How is your dog with grooming?

*blackrose

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#1
And by grooming, I include bath, brushing, nails, ears, and drying off afterwards. :p

I just gave the dogs a bath outside with the hose. Abrams saw me grabbing all of the supplies and he got SO EXCITED. Because bath time = HOSE PLAY TIME. He went bounding outside, grabbed his toy, and was so excited. After I trimmed his nails and cleaned his ears we did a little preemptive bath time hose play, then we got down to business, then we played again afterwards. I've never had a dog get this excited about the bathing process before. LOL

As for the actual "grooming", he tolerates his nails being done. He hates it with a passion and will lip lick and squirm the entire time, but I can do it by myself with him between my legs. (Heaven forbid I ever quick him, then I think it will be all over.) He's about as enthused for his ears being cleaned as he is his nails being trimmed. For the bath itself, he holds perfectly still. I didn't even have to restrain him with a leash today, he just stood there while I did my thing. Rinsing him off and giving him a pat on the butt was his cue to act a fool again. He's good for being blowdried, too, and will just stand there, although he has to bite at it and flail when it's first turned on.

Cynder hates the entire process and acts like I'm about ready to beat her with a baseball bat. She holds still for it all, but makes sure you know she is full of woe. She can be dramatic with her nails and sometimes like to scream/flinch, although that is typically when she has an audience (aka, I'm at work with her). She's good for her ears being cleaned out and holds still for her bath, but I have to keep her on a lead or she'll dart away. She HATES being blowdried, but she's gotten so much better about it. I used to not be able to dry her face at all, but now as long as I'm not blowing square at her face she holds still.

She is a brat, though, and if she is still wet from her bath if I turn her loose outside the first thing she does is roll in the dirt. Not the grass, the dirt. She finds the dirtiest spot possible and just rolls.

Both of them get fooled with pretty routinely. They get a bath about every four weeks, give or take, and I'll trim their nails up every 2-4 depending on how ambitious I am/how long the nails are. One of the first thing I did with Abrams was get him used to the grooming process, but poor Cynder got indoctrinated when I started dating Michael. LOL He would dremmel her nails, brush her (with a hairbrush :rolleyes:) and give her a bath in the tub (using a cup to wash her down with), but she now knows what a thorough groom job is.

Cynder LOVES being brushed, Abrams not so much. Getting him to hold still and not chew on the handle is a challenge.
 
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#2
Abby hates getting wet and will hunch up the minute the water touches her (when she was younger she would actually scream) and could care less when the vet trims her nails. I have vision/depth perception issues and am terrified to cut their nails.

Zane pretty nonchalant about getting a bath. All he'll do is try and walk away. He also doesn't care what the vet does with his feet.

Deputy enjoys getting a bath (I think he loves the attention and the massage part). He also doesn't mind getting his nails trimmed.

Kieber will attempt to climb out of the tub/up my arm and has to be restrained by two people to have his nails done. He looses his mind and acts like a feral dog (keep in mind this dog is under 20lbs). :rolleyes:
 

Equinox

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#3
He's GREAT with being groomed, but absolutely HATES getting bathed. Whether it's in the bath tub or (once we learned our lesson) with a hose in the backyard. I mean, admittedly we never really did any desensitization, so I don't entirely blame him, but he gets bathed very infrequently so it's not that big of a deal. He WILL stay still if I tell him to 'stay' but he's extremely unhappy the entire time and will pull ears back and glower and try to get away after a while. For drying, we just use a towel and he's used to that because of all the rainy days we get and beach trips we take.

Getting brushed, on the other hand, makes him pretty happy. He used to hate it, but after a while grew to love it.




He's also fantastic about getting his nails clipped and dremeled. First time we did it was when he was 4 or 5, no desensitization, just had him on his side with some hot dog pieces handy. He stays completely relaxed and unphased. He's also never given anyone trouble the few times that we've had a groomer or neighbor/friend clip his dew claws.

He's okay with ears. He used to get ear infections in the summer so he's not big on people messing with his ears, but he'll hold still when I tell him to and allow me to q-tip and apply medication when needed. He'll just huff afterwards and roll around a bit.
 

Lyzelle

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#4
Zander is okay with everything as long as it is quick. Longer than 5-10 minutes and he'll refuse to cooperate at all. Or if it is a bath, start screaming his woes.

Quinn is a work in progress, obviously. Bathes are terrible, but the scrubby part and DEFINITELY the drying off part are pretty cool. She's too jittery for one person to do nails, so it takes two people. But it is getting better the older she gets, probably just due to sheer energy control.
 

BostonBanker

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#5
Both of mine love to be brushed.

Both hate to be bathed. Meg will step into the shower by herself with a very resigned look and stand politely once I get her into the bathroom. She would like it over as quickly as possible, thanks. Gusto tries to choke himself to death attempting to get out of the tub and screams like a banshee half the time.

