Need grooming advice for rat terrier

[Ailish]

Hi, all! I have a year old rat terrier that is very skittish. Anya shook and ran when I tried to brush her. (She's a pound puppy and probably was not treated very well before.) I've tried different brushes, even a cat brush so I knew it was really soft, but she hates it and seems so frightened I don't have the heart to brush her. Even though she has short hair, it's everywhere. I don't want to bathe her too often, but it seems the best way to get those loose hairs off of her and keep the doggy smell away. The smell is noticable a few days after her bath. I read through some of the other posts and wondered if the smell wasn't diet related. She's a finicky eater and currently she likes Purina Little Bites. How often can I/should I bathe her? Any ideas about brushing? How can I keep that doggy smell away? Thanks!

 

[milo]

aww bless have you treid taking her to the dog groomers for a clip maybe? instead of brushing her out! neways im sure some here will prob help better!! gd luck!

 

[corykins22]

for awhile, try and just have the brush around her and you, let it touch her so maybe she just gets used to having it around then you can slowly start brushing her. im assuming that if you cant get her brushed because she is scared then you probably cant get her nails cut either? if the brush thing doesnt work, i would probably suggest taking her to a vet to get groomed and such because they have better techniques and if absolutely necessary sedate them. because at groom shops, they can only do so much, and if your dog is too scared they could just end up sending her home. (i would never get her shaved down to stop the shedding, because it wont stop it. you will just have smaller, prickly hair shedding which i would think would be more annoying. sorry if you already knew that, but you would not believe the amount of customers we get that shave down dogs with short hair. i once had a guy come in to shave down his 3 month old corgi! silly)
ok, anyway, about the doggy smell. you could try some cologne for inbetween baths. i have a bunch of it and spray my dogs every once in awhile. (but i work in a groom shop, so they get a bath once every week or two). but do get the dog cologne, not people stuff. oh, and you could try a conditioner/remoisterizer that smells really good and just let her sit in it for about 10 minutes, it lets the smell last longer. i have clients dogs come in and i can still smell the remo i used from the month before! it also helps get dead hair out.
so, i hope some of this helps! good luck!

 

[Ailish]

I took her to a groomers once. She was freaked out by the cages and I felt really bad about leaving her, but she needed her nails cut. The groomer said she did okay, but she was just laying in the kennel when I went to get her and she was shaking and very submissive when they let her out. She seemed pretty miserable. I don't think I could take her back. Are the directions on the conditioner/remo? Can I just pick it up at Petco? I'm not sure what you mean about letting her sit in it. Do you mean just cover her coat with it and then rinse it out after 10 minutes or so?

Thanks so much for the advice. I really appreciate it. I've only had outdoor dogs before and we had them from the time they were puppies so it's been an adventure to have Anya (she was a year when I got her). There's so many things I didn't know about!

 

[Gwinnywillow]

They sell nifty rubber gloves that have "bumpies" all over the palm and fingers of the right hand. That should work. And also---you should not give in to her fear. It is up to you to teach and show her that all is well.

I have had dogs like that, and after making them accept what I was doing to them, and praising them like crazy they finally came to accept what I needed to do with them. Just pick her up, put her in your lap, bribe her with some goodies, and brush her. For a coat like that, a rubber horse curry comb would be best.

 

[Ailish]

Thanks for the advice on what kind of brush to get. She's doing okay with the cat brush now, but it takes a long time to get her to settle into it and it doesn't really work At some point I'm sure we'll get it all figured out.

 

[Gwinnywillow]

Thanks for the advice on what kind of brush to get. She's doing okay with the cat brush now, but it takes a long time to get her to settle into it and it doesn't really work At some point I'm sure we'll get it all figured out.

Well, you could try shoving her head between your arm and body, and grasping her that way. While she is trying to back out, you should be able to do a fair amount of brushing!

 

[skyeblue]

oops never mind lol thought u ment an actual rat