# Ep 87 What Your Dog Wishes You Knew About Grooming

An episode of [Help! My Dog: The Podcast. Dog Behaviour & Training Strategies that Work!](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1721245241), 30 Jul 2025, 14 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2287608/episodes/17422023-ep-87-what-your-dog-wishes-you-knew-about-grooming.mp3

Does your dog hate being groomed? How can you set them up for success at the groomers, for bath time, nail clipping and more? In this episode, we’ll be diving into what you can do to set your dog up for a stress-free grooming experience. From the first steps at home to finding the right groomer, we’re talking about the building blocks that create a dog who feels confident, safe and even happy during grooming (including bath time!). You’ll learn how to introduce your dog or puppy to the sights, sounds and sensations they’ll experience and what steps and questions to ask to find the right groomer for your dog. If you have a new puppy and you don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past or want to make grooming a positive part of your dog’s life, tune in to find out how to give your dog the best experience possible. ................ Whether your dog is unpredictable with other dogs or predictably bad… Whether it looks like freezing, barking, lunging or running away… Whether you are just starting out on your dog-owning journey or your dog has been labelled as having a “behaviour problem”… … this episode is for you and is going to give you huge insights! Want to join the Help! My Dog Online HUB? Here's the link: www.helpmydog.com/hub Dr Tom Mitchell is a world-renowned veterinarian, behaviourist and dog trainer and director of the Behavet behaviour clinic (rated Excellent on Trustpilot), which sees over 400 pet behaviour consultations each and every month no matter where you are in the world. In 2023, he founded Help! My Dog, an online dog behaviour learning platform to help even more owners all over the world and show that dog behaviour transformation is not only possible but it's FUN, with the right know-how! Make sure to subscribe/follow the podcast for the free weekly episodes! Useful Links: Follow Help! My Dog on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helpmydogofficial/ Schedule a Consultation with Behavet: https://www.beha.vet/ Follow Behavet on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/behavet

## Transcript

[0:00] SPEAKER_00: That I would sooner have a dog come back to me that has only had one leg groomed than my dog have any kind of bad experience or get upset or distressed or anxious or just bored.
[0:14] SPEAKER_00: Yeah?
[0:15] SPEAKER_00: Before we dive in, a warning.
[0:18] SPEAKER_00: The content of this podcast may not be appropriate for some young listeners.
[0:23] SPEAKER_00: This is real life, and that means that sometimes it can be a little bit graphic.
[0:27] SPEAKER_00: So listen on at your own peril.
[0:30] SPEAKER_00: As a veterinarian dog behaviourist, best-selling author and trainer over the past decade, I've had an obsession with transforming the behaviour of dogs, understanding their brains and creating practical strategies that you can implement easily at home.
[0:45] SPEAKER_00: I know all too well when the dream you imagined when you first got your dog is far from your daily reality.
[0:52] SPEAKER_00: In fact, out of the blue, a few months ago, my little dog Gorse was bitten by a dog 20 times her size.
[0:58] SPEAKER_00: And suddenly our life of stress-free walks, a calm and cuddly household and being teammates was replaced with reactivity, anxiety, and worrying about what's around the next corner.
[1:09] SPEAKER_00: I'm Dr.
[1:10] SPEAKER_00: Tom.
[1:11] SPEAKER_00: This is the Help My Dog Podcast, and this is me documenting that journey of transformation, sharing my knowledge and experience with you and having a few laughs along the way.
[1:21] SPEAKER_00: Hello, HMD Family, and uh welcome to this episode of the Help My Dog Podcast.
[1:29] SPEAKER_00: So funny, Casino just got off her bed.
[1:31] SPEAKER_00: She thought her name was HMD Family, and then like just like got back on.
[1:34] SPEAKER_00: Like, oh no, well, I am part of the HMD family, but that's not my name.
[1:39] SPEAKER_00: Um, so uh anyway, uh but we're gonna do a listener's question.
[1:43] SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think it's a I love this question because it shows a really like um intentional, forward-thinking, super caring, amazing owner.
[1:52] SPEAKER_00: And it goes like this My previous dog really hated going to the groomer.
[1:59] SPEAKER_00: They would absolutely not want to be groomed by anyone.
[2:04] SPEAKER_00: I've now got a new puppy, and I don't want to make the same mistake again, but I'm not really clear what mistakes I actually made.
[2:13] SPEAKER_00: Um, and so what do I do?
[2:15] SPEAKER_00: Help.
[2:15] SPEAKER_00: And so I want to give you like my top tips for um for basically um working with a groomer and also you know, prepping your dog for that as best you can.
