I wish I got easy and clear directions back in the day, now my pup is 13 years old and really doesn't like brushing. but she is really treat driven so I think we can start now
Yes it's never too late to start. If she's had a long time of not liking the activity you'll need to have extra patience and probably use a very high value treat specifically for this task.
Thanks so much for this. Our cavapoo is 2 years old now, we'd never done intentional brush training but over the last 6 months he's become so reactive at the groomers that they coulnd't finish the groom for his own safety 😭 I'm so grateful to find this video so I can start doing something about it! We're taking it super slow with one session a day, have been going with that for about a week, getting ready to move to part 2! I think it's going to be a long process to get him happy with the brush, scissors and other grooming tools, especially around his face/the top of his head. We're going to take it one session at a time!
We are so happy this video has helped you. You are on the right track to keep it nice and slow. Because of his previous experience this might be achingly slow for you, but as long as it's positive for him, you're doing great! You might also do this with a new, very high value treat (moist, smelly ones are usually perfect). That will help him anticipate the training with a positive association because the treat is so tasty. You're doing great! Even if this takes a month or more, it's worth it for a lifetime of positive grooming sessions.
I have an 8 month old Standard Schnauzer and he fights me when i try to brush him. Has done this since I first got him. Groomer, however, saw him four times to wash and mini groom him to get used to it and she has no problems with grooming him now!
Great video thankyou ❤ I have a 14week Westipoo and he had his first trip to the groomer this week. I’ve been brushing him (with some success) most days since I got him 6 weeks ago. I had a good chat with the groomer and she gave me some excellent tips on what to do ahead of his next visit in 4 weeks. It was a really positive experience for my pup and myself. I love your videos because they are practical and reassuring 💕
So great! Anna is a 2 year old Yorker and so precious. She hates being brushed, but tolerates it until I hit a tangle. Your techniques are so helpful and I’m anxious, though not in a hurry, to rebuild a positive brushing relationship with her. Thank you!
Thank you! My new puppy has a silky coat, which means daily attention, but so far is afraid of the brush and just wants to chew the comb. Luckily, I searched for this video when I've only touched her with comb/brush just enough to see it was no go. I can already see she will love the snuffle mat I had ready for her... except she is not food focussed. This is the big challenge with her, but it's end of the first week and I'm hoping she gets more interested in food. One reason I like this video and the slow progression is that it helps me to not stress that I can't yet start her daily grooming, which I want her to love. She seems highly sensitive in general, so I'm more afraid of putting her off, than her getting matted because grooming hasn't started.
It's great that you found this video! You can begin working on this very slowly, simply showing her the brush and getting used to it. It's common for puppies to not be very food motivated at first. This gets better!
Former pro-level student here. I literally just came in from brushing our 22 month old lab and this video was waiting for me. Arwen does well with all parts of her body, except her tail. We need more work on that eventhough I don't brush it everytime I brush her. Great video, as always, Michelle.
This is very helpful, thank you for sharing! My 1.5 year old standard poodle hates brushing. I've spent so much time trying to desensitize him with lots of treats and going slow, but after watching your video I am realizing we need to take a couple steps back and go even slower for him! I put too much pressure on getting mats out and I need to put more pressure on making sure he is saying YES instead! I love the idea of using a snuffle mat during training sessions. And I can ask the groomer to go shorter with his haircut so we can avoid those mats a little better. 😊
Hi, Thank you for the informative video. I have a 3,5 month old corgi puppy and he does not like the brush at all. He is okay with slow and calm nail clipping, just a couple at a time for now, but I will definitely follow your instructions to get him to enjoy the brushing. :)
Great video, my puppy is 1yrs old. And the way she feels about being brush is displeasing to her. However, after watching this video we're alot of good techniques was presented. I will take that advise and began to practice with the pup. Thanks a lot for the video 👍🏿
Thank you Michelle! My 9 wk old poodle mix really does not like the brush. Because she’s a poodle i stated from day 1 exposing her to the brush in hopes of her getting used to it. She’s a very mild personality, but when the brush comes out she turns into a snarling devil shark. I now realize i was just doing too much too fast. Thank you for these training tips. I live on your channel!
We are so happy to help you and your poodle! It's easy for humans to take the training a little too fast but once you slow it down you will see better results! It might feel achingly slow but that's ok, it's important to go at your puppy's pace!
Thank you for these tips! My puppy is a 9week old shihtzu and she hasn’t been enjoying the brushing. I will slow down the process and add some treatos too.
We're glad you found our video useful. You can always give your pup an extra special treat after brushing sessions to provide even more reinforcement to this experience!
My puppy is an 8 month old Cavalier. She grabs the brush and runs away with it wanting a chase. I'll start over with these steps. Finally, something I can do about it 😊
Thank you, Ndidi 🤗 You'll want to treat this with lots of consistency and break it down into extremely small steps. For example, instead of brushing pup's legs, you'll run the back of the brush through the legs. You'll repeat this until pup is no longer having reactions to those touches!
