Grooming with friend-to-be Dog good idea?
 

We are in the process of getting our 4.5mo puppy acquainted with the neighbor's 7yr old cairn terrier. So far, it seems to be going well enough... just a small handful of 30-second tops meetings between the dogs over the past couple of days. Nikko is of course psychotic with excitement (he even peed a little accidentally), and the older dog is a willing sniffer and pretty calm overall but seems a smidge annoyed with all the energy, as I suppose should be expected.

Both dogs need groomed... we had the idea to take both dogs to the groomer together, so that they would have more supervised time together (yet separate) in an environment completely neutral and foreign. The neighbor's dog is also really good at being groomed, and might make a good role model for Nikko to see.

HOWEVER, if either dog decides to hate the experience, would they decide to also hate each other because the other dog was there while they were being "tortured"? Or would it be a bonding experience - like, "yeah we're better friends now because we made it through that crap together!"

Or am I just overthinking this? What do you all think of our idea to get them groomed at the same time?

Lauren & Nikko

I really do not think that having them groomed together will make any difference what so ever on how they react to each other.

Many older dogs get very annoyed with the exuberance of a puppy. Just take it slow. Maybe wear the puppy out a little first so he is not so wild around the older dog.

I don't having them groomed together will hurt them at all. Their exposed to all kinds of dogs when they go to the groomer.