[2:27] SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's actually something that we're gonna be doing lots of teaching on handling um and um and getting your dog cool about being handled in the help my dog hub.
[2:36] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if you get an opportunity to get involved in that, it's a really cool community and loads of um step-by-step courses on all kinds of problems.
[2:44] SPEAKER_00: You you've named the problem, it's probably in there, and um and we'll be we'll definitely be be doing a deep dive into this.
[2:50] SPEAKER_00: Now, um grooming, grooming, grooming, where to start?
[2:55] SPEAKER_00: So I think there are a few characteristics of um sorry, there are a few um things that I think dogs should have prior to even going to a groomer, almost like skills that they should um skills that they should have.
[3:12] SPEAKER_00: Um and the first skill that they or the first thing that they should have is what's gonna happen is they're going to be popped on a table and they're going to be groomed.
[3:22] SPEAKER_00: They're going to be popped in a bath and they're going to be bathed, right?
[3:26] SPEAKER_00: Um they're potentially going to have the water blasted off them, right?
[3:31] SPEAKER_00: Um, so that they're dry.
[3:33] SPEAKER_00: Depends on the breed, and obviously in not in the order that I just went through those things.
[3:37] SPEAKER_00: And actually, those are all things that we can do little approximations of at home.
[3:41] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[3:42] SPEAKER_00: You can pop your hair dryer on while your dog has a long-lasting chew.
[3:46] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can have your hairdryer on while you're playing a game with your dog, not pointing the hairdryer at your dog, but first of all, you know, just them being, you know, in a positive emotional state and thriving in the presence of a hairdryer, a noisy hairdryer being on.
[4:04] SPEAKER_00: These are little things that we can do to take some level of control and ownership of that.
[4:09] SPEAKER_00: We can absolutely pop our dogs on a table and um have them um, you know, eat food off the table.
[4:16] SPEAKER_00: We can absolutely pop them on a table and do some little tricks or lure them around the table so that they feel confident.
[4:22] SPEAKER_00: And you'll re and realize that when you pop your dog on a table, what will happen is they'll be like, oh, I'm up high, oh, maybe the table wobbles a little bit.
[4:31] SPEAKER_00: And so when we think about the experience of grooming, it's not just one experience.
[4:36] SPEAKER_00: We're effectively layering and piling and stacking loads of really potentially scary experiences on top of one another and calling it grooming.
[4:46] SPEAKER_00: And if we can separate out those layers at home, well, our dogs are going to be way better prepared when going to the um when going to the groomer.
[4:54] SPEAKER_00: Um so that's the second thing.
[4:56] SPEAKER_00: Third thing is um getting your dog used to being handled.
[4:59] SPEAKER_00: So um how do I do this?
[5:01] SPEAKER_00: Well, there's a whole step-by-step, especially if your dog's not good at being handled right now, there's a process that you should go through.
[5:08] SPEAKER_00: Um but um but where I would start quite simply with your your puppy is um I will every time.
[5:16] SPEAKER_00: So what I would do is I would touch them and I would throw a piece of food away.
[5:20] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would touch them and I would throw a piece of food away.
[5:23] SPEAKER_00: Touch them, throw a piece of food away.
[5:25] SPEAKER_00: If they come back to rejoin you, that's them consenting to carry on the process.
[5:30] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're incorporating a level of consent by throwing the food away.
[5:35] SPEAKER_00: If we try and feed them in position, they feel obliged to be there.
[5:39] SPEAKER_00: That's not consent.
[5:40] SPEAKER_00: That's feeling conflicted.
[5:42] SPEAKER_00: I want the food, but I don't want you touching me.
[5:44] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is if you come in close and you consent to me touching you, you actually get to go again.
[5:50] SPEAKER_00: So they're driving the learning.
[5:52] SPEAKER_00: And you'll expand that into maybe I'll look in your ear, throw a piece of food away.
[5:56] SPEAKER_00: Maybe I touch your paw, throw a piece of food away.
[5:59] SPEAKER_00: Maybe I, I don't know, lift your lip up a little bit, throw a piece of food away.
[6:03] SPEAKER_00: Maybe I look, but you know, I part your fur, throw a piece of food away.
[6:08] SPEAKER_00: Um till your dog's like, yeah, you know, touch me more, right?
[6:12] SPEAKER_00: Handle me more.
[6:13] SPEAKER_00: Um, and um, and you can again build that up and you know, grow that, grow that over time ahead of the um ahead of going to the groomer.