Gigi, my mini goldendoodle, just turned a year old on August 8th. She does not mind being brushed on her back. She does not like brushing of her ears, legs, tummy, and tail. Also, she tries to bite if we touch her paws. We try to brush her daily, but sometimes we cannot. We usually tag team brushing. One of us holds a yummy bone to chew and the other brushes. We use the Chris Christensen Slicker Brush and Andis Pet Steel Comb which our groomer uses and recommended to us.
We're glad that you got some input from your groomer on which tools to use! We recommend that you try this method (mentioned in the video) to make brushing a bit more of a comfortable experience for your pup!
@@HowToTrainADreamDog, thank you for the great advice. We will try the brushing approach in the video. Is it too late for the brushing experience to change since Gigi is 1?
I have a 6 mo. Morkie so full of energy and very loving. We live in UT and have gone to some training classes but he still is jumping and barking at people. He does pretty good on leash. He hates his crate and gave up and let him sleep on my bed. (my bad, I know) He is getting ready to be neutered and I am worried about him jumping on things.
Now is a good time to start teaching him what you'd like to do instead of jump and bark. This video can guide you a bit and the training games in our course can help you teach him! ua-cam.com/video/AmlJcJRchDw/v-deo.html
Yikes, I have been doing this all wrong! Good thing I have only been trying for a week. Puppy Milo bites and squirms when I try to bush him so I guess I am getting a strong "No thank you!!" message. Thanks for the great process, will be going back to square one!
Young puppies are learning new things all the time so you can re-teach Milo to feel better about the brushing. The trick will be to go slooooow. It's hard for humans to do but it's worth it!
My 6 month Shiloh Shepard somewhat tolerates it. I give her something to chew while I'm doing it. Hardest area is behind ears and face. She doesn't let me and usually has matted areas.
Our lab is 9 months old. She doesn’t like to be brushed. I thought maybe my brush was too ruff but it looks like one in your video. Do you have to have the treat mat? We don’t have that sort of thing. Great video.
We hope you learned some helpful tips from this video and can slowly get your pup more comfortable with brushing! You don't need a treat mat, but we would recommend one. Here is one we recommend! www.howtotrainadreamdog.com/lickety_mat
Hi- love your helpful videos . My pup is a bichonpoo and about 5 months and getting his first grooming this weekend. He had his first mail clipping about 3 weeks ago and it was rough. Apparently he tried to bite the handler and another handler was present to distract and other trimming. After this service, or coincidentally we noticed a slight change in behaviour when we lift or pick up our dog, and he starts to growl, snarl then bite our hands off and scared me. I’m actually feeling stressed knowing the fact that he will not enjoy this at all. We do brush him with no issues and often touch his paws without any issues, however don’t want to cut his nails. I’ve asked the place how do they handle a nervous or a biter , and they said they’d use either a cone or muzzle. What is your opinion or suggestion. Help!
Hey there! We're so glad that you've found are videos helpful for you and your puppy! We're also sorry to hear that the grooming visit didn't go so well. We highly recommend that you look into taking your dog to a fear-free groomer. Fear-Free groomers work to make sure that your pup is as comfortable as possible - they work WITH your dog! This helps your dog's confidence and comfort levels, as well as lessening the likelihood of changes in behavior! You can use the Fear Free Directory to find one near you: fearfreepets.com/resources/directory/
So you painstakingly adapt your Havanese puppy to allow brushing her back over a week or two. So what do you do about the mats that just formed on her haunches and actually will require actual brushing??
If you have a "must do it now, without desensitization" issue, you can try doing it in very short durations throughout the day, using very very high value treats. Try to do the bare minimum to get the mats out so you don't see regression in her acceptance of brushing. Once you get through the mats, continue your brushing desensitization regularly so you can prevent mats. It's hard but you'll get there! It sounds like you're doing great trying to help her tolerate it.
I have a 4 month old cavapoo. His first groom is scheduled for Labor Day. He tolerates some brushing, but his fur is very fluffy and the poodle in him is bringing in some mats. He’s let me trim the hair on his feet and face, but he’s not a big fan of me combing his hind legs where the matting occurs. I’m hoping they can clip him short so we can start from a place that doesn’t seem so urgent.
Make sure you've found a trusted groomer, and make sure you're working on introducing him to the brush and being touched well before his first groom. We hope you learned some helpful tips from this video!
Enrichment and giving a dog a chance to do species-typical behaviors is important. The snuffle mat is one option for that, and we find that most dogs love to forage for their food. It's a great option for a rotation of enrichment and feeding games.
For some dogs who have a nervous disposition it can take longer for them to be comfortable. But if you take it nice and slow and advance only when they give signals that they are comfortable, you'll get there!
It's never too late to work on these skills! Just take the trianing at your pup's pace and watch for stress signals. End the sessions when you see sings of stress or overwhelm. With older pup's we have to go a bit slower but it's still doable!! Happy training.
