A puppy during self-isolation might feel like bad timing, but it really can be quite beneficial for introducing them to the sights and sounds of the grooming salon.
Sounds daft doesn’t it because you’re stuck at home and can’t get to the salon? Your puppy is still a little bundle of fluff right now, forget trying to get them in at the dog groomers. There’s so many things you can do at home to break it down for them so that when you do start bringing them to The Dog House Leicester for their Puppy Pamper Sessions they’ll already have experienced plenty of noises at home.
So let’s use the government rules (possibly bend a few) to help you to desensitise your puppy.
Puppy Barclays first puppy visit
Social distancing
This is key to remember when introducing anything new. Always keep your distance and even if you think you’re far enough away – give it an extra two metres. Don’t try to rush getting things too close, too quickly. You need to ensure your puppy is happy with having a hair dryer switched on at the other side of the room and you need to repeat this several times before you begin to move it closer. The same with clippers and any other sounds.
Do touch your face – flipped that one on its head you see!
You need to make sure that your pup is comfortable having their face touched. One of the first things people always ask us is ‘can you trim his eyes? He can’t see’. Well yes we can, but you need to be doing your bit at home as well. You need to be gently touching their face quite a bit. Start from their shoulders and work up towards their chin, most pups will happily accept a chin tickle!
Then you can gently hold some of the fur under their chin, quite a big clump of fur so that you don’t pull at any hairs, just for a second or two to start and then give them a reward. You can then build on this time.
You can also work up to getting your fingers around their eyes. After working up from their shoulders and under their chin you can use your index fingers to start touching the fur from the bridge of their nose and work towards their eyes and down (where the eye boogies collect!).
Before we consider putting our scissors near your puppy’s face they need to have experienced this quite a few times!
Tilly relaxing after her eye trim
Wash your hands orrrr as we like to call it – Touch your paws!
Those little feets is sensitive. It’s really important to get your puppy comfortable with their feet being touched. As groomers there’s lots of handling we have to do around their feet trimming their pads and nails so Its crucial that you start to do this at home too.
Try not to tickle them, be gentle but confident and then reward afterwards. Again, start at the top of the leg and work down towards their paws. Keep rewarding and giving lots of verbal praise. Over time you can build up to holding their paws and touching their pads!
Puppy Monty learning how to do a puzzle
Follow these 3 pieces of advice and your self-isolation will be much more fun, your puppy will love you for it! The more you can get your puppy used to being handles the better – it’ll make for lifelong happy visits to the groomers.
Don’t forget to book your Puppy Pamper Package in at The Dog House Leicester (as soon as we’re back open!)
Drop us an email contact@thedoghouseleicester.co.uk or give us a call 07467 394567
