Puppy traumatized!
 

I had my baby home for 2 1/2 weeks and it was heaven...the best girl ever! Even though she's small at 14 weeks (about 2 1/2 lbs.), she was pad trained, confident and happy.

THEN... yesterday I took her to the groomer (who is supposedly the best around), and I brought home a different dog! Not only was she cut way too short for this weather, she's afraid of going poo and actually tried to eat it last night!! She's skidish, crying and afraid of her own shadow.

Did I take her too young? Anyone else experience this? I feel so bad...I'm even crying.:(

Poor puppy. She is very young for a trip to the groomer, and she has not been in her new home very long. Give her lots of loving and tell her she is beautiful. She is probably reacting to the short hair cut. Make sure she stays warm enough with clothes.

For poop eating, there are many threads in the health section on how to combat this behavior.

Thank you very much! She had so many mats in her puppy coat and I couldn't get them out, I just asked the groomer to get out what she could without cutting her too short...lesson learned!

My Bella is VERY sensitive to new haircuts and people laughing at her. I know this sounds kind of ridiculous, but she will go and hide if she gets a haircut and people laugh. She has done this every time. She will hide for hours or longer. To the point that we can't even find her.

Try grooming your baby at home!! Thats what we do, will take away some of her anxiety!

Your baby was severly traumatized!! There are videos and books on grooming that you may want to check into. This experience will always stay with her now and she should never have to go thru that again.

A groomer will also express there anal glands, its routine for them and it can cause problems in the future...thats probably why she cried when she tried to poop...I always tell my groomer NO EXPRESSING ANAL GLANDS...if they don't have a problem with them than don't have it done.

For the future, you shouldn't be taking her into public places until she is fully vaccinated - including her rabies. I'm surprised the groomer took her that young.

All young dogs are subject to stresses and traumas and our quiet confident response while not feeding their anxieties with our worry and pity(which is there big time, believe me, I know and understand but we have to get over it to help our babies) is the best treatment we can give them. Try to distract her with a squeaky toy, tugowar, suggesting a game, taking her outside - any change of state of mind, when she goes into a panic state and when sheh's distracted, saying positive words like "Hero!" "Soldier!" "Big Dog!" "Rock Star!" always seemed to build up my Tibbe and he would pretty soon be puffing out his tiny chest and acting himself again. Just taking him to the vet and leaving him a matter of hours would cause this panic reaction after he got back home. It was like his world had been rocked and nothing was the same. But just distracting him, redirecting his energy and building him up with those words that we usually say with some amount of built-in positive emphasis seemed to bring him around. Life with a Yorkie can be work at times but the wages are the best in the world - a happy, healthy Yorkie.

A good groomer will do what's best in the interest of the puppy regarding matting. You say she had a lot. Then that is the reason your puppy has been cut short. First, she is very young, second its her first hair cut, and third she was matted. You cannot expect a groomer to demat a puppy on its first groom. It is not fair to the puppy. Demating takes a long time and can be a painful process. The best thing to do is take the coat very short. In order to do this the groomer has to use a blade that is short enough to get between the skin and the mat. A lot of the time the owner has no idea how bad the matting actually is on their dog and the groomer gets blamed for only doing their job.

Now you know better, and if you want a nice long coat on your yorkie you should get a leave in conditioner, a pin brush, and a metal comb. Use them every single day and you shouldn't have a problem with matting again.

Your puppy is also pad trained so I'm assuming she doesn't go outside to potty. The length of her hair and the weather shouldn't matter. Put a sweater on her if she is cold. Right now my yorkie is shaved quite short and she still manages to go outside to potty 4-5 times a day in the snow with no problem.

The groomer could have expressed her anal glads which is a new thing to your puppy so that could be why she was scared. Or it could have nothing to do with the grooming. same with the poop eating.

I hope your pup had all her puppy vaccines before you took her out of the house and to a place where other dogs frequent.

Most groomers will take them as young 8 weeks...The law doesn't require all vaccination and Rabies until 16 weeks, but by 16 weeks they have to be fully vaccinated including the rabies...than you must provide your pups Vet records and cert. to the groomer before they will take them...but they don't require them until 16 weeks

Here in Florida they must be fully vaccinated with rabies by 16 weeks or a groomer will nolonger take them.

That's CRAZY that they will groom an 8 week old dog!!! A groomer should know that you shouldn't bring them around other dogs and in a place like that until they are fully vaccinated at 4 months!

Wow, with the exception of the one post...I feel like I'm being scolded. Yes, she had all of her vaccinations, including kennel cough (I'm not an idiot). I was looking for suggestions as to help her through it, like the gal from Texas suggested, thank you Yorkie Yakker.

I agree but I have seen it and even asked about it...and thats what this groomer told me...she said all they do it bath and dry...just to get them use to the table and all the sounds.

Sorry your baby and you had such a traumatic experience at the groomers. Hopefully in a few days she will be back to her playful self. Dogs are very forgiving.

Thank you Patti!
 

As of this evening, she's back to herself and I've kept a sweater on her all day, which I hadn't done before. My husband and I are going to learn to groom her ourselves. Thank you for your kind words. :)