[Brittany Lot]

Well Zoe and I are attempting to conquer the perils of grooming (although we have yet to try to take a bath...she came home last Tuesday).
I have managed to somewhat subside the puppy wiggles while I brush her everyday and I have even cut some toenails without permanently maming her!!!
But I am a little worried. Doesn't keeping their little faces dry really help with tearstaining? I want to keep her face nice and dry and I also realize that this is going to be a problem after bathtime: she HATES the hair dryer. She is absolutely terrified of it. I have put it on the floor and let her smell it. Sometimes she can ignore the noise but once she gets passed that and finds that it blows air, she is outta there. Any suggestions?
Also, I wanted to get her some little clippers to trim her bum and the pads of her feet. I just want some little, possibly cordless ones. What do ya'll have?
Thanks everyone,
Brittany

 

[Mystify79]

I bought one of those super absorbant camper's towels and that helps wring out all the water out of Tuffy's fur.. then I usually let him run around and air dry until he's almost completely dry. I use a really quiet hair dryer so he doesn't seem to mind it too much, it's also one of those ion dryers that supposedly cuts down on the frizzies. I always use the dryer on the lowest setting so it doesn't get too hot. I think you are on the right track with getting her used to the noise of it.. maybe she'll eventually get used to it. I may be reading into this too much, but Tuffy seemed to realize the hair dryer was okay when he saw me blow drying my own hair.

 

[Toby's Mom]

 

[Brinkley & Neyland's Mom]

Originally posted by Nichole@Jul 27 2004, 01:13 AM
I use my husband's beard trimmer to do Toby's feet pads, so I guess you could use one of those to do the bum area, or scissors would work, but that may take some time and practice.

Me too, it works great for the bum, as well as around the bottom of the eyes...once they get used to holding still...Brinkley is getting much bettet at that. I also use it to trim his wee wee hairs...
For the smaller areas, the beard trimmer is just not as frightening. It is smaller and so much quieter.

We don't air dry either b/c the AC in my house during the summer is always full blast...he would freeze if we air dried. He is learning to like the hair dryer more. I think with any of it, they just have to learn the routine...and you cannot give in when they don't like it. You have to stick with it until YOU are done...They are too smart.
Puppy classes have taught me alot already.

 

[jami]

When I first started blow drying Lacey she too didn't like it. Now that she has been home for almost 7 weeks she is getting better. I have learned just to do and not to give in when she was trying to get away. I give her something hard to chew on and I brush, comb and dry away. Keep at it and you will see that these little ones do learn that they have to keep still. I also tell Lacey that this is the price for being so beautiful. We now call her "Miss America" because she is just so beautiful!

 

[pico's parent]

I know just what you are going through with the hair dryer. At first, I sat on the floor with Pico and after a minute, he'd wriggle away and start racing around the room (I had the door closed to contain him) and as he would zoom past me I'd aim the dryer at him and he'd veer away and race off again. It got to be a game that I actually enjoyed but it didn't get the job done.

So I sat on a chair with him on my lap so he couldn't jump down and brushed and dried him there. Every now and then he'd shake himself which actually helped with the drying. When I needed two hands I'd put the dryer on its side on my dressing table, aimed at him and then I could pick up his ears to comb the underside as the dryer blew on that area. It's not perfect but it works well enough. Ideally he would sit patiently like the Bichon and the Poodle at the groomers. Honestly, those two dogs will just sit there and let the groomer snip and dry and brush and walk away, and they just sit! Unbelievable.

I think it all boils down to patience and persistence in training these little ones. After all, aren't they persistent in training us?