Oh you coming on, okay. Hello everyone and welcome back to The Dog Grooming Nerd.
With a special guest - Bean! So earlier this week I went to Reddit and asked:
What have you always wanted to ask a dog groomer? This could have been a
question they've never had the courage to ask or just never got around to it.
And I got some really really good questions from just your everyday dog
owner, not necessarily dog groomers. And what I've done I've picked the most
interesting questions to me and I'm just gonna read them out to you guys today
and answer them to the best of my abilities. Obviously opinions can differ
between groomer to groomer but this is sort of, I would say general knowledge. If
you are a dog groomer watching this and you do have a slightly different opinion to
mine, please do drop it down in the comments below and we'll have a chat!
Okay let's get started. How do you keep a dog who hates grooming calm or at least
relaxed enough to be groomed without too much of a fuss? Okay, so this is really
down to the dog getting used to the grooming process. It's always really
difficult for a dog to come into a completely new environment, new people,
new smells, weird sounds and loud sounds. You know, clippers, dryers everything's quite
loud and scary for a dog. Obviously you do get dogs that will just never get used
to grooming and they will always hate it and they'll always fight you. But as a
groomer all we can really do is stay calm, praise the dog, reassure the dog
just try and get the dog relaxed. It may not always work but that's all we can do.
And we do have the benefit of using calming sprays as well, so if you think
like plug-ins like Adaptil, we do use similar products in a salon environment
as well. What have been your worst and best experiences with grooming? Any
specific dogs or owners that stand out for good or bad reason? I think my worst
experience so far has been my first proper bite that actually drew blood. It
wasn't a bad bite at all it's just kind of grazed the side of my finger - I can't
even - there isn't even a scar there anymore. I was given a Westie with a bit
of a behavioural background and I knew that the dog needed a muzzle at some
point during the groom. So literally just as I was about to put the muzzle on the
dog turned and bit me. I don't think the bite
was aimed at me. I think he was aimed at the shower head I was still holding in my
hand but it really threw me and I was actually really scared of finishing that
groom. I did finish it, I was really proud that I finished the groom but I was
just terrified of this little dog. And for a while I did really avoid doing
that dog. Like if the owner called I would book him in on a day when I wasn't
in. Because I was just simply really scared of this dog. But then eventually I
just couldn't avoid it and now I love the dog. I really really get on with
that little Westie and the owner does specifically request for me to groom his
dog as well. So it's kind of gone from a bad to a good experience but that is
definitely the worst experience I've had overall. And best experience I would say
just in general when the dogs come into the salon and they're just so happy to
see me. The leaps and yaps and wagging tails and just the excitement on their
faces is just priceless. Obviously it's really nice to get good
feedback from owners after a groom as well, but it's so nice to know that a dog
is excited about coming into the grooming salon and see you. Okay so
this next question - oh even Bean's had enough - it's a long one. I will read
the entire question out first and then I'll break this apart a little bit. What
products do you recommend for whitening coats and bringing out colors in darker coats?
What is the secret to shiny coats? What is your favorite method of deshedding
especially the seasonal sheds? Any resources you recommend for people who
want a DIY groom or start learning how to groom? Okay so the first question about
whitening coats and bringing out colors in darker coats.
There's plenty of products on the market that either brighten white coats so
similarly to you know blonde hair in people we can get silver shampoos for
dogs that cancel out the yellowy tones in the coat and make the coat really
white again. And the same works with black coats and copper coats, so you can get
color enhancing shampoos for that type of coat as well.
And the secret to shiny coats? I wouldn't say that it's necessarily something
groomers do, and a lot of the times I would say that it's down to the dog's
general diet and health. Obviously we do use some really beautiful high-quality
shampoos that can bring out the shine for a while, but if the dog's coat is
dull and a bit lifeless it may be worth looking into what the dog is eating and
how their health is in general. Okay and with deshedding - I love a good deshed.
I think they're one of my favorite things to do in the salon. I know it
sounds weird - we're dog groomers, we're trained to you know scissor and clip dogs, make
dogs look really beautiful and shaped and whatnot. But there's nothing more
satisfying than blowing out an old coat on a Shepherd or a Husky or a Newfie or
whatever. The main tool we do use is our blaster, or if you're in the States it's
called a high-velocity dryer. The force of the dryer actually blows out a lot of
the coat for us, so we don't then have to spend hours and hours and hours raking
out the old coat. And if the old coat is really compacted with the new growth
we do sometimes use conditioners as well just to loosen it up a little bit, but I
do find that a good blast after a bath does wonders. And once the majority of
the coat is blasted out we then just use a simple slicker brush and an undercoat
rake to get the rest out. And lastly about resources for DIY
grooming or just learning how to groom yourself. I would always recommend going
to a grooming college or learning through someone who's been in the
business for a while. Learning online when you've got no prior experience can
actually be quite dangerous because there's so much more to dog grooming
than just cutting the hair. You have to understand how the body functions, how
bones are aligned what, parts of the body you have to be careful with and so on.
