Grooming the Face and Ears of a Squirmy Doodle

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Hi, I need some help with my 5 month old doodle. She HATES having her face and ears cleaned. She freaks out when I go near. Sometimes she gets eye gunk built up around her eyes and it is clearly bothering her but she won't let me get to it. It's always an exhausting struggle. I've tried giving her treats but she just isn't warming up to it at all. Ever since she was little I've tried to get her accustomed to the grooming, by starting slow and giving treats, but she just won't accept it.

 

Tonight I tried to clean her ears. They are very dirty inside because she came home muddy the other day. I can't get her to let me clean her ears out at all.  A friend tried to help me hold her still but she freaked out so much that she started biting both of us (not hard enough to leave a mark, but enough to hurt).

 

When I took her to the Pet Smart a few weeks ago they told me I need towork on her with this because it is a problem. She has a lot of hair in her ears and I can't even dream of plucking it right now.

 

How can I convince my doodle to accept the grooming and to understand it is good for her?

 

 

[Leslie C.]

Hi, Sherri.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your current struggles.  I will let others with more experience give you guidance, but I do wonder if someone showed you how to clean your puppy's ears with a cottonball saturated in ear cleaning fluid and then you squeeze the liquid from the cottonball instead of the bottle. 

Puppies go through different stages.  Perhaps exhausting Sophie Bear with a long fun playdate may be helpful in helping her to be more relaxed for some light grooming practice. 

 

Good luck with the different suggestions you find here and perhaps your vet's office may have some good suggestions too.    ~ Leslie & LiliBear

[Dori & Rua]

How are YOU behaving when you try to groom SB?  My guess is, because this is the issue I have, is I am not confident.  I told my DH I wished we could Dremel Rua's nails.  I got the Dremel right after we got her and started getting her used to it, and then plumb forgot to continue working on it.  So, when I got it out finally, she freaked.  So, I gave it and took her in to have her nails trimmed.  I held her and they just clipped away.  So, I bought a pair of nail trimmers...I couldn't even bring myself to TRY to use them on her.  I was SO afraid I would cut her quick.  I was complaining to my DH about her nails and how I wished I could Dremel them and he said "Tell her you are going to do it whether she liked it or not and it wasn't an option".  So, I held her (with a freeze dried liver treat - her high value reward - in hand) while my DH started.  I held firm and told her to settle.  I was confident and praised her as he did a nail.  I treated her after 1 paw.  We did the second paw and it got easier.  Now, while she isn't trilled, she will let us. 

 

Now, I just need to figure out how to shave her belly and pee-pee and bottom!  LOL

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Sometimes, when Fudge is lying on her side, I start rubbing her face and work my way to her eyes and then get the gunk out. She is more receptive when she is sleepy.

 

[Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles]

So the bad news is that this puppy is being disrespectful. This could be for a few reasons. The other post about people being nervous during grooming is huge, so you have to decide if you are causing a tense atmosphere. If you are calm and your puppy is still misbehaving, then you need to do other training and work towards grooming.

Dogs that are respectful do not bite, ever. I suggest you do lots of attention work. Clicker training would be the best.

 

The good news is that you care enough to work on this with your puppy. Sometimes it seems like an impossible battle, but if you are persistant, you will win.

 

 

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

This is all really great advice everyone! Thank you so much. Keep it coming!

 

This evening I used her favourite bribe, I mean treat, a piece of chicken, and she eventually let me rub inside her ear for a few seconds. i gave her lots of praise and left it at that. I will try again tomorrow with the cotton ball and solution. Progress in baby steps. I really regret that I got lazy about socializing her to the grooming. I'll have to redouble my efforts.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

One other thing to mention is that they tend to get better as they mature and used to whatever you do. Keep working at things like cleaning the eye gunk and one day you will realize that you can just hold her head and do it with no problems.  When we got Clancy as an adult rescue, we couldn't do anything to him without a wrestling match, now we can do most anything from medicating a paw to medicating an ear. I don't cut my dogs coats so can't be helpful about those areas.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Thanks Nancy. I hope that's true, but it turns out I don't really have the option to wait it out. I had some bad news at the vet today. Not only does Sophie have a UTI (the reason I was there), but they checked her ears for me and she has a lot of yeast build up. They gave me special drops and I have to apply them 2 times a day for the next couple of weeks. They suggested I muzzle her since she struggles so much. I really don't want to have to do that.

