Matts! Matts everywhere! And a fussy dog!
 But I had to sit there for four hours to do it, and put up with a fussy fussy miss Eevee to do it. I don't know what I did wrong, I started preparing her for lots of brushing from the day I got her, but she just doesn't want to put up with it, even though we take breaks for some puppy love time in an effort to keep her from getting too frustrated with me. Particularly when I work on her back end, she'll decide she's had enough and nip at me, even if I'm just brushing gently and not even trying to get out matts. If I have her on the table, which I do until I need to work on her underside, she'll turn away from me. She managed to squirm her way into falling off the table, I hear they only do that once, I guess I'll find out if it's true. Is there a way to attach her to the arm so she can't turn all the way around? It's so irritating! The table makes it easier to groom her since she can't run across the room anymore, but it's very annoying having to walk around the table to follow her back end. When I need to work on the underside, I try to lay her on her side on the table but she just won't have that at all. I even tried giving her a toy to chew on, and then a yummy treat to distract her, neither of them worked. So I gave up on that and worked on her belly and legs on the floor by hooking her to the leg of the table so she couldn't run off. I read all about how to line groom, and it works up to the matted section by her stomach under her back leg. When I get there, I totally have to stop and sit there and try to get the matts out, and those are the absolute hardest to get out. They're weird and less clumpy, they almost don't feel like matts at first, and they're a lot closer to the skin. Those are the ones I had trouble getting out and had to leave for another day. Any suggestions on how to get them out? The other ones I can get out pretty easily with my fingers. |
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| Mmmm Tiggy wasn't a fan of grooming while she was that age, too much energy to stay still I think. Bad news, she fell off the table three times!  The only advice I can offer is perserverance and a pocket full of her favorite treats before meal time. It slowed me down to be constantly handing out treats but over time it convinced Tiggy that lying on the grooming table was worth it. I used to groom Tiggy in two or three stages with a potty break and a play outside in between. Boy does it make it a long drawn out process though.  I don't have a grooming arm so can't help with advice there. I just used treats to convince Tiggy to lie on the table. Well a few times when I was nearly finished and she got antsy, I did have a bit of a wrestling match with her  but I made sure I won.  Nipping was strictly forbidden, even a hint of mouth near my hand led to a serious dressing down. |
I know that if I don't hook her to the arm right away, she won't hesitate to jump straight off  I only use it when I'm having her stand or sit (she used to stand but now she prefers to sit, she got her butt trimmed by Dawn's daughter at nationals and I think she thinks that she needs to hide her butt so it doesn't happen again  )I tried treats with her but she eats the treat immediately and then goes back to trying to escape. |
| I had Tiggy lying on her side and if she tried to even lift her head I would put my hand on her neck and say no. I was handing out treats every 10 secs at first like there was no tomorrow. Not much grooming at first but we got there. You might need to try lying after you've done some standing/sitting and she's tired. |
| If I am going to bath and blow-dry mine or do any sort of extended grooming I usually do it right after an hour or so of running around outside or at the park, will also do it later in the evening before the zoomies start. If I try brushing him when he is full of energy he can get fussy. Especially if the other dog is running around or the cat decides to join in. (Which he does because he loves the brush). I find 7pm is the magic hour for both my dogs. If I tire him out first grooming puts him right to sleep, he has fallen asleep standing in the tub (with his chin in my hand, fallen asleep while blow drying and loves to nap while brushing. The key is lots of running around before hand. I usually do extra play time before grooming too because I don't want him all white and fluffy running around in the mud. The best is when he is so tired that I can roll him over by his legs to get the other side without waking him up. He is getting too big to do this easily now  I wait to trim his nails until last because then he is usually out cold. |
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