Why should you take your puppy to a professional groomer as soon as possible? To be fair if you have a short haired dog that you have no intention to bring to groomer ever, “no, there is no need”. However if you have a puppy that you will take to a groomer at some point in their life, “Start as early as possible, as soon as your pup is allowed out by your vet”.
Taking your young pup to a groomer is scary, for several reasons; leaving your pup with a stranger, they don’t like it, the breeder said …..”. However if you have a pup that will at some point in their life needs to go to a professional groomer, you better get your pup used to it as soon as possible.
To be honest, most dogs are not keen on visiting their hairdressers every 6 to 8 weeks and who can blame them; there’s is the bath, the most horrible blow-dryer and clippers and/or scissors, and they will touch your paws, and put sharp objects near your face. It is all a bit scary and overwhelming, especially if you are not used to it.
Like us most groomers will have a puppy introduction scheme, where we slowly introduce the pup to all the strange smells, loud noises, vibrations etc. with a lot of cuddles, encouragement and a lot of patience.
We normally have 2 or 3 sessions, slowly introducing the pup to the grooming procedure. Most pups will not have have a full groom till they are 8 months or a year old.
Session 1: takes 30 minutes, which is scary for both the pup and the owner, being left with a stranger/ leaving your precious pup with a stranger. Depending on the pup, this might be just sniffing around, introduction to the blower, a bit of brushing and the trimmer (no hair will be cut, it is just getting used to the vibrations). Sometimes a pup is a little more nervous and you just let them sniff, give them lots of cuddles and encouragement, a little trimmer exposure, thats all.
Session 2: Depending how the first session went, if the pup was very nervous we just stick to what we did in session one, maybe a little less sniffing and a bit more introducing to sounds and equipment. Or if it all went to plan, we would have a wash, a blow-dry and a brush, maybe a tidy face and feet, just to get used to be handled.
Session 3: Hopefully your pup has now grown enough in confidence and is ready for his or hers; full wash and brush which includes a face and feet tidy and hygiene cut.
This should help your pup to cope with the grooming, being introduced slowly and gently will reduce grooming stress for the rest of their lifes.