 

I feel awful about it. I should never have put off the ear cleaning, I guess I was just overwhelmed with all the new stuff I was learning about dogs, and doodles, that I just slacked in this one area, and now my doodle is suffering. Apparantly her ears are really inflamed and she's probably sore there so that's why she won't let me clean them. I feel so guilty for letting it get this way. My poor doodle baby is suffering and it's all my fault. :(

[Jess and Pippin]

Oh, those wiggly puppies!  The other thing we have worked on with Pippin is that he is only released when he relaxes.  He is not great about me handling his head.  If he squirms while I massage his ears (just plain old ear rub), and tries to get away, I do not release him.  When he relaxes, I continue to massage a wee bit longer, praise like crazy and release. The reward is the release in this case. Calm equals freedom.  The other thing we have taught him is a command we call "nose".  When he is seated, I say "nose", and handle his nose, and that allows easy access to his eyes to get the gunk out.  We also use this command when trimming his face.  Again, he is only released from this when he is calm, not when he tries to pull away.  We had to work on this gradually, as this was not an easy one for Pippin but he is improving all the time.  Same process for handling his feet to clean after a walk (we live in Vancouver, BC, so a good wipe down is imperative due to all the rain).  We broke this into small stages, handle paw, praise and treat/release when calm.  This will gradually work into clipping his paws, and trimming his nails.  Hope this helps.

[Lynda Kamrath]

Start by doing just a little at a time.  When she gets used to being handled, it should get better.  My dog did not like having his eyes or ears cleaned, his pads checked, or his face bathed, but now he is fine with all of them.  If it is something new to her, don't try to force her.  She will have to protect herself and her only protection is scratching or biting.  Whenever you hold her, take a few pulls on the hair in her ears and you might try using a q-tip to gently brush her ear.  My dog actually got much better after he had foxtails in his ears.  I took out the ones I could and he kept shaking his head so we had to go to the vets to get the deeper one out.  Now he seems pretty good about taking out burrs, foxtails, and seeds after a walk.  Be sure to always check out the areas between the pads on her feet. That is a great place for foreign matter to get caught.  Keep at it.  She will improve with age.

[Susan and Sasha]

Hi Sherie...

My advice would be to take time everyday with SophieBear...in the quiet time of the evening when she is a little bit tired...  and spend time with her "bonding".

 

During this time...rub and massage her from head to toe...softly talking to her...so that she gest used to being touched...all over.

The paws and ears are very sensitive places...so be carefu therel...but don't neglect them.

 

I started doing this with Sasha... beginning at eight weeks old when she came to us.

I did a lot of research...and learned that this was very important to do.

It would help her to bond with me....and also help her to get used to being touched...which would help treamendously when she had to be groomed...have her ears cleaned...etc..

I

It's Not too late to begin doing this with SophieBear!

 

When you are grooming her face or cleaning her ears...make sure you tell her to...HOLD...in a firm...calm voice...letting her know that you are boss. 

Just a single word command...

 

Make sure that you use a really good...sharp...blunt tipped scissor to cut the hair on her face...and you can use the same one for her paw pads.  I have a great one if you need help with grooming shears.

 

When I cut the hair on Sasha's face...I have her sitting...as this gives me the best view of what I'm cutting...

Don't worry...SophieBear will learn to listen.

At first...work on having her sit there and listen to your command to HOLD...but you don't have to actually cut.

You can begin to cut when she quiets down and listens.

Don't forget to Praise SophieBear and give her a treat when when she listens...for a job well done!

 

When you are cleaning her ears...I would have her lay on her side...so that you can get good access to her ears.

Pour the cleaning liquid on a cotton ball and place it in her ear...but Not too far down. (you can squeeze the solution into her ear canal now...or...if she is too squirmy...you can wait and the solution with be released when you begin to gently rub her ears)

Gently begin to rub her easr...which will release the cleaner from the cotton ball...and also loosen any dirt.

You can then take a 2X2 square and put it over your pointer finger and gently clean her ear canal.

I recommed that you Do Not use a Q-tip or never to stick anything down into the ear canal...as you don't want to hurt her or her eardrum...especially if she is a wiggly Doodle...

As with the grooming...use the same command to keep her still...say the Single Word..HOLD...firmly...and then Don't forget to praise her and give her a treat when you are finished...for being such a good girl!  (smile)

 

I use the same technique when I brush Sasha's teeth...clean her eyes...groom her entire body...etc..

 

Dori...I still don't like to cut or dremel Sasha's nails!  That's the thing I like the least!!  Lol...

 

Wishing you the best of luck  with your Wiggly...but Beautiful SophieBear...

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