How to Groom an Animal without being Bitten

Do you fear to groom your pet because of the possibility of being bitten? Nearly every pet owner has had a dog or cat he or she was incapable of grooming.

Numerous times, the difficulty of pet grooming comes down to one reason-the pet has previously had a bad experience. Either it had its toenail cut too short, which caused bleeding; the brush or comb hurt its sensitive skin, or it simply disliked a bath.

Regardless of the reasons why your pet bites during grooming, some training from our pet grooming school will help you raise a pet to endure the task. The idea is training your animal to get acclimated to what you usually do when you groom it, for instance, putting him or her on a grooming table or handling the mouth and feet softly.

Fortunately, our comprehensive pet grooming courses will help you apply the same ideas when handling other peoples’ pets. Here’s a list of ways you can groom your pet without being bitten.

Use Positive Reinforcements

If you wish to groom a dog, you must begin when the dog is a pup because they enjoy experiencing new things. This enables you to get time to get them accustomed to the grooming process. When your dog hasn’t had any negative experience with grooming, it will be more accepting of the procedures.

However, it doesn’t imply it’s impossible to groom an older dog that’s had a bad experience. After all, you could re-train him or her to enjoy the process. It simply means it will take come some extra time and some more training.

Positive reinforcement is a good training method that works for most situations. When you use this method, you simply reward the pet’s good behavior and ignore the bad ones. For instance, you can give your pet some praise and a treat if he or she gets on the grooming table.

If he or she doesn’t, there won’t be any treats or praise. Obviously, you don’t want to punish the pet either. What you want to do is reward the pet enough that he or she will do it each time on his or her own. You’ll discover that food drives most dogs, so using it throughout training is important.

It’s easy to give them once they’ve accomplished what you’ve requested them to do. Obviously, you’ll have to conduct some experimentation to establish the treats that suit your pet and the suitable amount. At times, one treat isn’t sufficient.

Be Calm and Firm

Be patient, firm, and keep the sessions short and frequent until your pet learns what’s expected throughout the grooming sessions. Your pet should also learn that he or she can’t control the session by exhibiting aggression. Never end a session when your pet is exhibiting aggression. Instead, wait until the animal calms down, so you can groom to the end of the session.

Muzzle for Dogs

The muzzle will slip over your dog’s mouth and nose to prevent it from biting. If you know that your dog tends to snap during a grooming procedure, then a muzzle is ideal. Remember, trimming the dog’s toenails or combing its coat are two common procedures that can cause your dog to bite.

Beware that tugging and pulling could also cause pain to your dog. You’ll find numerous kinds of dog muzzles. For instance, nylon muzzles are simple and slip around your dog’s nose. You’ll also find padded ones, which prevent the dog from experiencing any discomfort when wearing it. Other kinds will even permit your dog to eat and drink while wearing the muzzle.

If you decide to use this device, you should place it on your dog shortly before you begin the grooming procedure. Once you complete the procedure, you should take it off immediately. You should only use this device when it’s necessary to prevent a bite.

Use the device minimally as possible when grooming your dog. Remember, the muzzle won’t make the animal more cooperative throughout the procedure, so you can’t depend on it to calm your pet down. In fact, the dog might become more difficult during the next procedure because the dog recognizes that you’ll use the restraint.

Once you take off the device, offer treats and praise to the dog so it feels at ease. You shouldn’t leave your dog alone whenever you use this device. This is significant in hot weather since your dog has to pant to remain cool to prevent overheating. In some instances, your dog might try to remove it and could sustain an injury if it gets caught on a sharp object.

Besides learning how to handle an animal that bites while grooming, you’ll have to discover the appropriate grooming techniques, which you can find in our pet grooming classes.