Puppies first groom!

Here at The Pink Pooch I like to say I "specialize" in puppies first groom. 

It is important to start off your new puppy in the grooming procedures from as young as 3-4 months. This does not have to be a full groom, just a basic tidy up is all you need. It gives your puppy just a small experience of everything that is going to be done to them through out their life! A tidy basically involves a sanitary clip (between eyes, bum, privates/belly and paw pads) to get them used to the clippers, a brush and comb, a bath, a blow dry with the high velocity dryer (usually the scariest part of the groom) and a tidy up of the face (fringe, ears and beard) and tidy up of the feet and a nail clip. 

Puppies are hypochondriacs and it's important to know that I would never intentionally hurt your dog, they just carry on like they are being murdered because it is a new experience for them. You do have to be firm, being firm does not mean that I yell or hit your dog, it just means that any little scream or yelp your puppy makes I am not going to stop what I am doing and comfort the dog. This makes them learn that what ever they try will not get me to stop grooming them so they just learn to deal with it! 

Puppies should be groomed quite regularly for the first year, especially between 6-9 months when they start loosing the cute, fluffy puppy coat and develop their adult coat. This is when you will notice the hair will matt and it will suddenly appear like it's happened over night! I would like to see a puppy every two weeks at least for a bath and brush but that's not always going to happen, they should be coming to see a groomer at least every month even if it's just for a tidy. I reccomend a puppy get their first full groom at 6 months and the most common length I like to go is about half length or 16mm. It leaves them cute and fluffy, but still manageable for the owners.

Here are some photos of some cute puppy clips:

Tinka the Poodle puppy was 22 weeks when she had her first full groom.

I did the best I could with Bella but her mum had tried to have a go at home grooming!

Ruby had a true puppy style, obviously the groom is not going to be perfect because puppies like to wriggle but I was quite proud with how Ruby turned out.

These are some puppy tidies for the first timers:

Indie the Maltese

Enzo the Maltese

It's not just little dogs that need puppy grooming but big dogs do as well! It's important even to get your staffy or fox terrier used to being groomed as you will more then likely want them to be professionally bathed and blow dried at some stage in their life. 

I am currently grooming a puppy golden retriever and a puppy malamute. Both were bought to me at around the 12-14 week mark. Stella the golden retriever has a bath and tidy and she coped fairly well on her first visit except for the dryer. She eventually learnt that the dryer is not going to hurt her and that she receives lots of cuddles upon being dried! 

Mannie the Malamute however did not like his first groom, but I am very glad the owners bought him in early. He is going to be a very big dog and did not like the bath or dryer one bit. He was easy to control as a puppy but trying to wrestle with a fully grown 50kg malamute is not something I want to do anytime soon! I am hoping that every groom will become easier as he gets used to it and realise he is not getting hurt! 

Your puppies and dogs are always in good hands with me, I am well trained and will look after each dog as if they are my own. You will notice that your puppy may seem tired after their grooming experience and this is because it such a stimulating thing for them. 

Remember- the earlier you start getting your dog groomed the better they will be at getting groomed. They will eventually love getting groomed and pampered and it makes my job so much easier and the dog is happier as well. It is often the dogs who are groomed every 6 months that seem to think that going to a groomer is punishment and these are the dogs that bite, wriggle and squirm, because of this the owners don't want to traumatise the dog further and bring the dog less and less. If you have a difficult dog to groom, it needs to be brought in to me very regularly and I will try to set up a good schedule usually every 2-3 weeks just for something weather a bath or tidy or even just a brush or nail clip. I will cover more in depth with this topic at another time.