Meg is the same with her nails; doesn't like it, but lays there quietly and patiently waits for it to be over. Nails with Gusto were a huge challenge until I got a Dremel. He is wonderful for them now, and we are finally making progress on getting the nails shorter after three years of fighting over clipping. Meg doesn't like the Dremel and she's good enough with clippers that I am not going to bother training her to tolerate them.

I have never cleaned either dogs' ears.

Both LOVE having their teeth brushed.
 

Oko

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#6
Brushing is torture, especially when I steal her pants.

Why would I take her nails, what a horrible thing to do.

Bathing is not met with any resistance, and she likes bopping a toy around in the tub.

I can handle her ears and teeth with no complaint.
 

Slick

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#7
Leo is all "Woe is me" for any kind of grooming except brushing, but he lets me do all of it.

He is especially sad for a bath, and hates clipping nails the worst.

The entire reason Leo lets me clip his nails is because I reward him with a tug between each and every nail. Yesterday, I accidentally clipped one of his nails too short, and he YELPED and immediately lunged forward and shook his tug viciously in a "That hurt. I definitely deserve this tug right now" kind of way.
I usually only do one paw at a time, just to keep things positive. He starts to submissively roll onto his back if I try to clip more at one time. He'll still let me clip, but gets more and more sad about it.
 
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#8
Hudson says that Sheppies have a teflon coat and therefore do not need to be bathed or brushed. Ever.

When it is bath time, there is normally very sad faces, ears, and sometimes he sounds like I am torturing him. He doesn't particularly like being brushed, but I think that is because he is a sissy and doesn't like his hair being pulled. He will hold relatively still for pulling a tick off of him. He doesn't like his nails being done either - clippers or dremel, doesn't matter- but he will tolerate it for a while.

I've never done his ears or teeth.
 

maxfox426

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#9
We do grooming here in the most basic sense: bath and nail trims.

Morgan is kinda "meh" on baths. He doesn't seem to really enjoy them, but he will ask to join you in the shower every once in a while. Because apparently he likes being dirty less than he likes a shower/bath. :p

He tolerates nail trims. Tolerates as in "I really really really hate this but I love you so I'll try my very best to hold still" *crrrryyyyyyyy*. It's not ideal, but we make it work.
 

PWCorgi

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Frodo tolerates being bathed. He doesn't love it, and looks pitiful, but he stands still for it. Same with tooth brushing and ear cleaning, he doesn't love it, but sits still and looks dejected for me.

Frodo used to be BAD BAD BAD for his nails. BAAAAAAAD. As in at one point I had him sedated for nail trims. Megan and I worked with him a lot, (pain meds also helped a TON) and = now I can sit him in my lap holding his face with one hand and shoving a kong in his mouth with the other while Megan dremels. He will still get growly/bitey if his kong empties, or if Megan gets too close to a quick. But he is a billion times better than he was.

Siri used to LOVE LOVE LOVE having her nails dremeled. A couple weeks ago I think I got too close to a quick, and she is a little more hesitant. But for the most part she does really well.

Siri LOVES having her teeth brushed!

And she HATES baths, and stands in the tub like a statue, every muscle tense. So. Much. Hate.
 

Southpaw

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#11
Juno is good for anything except ear cleaning. Which I rarely do anyway. I have to kind of sit on her otherwise she flails her head too much. But otherwise baths, nail trims, teeth brushing, whatever, she's a piece of cake for.

Cajun I can do anything except nail trims. Oh God nail trims. She should be sedated for those but honestly that's really inconvenient and I hate that she's drunk for hours afterwards. So I just deal with the ridiculous wrestling match.

Lucy's fine with everything, squirmy for nail trims but I can still do them myself.

Happy is fine for everything.
 

Finkie_Mom

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#12
Pen likes it all, but isn't too enthused about nails. He lays for a good bit of it, but if I take too long he gets impatient.

Bubbles is the same as Pen.

Kimma hates everything forever. She will stand still for most of it, but I have to approach grooming time with her slowly and with lots of food.

Jari is really tolerant of it all and actually freaks out with joy when I get out the grooming table. He just isn't very patient yet so I give him lots of breaks.

Teeth/nails/brushing is done once a week, more if necessary. They only get bathed twice a year when they are blowing coat, and that usually just means they air dry. If we have a show or something special coming up, they might get bathed more frequently and get dried with the forced air dryer.
 

Toller_08

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Ripley: He doesn't require much grooming, but he's good for a bath. Just stands there, turns when I tell him, etc. The only thing he does that's not so good is that he always hangs his head low or outside of the tub, which results in water running down his face and/or onto the floor sometimes. He's good for drying too. Shakes in the tub, gets out, sits on a towel and waits while I dry him with another towel. He's good about getting his ears cleaned too and actually really likes it. He's good about me scaling his teeth the odd time I feel like doing it too. He's mediocre for his nails. He pulls his front feet away and kicks his back ones randomly, so it's not the best time for sure, but he could be way worse.

