4 reasons why your Doodle refuses to be brushed

[Wanda Klomp]

I often get dog owners commenting that their Doodle puts up a fight when he gets brushed.

That 'fight' can vary from not wanting to sit still, to downright growling or even biting the brush, especially when still a puppy.

If a dog doesn't want to be brushed, it's not the dog that's to blame, but the owner!
His negative energy, the wrong habituation, the wrong method of brushing, the wrong bush, or all of it combined.

Brushing should be a pleasant experience. Something that calms both the owner and the Doodle. There is no reason whatsoever why brushing should not be equal to a wellness treatment.

So let's just expand a bit on those four points.

 1.The energy of the dog owner

If you feel tense or uneasy during brushing, your Doodle will not turn submissive. A dog owner who fails to act like a pact leader won't be taken seriously by his or her dog. Be it a pup or a grown dog. Your Doodle needs to feel safe in your hands and if you give her but the slightest reason to mistrust you, the game's up.

As Cesar Millan puts it, this means that you should always stay "calm and assertive". You stand firm, think only about what you want to accomplish, take a deep breath and then you act. As soon as you show hesitation, you'll get caught. Your Doodle expects you to be clear. Brushing is something that takes time.

Doing it in a hurry will only have the opposite effect.

2. Wrong habituation

If you've slacked in getting your puppy comfortable with brushing from the get-go, problems will loom on the horizon. If you hold off brushing until your puppy suffers from tangles, then it's going to hurt and you really can't blame your pup for putting up a fight.

Biting your hands or the brush is a serious no-no. Once you allow this, or worse, if you stop brushing because of it, you'll just reinforce him in that kind of behaviour. That'll only make the biting worse.

This too requires you to act like a leader. As soon as your pup shows an inclination to bite, you'll discipline him with a low-pitched, short "UH", "NO" or "BAD" to show him that biting doesn't fly in this house. Do this consistently, and you'll see that your pup quickly picks up on the do's and don'ts of brushing behaviour. Rewarding bad behaviour is a serious NO NO!

Don't comfort your pup once he puts up a fight, whines, growls, pushes up against you, rests his head on your shoulder, or any other form of manipulation to get you to stop brushing. Pups are quick to pick up on what they should do to influence you, and if you yield you'll only reinforce that behaviour and you'll never be accepted as a leader.

So no treats, petting, hugs, high-pitched words or even tolerating that type of resistance. Instead, you act as the pack leader, who knows what to do, doesn't do it half-assed and keeps going until she's accomplished what she set out to do: in this case, brushing her pup.

3. The wrong style of brushing

If you brush too hard or too fast, or if you exert too much pressure when brushing, you'll hurt your pup.
Can't blame him for struggling then, can you?

The brush is used as an extension of your hand and all you're doing is petting.

You should never hear yourself brush, because then the odds are you're scratching the skin.

What's more, you use the brush first and only begin combing after the brushing. Never the other way around, because a comb will pull on the tangles, which hurts your Doodle. There are more techniques like this that you should know in order to brush effectively and efficiently.

 4. The wrong brush

The number 1 problem for Doodle coat care is using the wrong grooming materials, first and foremost the wrong brush. If you don't use the right one, you won't touch the skin when brushing, so you'll only glance over the 'fresh' tangles that will develop into felt. Brushing will then hurt your Doodle immediately.

Not using a special grooming table is a recipe for disaster as well.

If you care to learn more about this, I'd recommend you to read my free eBook "6 secrets to keep your Doodle tangle-free". It has everything you need to know to you give your Doodle an optimal coat care and you can download it on my DK page.

After reading this blog, I hope you've gained some understanding on how you can learn to brush your Doodle effortlessly.

Are you experiencing these kinds of problems when brushing and/or grooming your Doodle? Please let me know. Maybe I can help.

For now happy grooming!

Lots of Doodle love, Wanda & Joy 

[Lynda Kamrath]

My dogs love to be brushed and will stand for ages just to get the one-on-one attention.  If you brush one, the other comes running for his turn.