Appropriate Response To Grumbling During Groom

[mowgliandme]

What should be your response if you accidentally hurt your dog when grooming (pulling on a knot which I didn’t know was there) and she grumbles and nips the comb (or your hand)?

She is still a puppy so while nipping has reduced to almost nothing I’m still VERY occasionally redirecting to toys if she gets mouthy during play, but this is a very different situation.

I stopped, and then went over that area with a slicker brush again and gave her treats, then slowly and more carefully went over it with the comb again giving treats because I didn’t want her to hate that area being touched… is this what I should have done?

About a month ago, she had some discomfort at a vet visit with anal glands she became very touchy about being touched near that end so I ended up having to do some counter conditioning/desensitisation with her. (she has been raised in a purely positive manner)

Ive also been told not to stop when a puppy grumbles as they can learn that growling makes people stop combing etc?

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I've got mixed feelings about that one.

I feed my dog as fast as I can while she gets her toe nails trimmed by someone else. The someone else - if I'm not available to do that - will just wait until the evil stare relaxes... and then start up again, but no treats until the end or if the dog stays calm.

What you don't want to do (and my dog would learn this so fast) - is to teach dog that if it gives death stare/nip and then looks at you all sweetness like - it will get a treat. So in that situation - I find waiting and then a pat/praise is better than a treat - there's less incentive to be "naughty" then nice to get the treat.

PS if I'm just brushing - she's not that fond of the furminator - I just wait for her to relax and then start again (gently). But mostly I use a rubber curry comb similar to the zoom groom and she doesn't mind that. Tho she thinks it is a great chew toy if I'm not careful where I leave it.

Edited October 7, 2016 by Mrs Rusty Bucket

[karen15]

I don't pussy foot around with certain things. If I accidentally tug and hurt the dog, I'll give the spot a rub, the same as you would when you snag your own hair, but brush it immediately again. To me that does two things. The dog does not learn that a reaction means you stop / stop grooming an uncomfortable area. It also stops the dog associating discomfort with the area as it hurt briefly but then subsequent brushing did not. If it's a knot that needs to be worked out, I'd still brush immediately but move off to brush something that doesn't hurt, then come back to work on again.

[mowgliandme]

Thanks for your responses! I'll try that next time :)

I normally do brush her with treats though (we are down to one treat after combing every limb or section... because originally she hated combing and it takes me a long time to comb her as she already has 4-5inch hair) so its not like this caused me to go and get the treats, but i also dont want her to associate grumbling/nipping with treats