Journey: Journey's a dream dog to groom. She loves being brushed, trimmed, etc. She's not twitchy or fidgety at all and interferes with Dance's grooming time because she always wants to be the centre of attention no matter what kind of attention it is haha. She's great in the bath tub, doesn't like to be blow dried but stands nice and still and puts up with it, she doesn't like getting her nails done either but lies nice and still and is calm. Doesn't care at all about getting her teeth done, her ears, anything. She's the easiest dog in the world to groom. I never dread it.

Dance: Dance is twitchy. But in life in general she's pretty twitchy. She just can't sit still and not fidget. But she's good for the most part. Like Journey, she's excellent in the bath tub and puts up with being blow dried. She can be a bit of a brat about getting her feet trimmed in that she jerks the front ones away sometimes, but not too bad. And when I trim her ears sometimes she pulls her head in the complete opposite direction, so that's annoying, but all in all she's pretty easy. She's terrible about nails though. Some days are better than others, but I have to like wrestle her down and hold her in a very specific way so she doesn't escape and she spends the whole time whining or screaming for her front feet (back ones don't bother her as much). I've given up making it a positive experience for her. I tried for years with no improvement, and it's something that is a necessity, so she just needs to tolerate it. She too could be worse. I get them done weekly by myself and it doesn't take that long. It's just aggravating with all the pulling and twitching and squealing for no reason for all the neighbours to hear.

Grooming is something I am very strict about. It's a necessity of life, and while I try to make it as happy as possible for them all, I also don't have any tolerance for a poorly behaved dog while it's being groomed. So whether they like it or not, it's getting done, and they just have to suck it up and go with it.
 

katielou

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#14
Abe doesn't love baths but once the water is warm he gets all sleepy.

He loves getting dried and brushed and regularly falls asleep often.

Nails and teeth he tolerates.

Fig wants all grooming to die!
 
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#15
They tolerate it. Which is all I ask for of any dog I groom but especially my own. I deal with enough aggressive and dramatic dogs at work I refuse to put up with it at home. They get done every month although recently I've bumped it to every two weeks, nails and ears are done weekly and shaving whenever I get sick of how fuzzy he looks.

Out of all of them Woof does the best, he'll happily jump on the table by himself, eventually he'll even lay on the table and go to sleep, same with the tub, he's not a fan of the bath but he doesn't fight it. Metro time he gives me death glares but again doesn't fight it. Rolls on his back for his nails and squints his eyes, could care less about brushing and shaving.

Boone abhors it. He submissively pees, espeically for his nails. The only thing he seems to like is ear cleaning. He won't fight but he is not a fan at all and shakes the entire time as if you may chop his head off at any moment.

Ranger isn't a fan, he'd much rather be swimming in filthy pond water. Again no fight but no help either. He tries to blind you with slobbery kisses for his nails so someone has to hold his head or I just straddle it if I'm alone. He loves the metro though, he'll lean into it and "air scratch", groan and moan.
 

CharlieDog

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Indy is an IDIOT for nail trims. I think she would rather stick her head in an oven. It's ALWAYS a rodeo, whether I'm using the dremel or clippers. And I've never quicked this dog even ONCE, done a TON of desensitization work with her, but I think she just has sensitive toes. Anything else, even scaling her teeth myself, she lets me do without a fuss.

Harrison I haven't bathed yet, but he tolerates me messing with his teeth, ears, and is super chill about his nails being clipped.

Ozzy and Enzo are the same. Woe is them about baths, but Oz, Zo, and Indy will all get in the tub on command, and then stand there while I bathe them, zoom groom them, and then shake off in on command, if we're at home, they wait until I say for them to get out of the tub. They all absolutely love being toweled off. Indy and Enzo tolerate the force dryer. It gives them the woe, but they just stand there. Ozzy doesn't care for the force dryer, and tries to bite the air nozzle, but I'm sure me laughing at him doesn't help with that lol.
 

DJEtzel

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#17
They tolerate it all, but are not hugely impressed. Tables make it easier, but I can do it all at home on my kitchen floor or in my tub on my own.
 

*blackrose

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Oh, I forgot about teeth brushing! I don't brush Cynder's, although I probably should. She'd probably just roll over and hate life, but let me do it.

Abrams loves having his teeth brush because he gets to chew on the toothbrush. Dumb dog.
 

Elrohwen

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He's kind of a butt about it all. He cooperates more or less, but he makes it known that he doesn't want to be there and finds it all either super annoying or super boring. Not terrible at all, and I think he's getting better. I used to groom him only if my husband was around, in case I needed him to hold Watson or stuff treats in his face, but I can do it all by myself now.
 

Laurelin

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Paps hate it. Hank loves it of course. He does try to wrestle when you do his nails. Thinks you're playing.
 

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