At your puppy's age, you need to go very slowly and keep talking her through it. Stay happy and keep an even tone. Do not baby talk. Let her know that you are in charge during brushing time. Offer a tasty treat when you are finished and praise her for good behavior. Never yell or spank during a brushing session.
The best thing to do is keep the brushing sessions short, and do not let your dog get the best of you. By this I mean when she is squirming and trying to bite you or the brush, or she is yelping, just stay calm and DO NOT STOP the brushing no matter what behavior your dog does! This would send the wrong message, and she will repeat the bad behavior to make you stop brushing.
Brush daily or 2-3 times a day to keep the matts out.
DO NOT BATH HER IF SHE HAS ANY TANGLES!!!
You MUST get the tangles out BEFORE the bath as the water makes the tangles into matts.
If she is terribly matted (which means you cannot get them out with a comb and brush at home) your groomer will not have much choice in shaving the matts out, or shaving her entire coat off. If the matts are touching the skin, then they need to be shaved off. It is
cruelty to your puppy to try to brush out a bad matt. /the kindest thing to do is shave out the matt. If more than 50% of her coat is matted, then you can expect your groomer to shave her down.
I have been a groomer for 17+ years, and yorkies are my specialty. I used to show and breed them.
Sue & Cricket
Quote:
Originally Posted by MyPeanutAbbyGra  I have never seen a dog that hated to be brushed as much as Abby does. She's 15 weeks old and very tiny. I'm scared to death I'm going to hurt her because she tries so hard to get away from me. I really need another person to hold her while I brush her. I noticed last night while we were laying in bed that she had some tangles. So this morning, I bathed her...which she also HATES and then sprayed her down with detangler. When I started trying to get the tangles out, she freaks and squirms and wiggles and whatever she thinks she can do to get away from me. She has such a beautiful coat, I don't want to have to cut it.
Next week, when she's 16 weeks old and has all her shots, I'm going to take her to a groomer with very specific instructions not to shave her, but to try to get the tangles out. I also want the pads of her paws and her hiney shaved (shiney hiney) or trimmed. Hopefully they will have better resources than I do and it won't be so terrible for her.
I sometimes worry that she's going to have a heart attack, because she gets so worked up.
Do you think the groomer is the best choice? Or is there a better way for me to handle this? |