Grooming and Trimming Puppies

[taliska]

Any tips on how to trim a very wriggly pup who is non to impressed with the scissors partic on feet and ears.  Its also a battle to comb the ears.  He is only 15 weeks but I do try and comb/trim regularly to get him used to it but its getting to be a real battle, with his bitting and wriggling.

Also I'm confused about the feet, just followed a link from here about show trim and it said not to trim between the pads on the feet, yet I'm sure I was told that you should trim here.  :-                    

[KellyP]

Hi Taliska

Where are you grooming your pup? It's usually to groom them off the floor - a table is good, but be careful as they can sometimes be a bit kamikazee the first few times !  

As for the trimming the feet - never trim between the pads - you should be trimming "across" them, so the fur should kinda be level with the pads. Also never trim between the toes or your pup will end up with feet that look like a poodles! the aim for the feet is to look like cats paws.

The wriggling etc should stop as your pup gets older, but at the moment he justs wants to play wth everything. Firmness and perserverance is the key - if your pup is biting you use your NO word to convince him to stop. When the pup is standing quietly plenty of gentle praise, and perhaps a tasty treat  

Remember to never end on a bad note when grooming, especially if the pup is wriggling or he will start to learn that by wriggling lots, you stop brushing  

Millie can be a fidget when being groomed, a firm "stand and stay" usually works for me, then after a few minutes of gentle praise and patient standing I give her a milky bone and then continue grooming.

HTH

Kelly  

edited to add - perhaps it might be a good idea to groom him after he has had some play time, and is a little less excitable  - obviously don't interfere with his sleeping though                    

[Anita]

This thing about trimming between the toes - I really prefer the cats paw look - not the trimmed between the toes.  Phoebe's groomer wanted to trim between but I made sure they rounded them off instead - whats the best way to get them done?

I was thinking of getting them trimmed between the toes for the winter months to keep them cleaner but would prefer to keep them. Any advice?                    

[Anonymous]

I trimmed the fur on Beanos feet last week !!!! As he kept getting things stuck to the hair on the bottom of his feet after walks !!!

When i tried with the big scissors he was a nightmare !!!! Wouldnt stay still for two secs !!!! So i got the baby nail scissors which he didnt notice as much and couldnt bite !!!!  Might not be the ideal scissors to use but they did the job !!!!!                    

[KellyP]

Anita - a big bucket of soapy water to clean Phoebe's feet when she comes back from a walk!
Seriously though a cocker with trimmed fur between the toes looks awful!! absolutely horrid. I have personal experience of this because the first groomers to trim my mum's spaniel had been recommended to us by the vets and when we went to pick up Lucy she looked like a four year old had been let loose on her with a pair of clippers and some scissors!       I told my mum to refuse to pay because we had asked for a "traditional cocker cut" and you don't see many cockers like that!!  
Seriously though I was too embarassed to take her for walks (hehe   ) mum took her though and made sure she told everyone she met about the terrible services of the groomer!    
I think that closed down not long after LOL, cos they're certainly not there now.

Also as Phoebe has been spayed, and coats tend to grow back woolier, might it be a bad idea to cut the fur between her toes, as it might grow back too thickly for her "toe gaps"   I dunno like, but thought I would mention it  :-                        

[Gilly]

Hi Taliska,

I would recommend trying to get a copy of the Jackie Maris-Bray video on cocker grooming. It really is very good and shows you exactly how to shape the feet and how to cut the fur from the pads underneath   She also gives a good demo of handstripping....i thought i pulled quite hard until i saw JMB and Jane do it then I realised i was a big wuss  
My advice re groomers is the best you can get is either a cocker breeder who grooms as well or a personal recommendation from someone whose cocker you have seen and like the way its been groomed. I groom Butty myself but my friend takes her cocker Roana to a lady who does a very nice job and Roana looks lovely everytime  

Gilly                    

[taliska]

Thanks for all the help I was doing Tali on the floor, but put him on the table the other day and he was like a different dog, couldn't believe it.  So far have only groomed but will try the trimming again this weekend but on the table.

Re the Paws I have been trimming the underneth to be level with the Pads and roundish on top, which looks ok and sounds pretty much what you are all say. Am just about to order video as well, so will check that out.

Thanks                    

[xander_ho]

Hi

I've found a very good tip for grooming very wriggly puppy especially very young ones that haven't been groomed before. Rainbow is 9 weeks now and such a "miss fidgetty", very short attention span!!! When I get her out of crate I will groom her a little and often about 5 to 10 minute. Not only that she wriggles but taken to biting the brush!! I'll give her a chew stick, you know the ones made from flavoured hide, she will be too busy chewing that she doesn't mind what you do!!! (kill two bird with one stone!!) She's getting better now, she think grooming = reward

 p.s.: Only give chew stick during grooming but take away after grooming must let her know chew stick is a special reward!!


Alexander