part often overlooked; it has many benefits and helps maintain healthy systems in a dog and to keep them fit and healthy.  To help reduce the incidence of injury and improve performance, dogs should be warmed up prior to running and then have a cooling down period before further massage at end of competing.   For more information on this and the Diploma I am working towards with my degree please take a look at this web site: www.galentherapycentre.co.uk   The Tellington Ttouch I am lucky enough to have a friend and work colleague, who is a TTouch Practioner.    Learning about TTouch is a major step forward for anyone wishing to learn more about dogs and how to handle them correctly, it gives you a result that most of us dream of - it is well worth the time and money spent on learning about it.     So why is TTouch important to us as a groomer?   The Tellington Touch is a teaching method for dogs and other animals, working on their neural pathways.   It incorporates body work and ground exercises as appropriate to improve co-ordination and balance/athletic ability, whilst deepening communication, understanding and respect between an animal and it’s owner or carer and it   helps to increase levels of self confidence and self control.   Body TTouches find areas in the animal’s body that indicate tension, fear of contact or discomfort. Specific movements and TTouches are used to improve circulation, release tension and promote a greater sense of well-being. The method is widely used around the world by animal lovers and people who work with animals.   It is not necessary to learn the whole TTouch approach to help the animals in your care. Learning just a few of the body TTouches by working with a trained Practitioner or attending a workshop can make a difference to an animal’s life. This is what us as groomers need to learn about -   as it   reduces the physical and mental stress created by human contact, handling, and environment conditions.   Bad handling and bad experiences such as cuts/bruising during grooming, can often   leave a holding pattern of pain in the injured area or fear of being touched there. This pattern persists below awareness long after healing is complete. Us groomers   might be   unaware of the past, but it is still strong in a   dogs senses - making them difficult to handle directly because of there experiences or in some cases lack of them through lack of socialization to environmental conditions such as grooming.   TTouch helps to relieve this, makes a dog become relaxed and trusting to you   and so helps to relieve the stress which it feels in a grooming parlour. With a continued use of TTouch, animals develop more ability to operate in a calm, focused mode and increases there levels of self-confidence.   I use hand strokes, gentle hair pulls and TTouch circles to lift and separate the hair, massaging at the same time   during my   time drying the dogs.   Most of my short-coated dogs or clip offs are dried with my fingers NOT the brush all the time, which a lot of dogs dislike anyway. I have had many dogs   close their eyes while I was drying them and the next time they come back they settled much quicker.     GETTING YOUR DOG USED TO REGULAR GROOMING Regular grooming keeps your dog looking and smelling good, maintains skin and coat in good condition and gives you the opportunity to detect any skin problems.   It also has another very important function; it provides a gentle and enjoyable way of showing your dog you are in charge – which is a vital part of all dogs’ socialization and training to help them live happily with us.   Most behaviour/training problems occur due to lack of control over our dogs and one of the main causes of this is the owners being unable to handle the dogs due to them not receiving this type of education correctly and regular.   So all the extra time you put into these sessions will be well worth it for many reasons.   v         It is always best to start this as soon as you get your dog or puppy and it is very important that they associate it with good experiences.   Dogs learn through “trial and error” and will choose what is best for them – that is their survival instincts!   If they receive games and treats during the grooming they will choose to do it again, if there is no reward and the grooming is painful, frightening or restricts their movement, they will become more and more reluctant to receive it.   It will take patience and consistency on your behalf, but every positive minute you spend doing it will be well worth it.   v         Large breeds can be done on the floor, for a puppy or small and medium breeds you can do this or use a steady table (wobbly ones will frighten them), in the corner of a room will be ideal so there is two safe sides for the dog to lean on and to help prevent them falling off if they might struggle.   Place something on it to prevent them slipping like a bath mat and have all your treats and equipment ready by the table or on it so you can reach them with out leaving the dog unattended (NEVER LEAVE A DOG ALONE ON A TABLE, EVEN IF YOU THINK THEY ARE WELL TRAINED).   v         If you are concerned about your dogs behaviour and feel unsure about the risk of them biting you, as they don’t like this – buy a comfortable muzzle (basket type the best) and carry out the below procedures wearing this (if you are worried your dog will sense this and it will make them more apprehensive about what you are doing, the muzzle will help to relax YOU). Give them lots of breaks and rewards, taking the muzzle off to do this if necessary and then putting it back on. THIS GROOMING EXERCISE IS EVEN MORE IMPORTANT TO THESE DOGS, TO HELP THEM OVERCOME THEIR FEARS AND INSECURITIES ABOUT PEOPLE TOUCHING THEM – DON’T GIVE UP!   v         Start by gently moving your hands all over your dog, leaving no part of them untouched. Reward them often with treats during this; someone else could do this for you why you are working on them.   v         If they struggle at any part do not give in there, hold them safely, not to tight, till they have stopped then start again – praising their calm behaviour (do not reward them to calm them down, this will only encourage the behaviour).   Giving in at this point will also show the dog that this behaviour is more positive as you will stop something they are unsure of – ALWAYS STOP AT A TIME WHEN THEY ARE ALLOWING YOU TO TOUCH THEM WITHOUT STRUGGLING.   v         Gradually build up the length of time you groom your dog and gradually add the use of brush and comb into these sessions, be careful not to catch them on knots in the coat remove these carefully with a small blunt pair of scissors.   It is much better to have three five-minute sessions than one big one with you both struggling.   v       Start and finish the sessions with a favourite toy game, this will make it even more rewarding!