Is it Me?

[Sandy]

Toby is getting groomed tomorrow.  The groomer has a decked out, oversized van that she does grooming out of, in our own driveway.  Toby loves everybody, but when he sees her at the door, he takes off.  I have to be waiting outside with him on leash, or it's going to be a chase to get him out the door.  He also doesn't like the vet's office, but that's likely normal.  Anyway - is it possible I'm giving off some vibes that are causing this reaction?  I don't like making him get groomed, because he clearly does not want to do it.  However, I'm told the he passively resists grooming, but never gets snappy or anything.  Having just read the thread on spoiling our doodles, I suspect I may be guilty of spoiling here..... :)  He almost never has mats she has to work out, and it only take 60-90  minutes, and he's not really even leaving the house, but still - he doesn't like to go.

 

My human baby is almost 21, so Toby probably gets treated more like a child than he should.  My bad, I suppose.  :)

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I must confess that I've been very guilty in this area too. I book (and pay extra for) a zoom groom so that I can stay there with my Doodles. Because the Doods cry the whole time that they can see me, the groomer now won't let me in the room while she's grooming them. Until recently, I would sit on a bench where I could still watch through the window, but they couldn't see me, or I would run an errand and come right back to "check on them". Of course, they stopped crying as soon as I left, and started right up as soon as I came back into the room. This is crazy, and I know it. I'm sure that I was giving off "signals" or else why would they only cry when they could see me. The crying was clearly their attempt at manipulating me. Grooming with Murphy (even at home) has always been quite an ordeal (that's for another post), and I've been "enabling" his "nonsense". I'm still a "work in progress" on lots of things...but grooming is right up there at the top of the list. I wish you a "guilt free" grooming experience tomorrow. Can you try to just be very "matter of fact" about it? I know....easier said than done. Good luck...Toby will be FINE. I'm hoping others will post about how they make grooming a "non event" for their Doodles, and that I can learn too.

[Sandy]

Well....at least we're not alone in this. We have each other! I've been trying to get stricter in general, and in particular with making him tolerant brushing without complaint. I will try to march out there with a positive attitude tomorrow!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Woo Hoo....I'll be thinking of you!

[Melissa & Porter]

see my "panting excessively after the groomer" thread in the grooming section if you haven't already.
I think many dogs find grooming to be very stressful. I am sure a stressed owner will make it worse, but even when i am happy and confident about the situation, Porter is not. He also is passively miserable--has a green flag in his file b/c he behaves so well. How do I know he is miserable. He licks his lips when we get there, looks at me and tries to get my attention, won't take treats, and often starts to tremble. Oh, and the tail...practically touching his chin it is so far btw his legs.

[Sandy]

The groomer tells me that Toby never nips, snarls or anything, but....he will lean away from her as far as possible. And if she is working on his front left leg, he will lift his back right leg, so that if she doesn't put the leg down she's working on, he'll fall over. :) She finds that amusing, at least, and a sign of intelligence. We only groom him every 3 months or so, so he'll be fine.

[Melissa & Porter]

Crafty gentle doodle! :-)

[Kyoko]

This cracked me up!! Soooo funny!! He is smart!!!

[shelly]

Oh, Melissa... YOU JUST DESCRIBED TORI.... She's so excited to get in the car then shakes the whole way there, runs right in the cage when we go in after she poops without practically lifting her tail at all... My groomer says she's great the whole time she's there - never a peep (and she's a barker).. I know this to be true too, because my sister brings her dog to the same groomer and one day we both brought them to be groomed on the same day not knowingly, and my sister commented how the dog on the table LOOKED like tori, but didn't act like Tori....Tori just stood there quietly. she's always fine - not shaking on the ride home...who knows!?

[BG and Gavin]

We are very lucky. Gavin loves going to the groomer. Then again he loves going to the vet too. But then again he loves going anywhere there is a possibility of meeting other dogs and having people pet him. This is one of the upsides of having an attention hound. The downside of course is trying to temper his excitement to a managable level upon entry to said places. I continue to work on it...

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

The groomer is an experience for my two too. Vern walks in and immediately pees all over and I am sure the groomer is thrilled. Fudge starts to shake and tries to get to me. I walk in, tell her what I want, and try not to make eye contact with either dog and walk out. I know they are fine and she tells me they are good, so I have found that going to the mall for a little retail shopping and an Auntie Anne's pretzel makes me feel better :)

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

From a dog's point of view I can't see ANYTHING that there IS to like about grooming. I can understand why many find it disagreeable. I have started grooming Tara myself recently, However, the last time I picked her up at the groomer's she saw me and started making this hideous noise...it sounded like she had marbles in her mouth... she started stomping her feet and gave me "the look" as we call it at my house. I wasn't sure if she was glad to see me or cussing me out for leaving her there!! But I'm guessing the latter!!

I'm not sure that Toby's dislike of the groomer/grooming experience has anything to do with your attitude. Some things just aren't pleasant!!

[Leslie and Halas]

Halas is the exact opposite. He doesn't seem to like it when I groom him, but he tolerates it. Going to the groomer is a different story. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES his groomer. We call her Tina the Groomer, and he goes nuts when I say her name. If I tell him the night before a grooming, "Halas, you get to go see Tina the Groomer tomorrow," he starts his happy grunts and jumps all over the place. I explain again that it isn't until tomorrow, so he calms down. But as soon as I wake up the next morning, he's up and moving around waiting to go. And when he's getting groomed, he grumbles if anyone else tries to enter the room. How dare they try to interfere with his Tina the Groomer time!