[6:22] SPEAKER_00: And then once you've kind of done all of the prep for the situation as much as possible, obviously being in the bath, um, we can break down, break that down.
[6:30] SPEAKER_00: I wasn't gonna cover that, but I think I should.
[6:32] SPEAKER_00: Break it, preparing your dog for being bathed at the groomer isn't I'm gonna give them a bath.
[6:37] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's how about we put them in the the bathtub or the sink, depending on their size.
[6:43] SPEAKER_00: Can they follow bits of food around the bath?
[6:45] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, or around the the sink, right?
[6:48] SPEAKER_00: Can we do little tricks or luring them around in the sink?
[6:51] SPEAKER_00: Because it's a weird surface.
[6:53] SPEAKER_00: Potentially it's stainless steel, potentially it's porcelain or I don't know, whatever that material is.
[6:58] SPEAKER_00: Um that's weird, that's potentially slippy.
[7:01] SPEAKER_00: We want them to feel confident in that, not shut down, right?
[7:04] SPEAKER_00: So we get them moving, get them exploring it.
[7:07] SPEAKER_00: Can they do that with the tap on?
[7:09] SPEAKER_00: Oh, they're still showing confidence.
[7:11] SPEAKER_00: What happens if I just fill a cup of water and just wet their feet a little bit?
[7:15] SPEAKER_00: Oh, amazing.
[7:16] SPEAKER_00: You build it up, right?
[7:18] SPEAKER_00: That's what preparing for the situation is.
[7:20] SPEAKER_00: And you might think that sounds time consuming.
[7:23] SPEAKER_00: It isn't.
[7:24] SPEAKER_00: It's way more time consuming to overwhelm your dog and then try and fix the situation, right?
[7:28] SPEAKER_00: So if you're in a situation of you've got a blank canvas, then break it down and have fun with it.
[7:33] SPEAKER_00: Because this isn't like it's not rocket science and it's not your math's homework, right?
[7:38] SPEAKER_00: It's fun.
[7:40] SPEAKER_00: Um and finally, once you've done all the prep for the situation, then what you're going to do is you're going to find your groomer.
[7:48] SPEAKER_00: Hey guys, I just want to take a moment to answer a question that has been coming in in literally 10 emails a day, and that is how can we help you with your dog's behavior struggle, whether that be reactivity, separation, anxiety, resource guarding, maybe you've got multi-dog household struggle right now.
[8:05] SPEAKER_00: Maybe your dog's just so over aroused on a walk that they just can't listen to you and they're chasing everything inside.
[8:11] SPEAKER_00: Like, can I get Tom's help?
[8:13] SPEAKER_00: Um, and the answer is that actually you can, and you can do that by booking a behavet behaviour consultation.
[8:21] SPEAKER_00: That's where literally my team give you the plan on how to transform your struggle and get you to that dream that made you get a dog in the first place, right?
[8:31] SPEAKER_00: Your world's got smaller and smaller and smaller, and actually it doesn't need to be that way.
[8:35] SPEAKER_00: You just need to reach out for help.
[8:37] SPEAKER_00: Now, a couple of things to say on that.
[8:39] SPEAKER_00: First of all, if you're insured, if your dog's insured with Pet Plan, Kennel Club, Agria, or many pets, we actually do direct claims with them, which means that that's covered by your insurance.
[8:49] SPEAKER_00: So you don't pay out of your pocket, your insurance covers that.
[8:53] SPEAKER_00: And the second thing to say is that we have loads of options if you're insured with another provider, or if your dog's not insured at all, that's also totally fine.
[9:01] SPEAKER_00: We have loads of options that we've developed to make this so accessible for you.
[9:06] SPEAKER_00: Um because we're aware that you've already invested a load of time and a load of money in getting your dog, looking after your dog, caring for your dog.
[9:13] SPEAKER_00: But the last thing we want is for you to have done all that and still not be living the life that you deserve with your dog.
[9:18] SPEAKER_00: And we know we can get you there.
[9:19] SPEAKER_00: So all you need to do is go to the Behave Vet website, and the way to do that is go B-E-H-A.V-E-T.
[9:29] SPEAKER_00: That's behotvet, and it will take you there.
[9:33] SPEAKER_00: Or just Google Behave Vet, right?
[9:35] SPEAKER_00: Um, and you can get scheduled in and we can literally get you booked in for a consultation as soon as possible.
[9:41] SPEAKER_00: We normally can accommodate it within a week, right?
[9:44] SPEAKER_00: So that you can be getting to your dream ASAP.
