I have heard (I honestly don’t know whether it is true or not) that shaving or not shaving doesn’t matter –the ears will either stand up, or they wont.
As for scaring your dog: The answer to that is simply a matter of how it is handled and when it is handled. Dogs go through a fear period between 4 and 6 months, some a little later, Penny actually went through hers around 8 months. Before the fear period starts, however (like your nine week old!) it’s actually a GREAT time to introduce a young dog to new experiences as he is LESS likely to be fearful and develop a bad association (providing the association is handled correctly). You can actually make a wonderfully easy-to-groom dog out of him if you start now by desensitizing him to experiences he will have to deal with when he is older.
I can understand your groomer’s point, from her perspective. Commercial groomers have to work fast and efficiently in order to run a profitable business. What I’d suggest you do with your dog will be too onerous for her to do for you. Quite the opposite of “fast and efficient,” you need to slow down and break down each component of being exposed to clippers into a single element. Your puppy will need to get used to 1) the noise 2) the vibration 3) the sensation against his skin 4) the slight heat from the blade itself 5) standing still on a table ,etc. Even, possibly, the look and shape of the clipper itself! Start by buying a cheppo trimming clipper (they are available for about $20 bucks from pet supply catalogs and most major pet store chains. Wahl makes a pretty good one that comes in an assortment of colors). Leave the clipper near where you puppy sleeps for a night or two. Then, say while you are watching TV on the sofa, put your puppy on your lap, and with the clipper OFF gently stroke the puppy with the clipper. Do this for a few days. I start by strocking his body first. If he seems OK with that, I would work my way up towards his head and then, finally up to where his ear flap is. Next, you will need him to get used to the sound. I would handle this first by turning the clipper on while standing on the other side of the room from the puppy. Just turn it on and go about your business. Do not make a big deal of it. I’d turn it on randomly from there on out, moving closer and closer to the puppy so that the noise becomes louder and louder (over the course of a few days). I’d work up to the point where I could hold the clipper, turned on, and strock the puppy with the turned on clipper with the base of the clipper, and the blade turned away from the puppy. If that works, I’d finally try clipping the puppy for the first time in a place where I felt more comfortable and had better leverage, say, his hind leg (big space). See how he reacts. If your puppy is perfectly calm up to this point, you can try clipping his ears. Remember to use a clipper oil like “Cool Lube” when you are doing this – you do not want the clipper blades to get too hot. Like I said, the last thing you want is a BAD association with those clippers, so be careful about clipper burn!
You can also do the same kind of desensitization with baths, brushing, nail clipping, etc. The more you expose your puppy to at this age, and the more gentle you are with this exposure, the more calm and well adjusted adult dog you will have when he’s all grown up! |