Obviously you can get started by looking up some tutorials online. I would really
recommend against just putting clippers on the dog before you've actually had
some one-on-one experience with someone who has been doing the profession for a
while. And that does kind of segway onto the next question a little bit. How
did you learn how to trim hair? I tried to trim my dog's hair and it
comes out all choppy. I spent two years in college and I would
say even after finishing up my college courses I wasn't a good groomer. I had
no idea what I was doing, I couldn't finish a groom in two hours. I would take
easily three hours on a small dog. And what really helped me was having
fantastic mentors at work. I wouldn't be where I am now if I didn't have the help
and guidance of more experienced groomers. How do I get rid of tear stains
on white fur? This can be a bit of a tricky one. Sometimes it is just bad luck
with genetics and you won't be able to reverse the staining. But a lot of people
recommend using filtered water rather than just straight out of a tap. It could
be that there's a lot of metals in your water and it's just causing the staining.
Or it could be the diet of the dog as well. We do use different facial products
in a salon environment as well so that does help lift some of the standing out.
But sometimes we have no other option but to just trim some of the staining
out and then hope that we stay on top of it. Okay, so this kind of goes back to a
previous question about desheds. Do I have to use deshedding shampoo and
conditioner or can I just use deshedding conditioner? We do have a deshedding
shampoo in our salon and we do tend to use it when we do have a hairy
Husky coming in, but I don't quite know how that shampoo works if I'm completely
honest. Because the old coat is already gonna be loose mixed in with the fur so
I don't know what the science is behind all these deshedding shampoos and how it
actually works. I wouldn't necessarily run out into the
shop and buy an expensive deshedding shampoo just for the sake of having one.
You can just use any shampoo you have got in the house and just thoroughly
massage it into the coat, because that will then just help loosen any hair out
that might still be attached. And another deshedding question! I feel like a
lot of people in the subreddit have big double coated dogs. How do you keep a
double coated dog from shedding constantly? Mine seems to always be
shedding no matter how often I brush or what I do. Unfortunately you're a little
bit stuck there. Double coated dogs, not every single dog, but a lot of them do
just shed all year round and there's not a lot you can do apart from just keep
brushing. If you want to make the load easier for yourself
obviously booking trips to the groomers regularly will help out with that,
because we'll be the ones cleaning up all the hair and not you. But in all
fairness, any other tips I've already mentioned in this video previously will
help you. But in reality you are just gonna have a dog that sheds a lot.
There's not a lot you can do about it apart from just keep on top of it
preferably daily. And like I mentioned we just use a slicker brush and underoat rake.
Definitely do not use a Furminator on a coat like that because
they are essentially blades and they can cut the coat and damage it. Why do groomers
so often ignore the owner's choice of style? I know you can't answer for others,
but I quit going to groomers for this reason. I'm not talking about shaving a
matted dog, but stuff like leaving long hair around the snout where it will
immediately get gunked up in the dog's mouth, and I'll specifically request that
it be trimmed down to avoid this. First of all, I'm really sorry that you've had
a bad experience with a groomer, and reading that actually made me quite
upset. I personally will always listen to the owner and try and get the style as
close as possible as what they want. Obviously it's not always achievable,
there might just be some structural differences between a picture and the
actual dog, but what I would really recommend is just speak to the groomer
just ask why it wasn't done. In this case it could just be that - let me demonstrate.
But some dogs like to lick all this hair into their mouths and as soon as the
groomer pulls out like this they will just lick it straight back in. So it
could just be - oh dear did I wake you up - so it could just be that the dog was
just constantly licking the hair back into its mouth and it just wasn't
possible to get a safe trim around the area.
No groomer wants to cut a dog, I promise you that. We never want to hurt your dog.
That is soul-crushing, heartbreaking, devastating to all of us. I have cried
several times after nicking a dog's tongue by accident. Please speak to the
groom and maybe give them a second chance, and if it still doesn't work then
you know that they are not listening to you and it
may be worth just finding a new groomer. I hope that's not the case, I hope he was
just a communication error, that they didn't tell you if your dog was licking hair
back into its mouth constantly. But obviously that is a situation that's
between you and your groomer. I cannot say for sure what would have happened in
that situation. How often should dogs be groomed? Specifically Doodles since
that's what I have. Okay, I did actually answer this question in the subreddit
when the question was posted. I did say ideally every three weeks, so you would
be alternating between a bath and brush and a full groom every three weeks. But
it does obviously depend on what kind of Doodle you have. If you have a Labradoodle
that is a lot more like a Labrador than a Poodle you may not need to come
anywhere near that often. If you have a Cockapoo that is 99% Poodle and 1%
Cocker Spaniel you will need to come very regularly or you need to keep on
top of the brushing everything day yourself. If you are happy to keep on
top of the coat care at home every single day, you may be able to
stretch the time between the grooms a little bit and maybe be able to drop the
bath out of the rotation. But owning any kind of Poodle mix, Bichon, anything
with a curly woolly coat is a really high maintenance and you need to be
prepared to look after it and visit your groomer regularly. Okay guys, that is all
the time I have for this. I really enjoyed doing this, if you have any other
questions for me or any other groomer who might be watching this video please
do drop your questions down below and I will do my best to answer them all for
you. Thank you so much for watching guys, if you did like it, do leave me a little
thumbs up and do remember to hit the subscribe button, so you don't miss my
next upload. Bye guys!