[9:47] SPEAKER_00: Um, and I often get asked, like, how would you go about finding a room or how do you know if they're gonna be like aligned in terms of like training and behavior?
[9:56] SPEAKER_00: Because there's full spectrum as to how you know how they will hand your dog.
[9:59] SPEAKER_00: There are amazing groomers um that will be super aligned to this podcast.
[10:03] SPEAKER_00: There'll be groomers listening to this podcast right now, right?
[10:06] SPEAKER_00: Um, and um, and and they're kind of the ones that you want to seek out.
[10:11] SPEAKER_00: So, what I would do is I would always give them a call beforehand, um, and um the the kinds of questions that I would be asking are one, how are you, you know, the first time I bring my dog for a groom, how are you going to like get them accustomed to being groomed, right?
[10:27] SPEAKER_00: And you're kind of looking, you you you want to hear the kind of language and strategies and things that you know you might have you know heard over the past sort of 10 minutes.
[10:36] SPEAKER_00: Um, the other thing that I would always ask is if my dog, you know, is getting frustrated or upset, has had enough, how do you respond to that?
[10:46] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[10:46] SPEAKER_00: Um so how would you respond to you know things quite not going right?
[10:51] SPEAKER_00: Because again, what we're looking for is not, you know, make them do or you know, keep them still or whatever.
[10:58] SPEAKER_00: We're looking for potential strategies that I don't know, oh, maybe I'd change the scene, maybe you know, I'd I'd you know, you know, maybe play with them on the floor, maybe I would just give them a break, maybe I would try and give them something to engage with while I finish them off.
[11:14] SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'd just call it a day, right?
[11:17] SPEAKER_00: That's totally fine.
[11:18] SPEAKER_00: And that's the final that's kind of the final thing.
[11:21] SPEAKER_00: Once you're happy with the groomer, maybe you've been to visit them, your dogs, you know, you you've you've seen how they've interacted with your dog if that's if that's what you would like to do.
[11:30] SPEAKER_00: Um then what I do, I really stress this whenever I I used to take my dog back to groomers.
[11:36] SPEAKER_00: And um, I used to really stress this that I would sooner have a dog come back to me that has only had one leg groomed than my dog have any kind of bad experience or get upset or distressed or anxious or just bored.
[11:52] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[11:53] SPEAKER_00: If if you only do one leg, I will pay you the same amount, right?
[11:58] SPEAKER_00: And I will be super happy that you stopped there and then, right?
[12:01] SPEAKER_00: So don't feel like you have to push through to the end.
[12:04] SPEAKER_00: And it's really important that you tell them that.
[12:06] SPEAKER_00: I'd sooner have a dog, you know, half groomed than than a dog that didn't have an amazing experience.
[12:11] SPEAKER_00: Because obviously, you're listening to this podcast as someone who's really passionate about dog behaviour and about having a great relationship with your dog.
[12:21] SPEAKER_00: That's not the case of everyone.
[12:23] SPEAKER_00: And so some people would be really angry and complain and leave that groomer a bad review if their dog came back half groomed.
[12:31] SPEAKER_00: And that groomer needs to understand that you're not one of those people.
[12:34] SPEAKER_00: They need to understand you're the other end of the spectrum and you're actually like, look, one leg, awesome.
[12:40] SPEAKER_00: One a happy one leg happy is better than a whole dog unhappy, right?
[12:44] SPEAKER_00: Um, and um, and they need to know that, otherwise, they will assume you are part of potentially the majority, which would actually want their dog to look a certain way and be completely finished and smelling great, and um they, you know, they're not necessarily considering that their dog might develop a struggle um and um until it happens, and then you know, then often we find ourselves in this situation, right?
[13:10] SPEAKER_00: Because we we've done it the wrong way in the past.
[13:13] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can certainly think about you know family dogs that were, you know, in hindsight, I'm like, oh my goodness, like no wonder that dog, you know, started to have struggles because when you know better, you do better, and you don't know what you don't know, and that's you know, that's normal, that's life, that's learning, that's growth, that's exciting, that's why we're all here.
[13:30] SPEAKER_00: So I hope that that gives you some insights.
[13:33] SPEAKER_00: I know it's scary when you've had a dog with struggles, and now you've got what you see as a blank canvas, and you know, you're blaming yourself potentially.
[13:41] SPEAKER_00: Don't right, just think actually, I'm just going to be proactive about this.
[13:45] SPEAKER_00: Um, how can I prepare my dog for that situation?
[13:48] SPEAKER_00: And there's so much that is within your control, and I hope you see that from this episode, and we will see you next time.

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