Fear of water

[Jonell]

All of a sudden our Jamie is afraid of water. He use to love playing with the garden hose and play biting at the water. He would even climb into the garden so I would water him.  He was okay with his baths would sit in the tub to get clean. Since his last visit at the groomers he will not sit in his bath, and when we bring out the hose he goes inside and watches from the doorway. Has this happen to anyone else doodle. I don't want to think he was traumatize. But there are so many horror stories about having dogs groomed it just scares me.

The girl who used to groom him he loved, he would walk away like we were not there. Since she quit he does not want to stay when we leave. She seems like a nice lady and does a good job. Not sure what to make of all this.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I had a similar experience, not with my guy being afraid of water, but with a change in personnel (specifically, they got a new bather) at my groomer's that caused JD to suddenly act terrified of going there. 

When I mentioned it to the owner of the grooming shop, who was also his groomer, and asked if I could stay while he was bathed, she became very defensive. 

I switched groomers. I actually followed his old groomer (who does her own bathing) to her new location, even though it's much further. You are right, there are all kinds of horror stories out there about groomers, and sadly, a lot of them are true. Here's a discussion I posted about that topic: http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/maybe-i-d-better-figure-ou...

You can't always trust people, even if they "seem nice". I trust my dog. 

[Jonell]

Thank you for replying. I am going to look around for a new groomer, or learn to do it my self. I love Jamie so much I  cannot stand for him to be afraid. He is such a loving good dog. He is so friendly with every one he meets. How bad it would be to think someone was mean to him.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

It sure sounds like something frightened him at his last visit to the groomer's.  Maybe you could slowly try getting him to play with the hose again.  I think I would also ask if you could stay for his next grooming the way Karen does.  Otherwise I think I would ask locally for recommendations for a different groomer.  If he's that reluctant to stay at the current groomer I really think there's a reason why.

[Jonell]

Thank you for replying. I am going to look around for a new groomer or learn to do it myself.

[Wendy and Myla]

We do Myla by ourselves!  Our last doodle, Zak, had EPO and was on very expensive medicine!  Every time she got stressed, the dose was increased and sooo expensive.  For this reason, I was with her all the time, even at the groomers.  They definitely weren't impressed - I guess they wash, dry and put in a crate until grooming time and with me there, they had to do the whole job.  With Myla, after the first time I took her to a groomer and left her, she was afraid of showering at home.  I can see that, after listening to the high power blow dryer etc. so we decided to get a good clipper and try it ourselves.  I took a lot of hints from the grooming group and it has taken quite a few trials and errors, but we just groomed her last week and it took an hour and a half total to clip her (I shampooed her the day before).  She stands still way better and we can clip her so much faster, knowing how to do it now.  The clipper was over $200. but well worth the money.  I'm sure that we'll have to get new blades (or sharpen, I haven't looked into that yet) soon but Myla trusts us and I know that she's not getting stressed!  This last time we clipped her tail right down also which we don't normally do but we're going on an extended camping trip and she is a definite swimmer, so we figured we'd cut her all the way down!  With lots of treats, it's not that hard, just a few times where we thought "lucky her fur grows so fast" lol.  If you're thinking of going this route, go to the grooming group and invest in a good pair of clippers!