Hopefully you got some good tips in this video! If your GSD is biting the brush you might need to go slower and re-introduce the brush as a positive tool.
I had to get a little unconventional with my Shiba since the Pandemic went onto full swing a couple weeks after i got her. Spring was warming up and she was blowing her winter coat. So i took her favorite chew toy (sheep horn) put it on a small pre proof pad and let her munch on it while she was being brushed. When she had enough i let her go play. I let her lay down during the whole process which makes it difficult for me, but that's kind of been our thing since. 🤷
My puppy is 6.5 months and he’s…tolerant. It’s not his favorite thing but I probably did rush it. Same with nail clipping. He got hurt the other day when I was clipping his nails and I felt awful! I do have a furminator but I haven’t used it on my puppy yet. I’ll never forget using it on my 4 year old Australian Shepherd who had some bad mats from the shelter. I basically pulled the hair right out and he bled a little. I didn’t notice because he didn’t make a single sound the whole time but I felt terrible! I’m super careful now because I don’t want to hurt my puppy.
You can use kibble. Try changing the kibble a little bit, either making it cold, warming it up, putting some warm water on it or making it into a mush. Did your vet tell you to limit his treats? Most of the time puppies are not in danger of gaining weight from average treats and training sessions. Older dogs are more at risk of weight gain. But definitely listen to any advice your vet has given. You can also break the treats he's allowed to have into very small pieces so he's still getting a reward for the training.
Once your puppy has settled into your home you can begin the desensitization process. This is good to start when the puppy is young because the puppy brain will be more positive about new things. Just go slow like this video suggests, so you have a lifetime of a content dog while being brushed!
@@HowToTrainADreamDog you always see these “Day 1 potty trained” videos online and part of me is like really? Doesn’t the dog have to get used to the home first and the routines
Yes that's like expecting a newborn baby to be potty trained at 1 week. It's not really possible based on what we know of brain development! The human can help to prevent accidents, but it takes months before the dog has the brain capacity to recognize a full bladder and then recognize what to do about it.
Go ahead and try breaking it down into the four phases like we did in the video! We hope by doing it this way, you'll see your pup get a bit more comfortable with this process!
I have a 5 month old Golden named Ollie and if I don't put the brush up out of his reach he will bring it to me to brush his back, especially the butt area, however, if I try to brush his legs he avoids and wants to leave. I have tried using the back side of the brush and just touching his front legs but as soon as that happens he is out. I can tug, hold and pet his legs no problem but if I touch it with the brush he freaks. So I have been just brushing his back and he loves it, he is young so his leg feathers have not grown out but they soon will and they will need to be brushed, any advice ?
It sounds like you might want to go slower with Ollie on brushing the front legs. For now, just show him the brush and give him treats. Don't worry about touching his legs just yet. Follow the tips in this video and go nice and slow!
@@HowToTrainADreamDog Good advice but problem solved, I changed to a different style brush and he has no issues but he still does not like the first brush, I can live with those results. Thanks for the feed back and keep up the great work, you do a good job… great advice and delivered well !!!
My Shih Tsu is 1 and she HATES being brushed and she hates going to the groomers. She bites me and attacks the brush and tried to run away when I try to brush her. So she gets matted hair and then the groomers think I’m a bad pet mom. I’ll try these steps and see if it works.
@@HowToTrainADreamDog It’s working I think! She lets me brush everywhere except her feet. I’ll work on her some more so hopefully she’ll let me do her feet too
Our Morkie puppy is 13 weeks and we've been forcing a quick brushing. I'm looking forward to taking my time for this approach and hopeful for him to eventually be OK with brushing. He loves digging and playing in the dirt so daily brushing is needed for his long coat.
We hope that you'll be able to start applying the training we've mentioned - starting at Phase 1! If you need further help, you can always enroll in the pro-level of our online course for more personalized input from our certified trainers. 30 Days to Puppy Perfection: www.howtotrainadreamdog.com/puppy-perfection-course-learn-more/
You can use the same techniques in this video to go slower and ask for your dog's consent. If you go slow enough and offer good treats, he will likely be fine with it. It'll take some training to re-build his trust with you coming close to his eyes but you'll get there!
Yes you can work on these separately, making sure to always go at your puppy's pace. The book "Cooperative Care" by Deborah A Jones can guide you through this process.
if it's making him upset, then no, do not comb. But make the training for combing your #1 priority and use super tasty treats so you can comb him as soon as possible. Sometimes we have to take a step back in order to move forward.
Oh heavens. This took way too long for a long haired pup. She would have been a matted mess. We used peanut butter on a licj toy to acclimate her. When she was a pup she got soooo dirty baths were weekly. I think this might work for short haired dogs but long haired digs tgat require brushing daily need a fast track. Now at a year okd our American Eskimo tries to jump up on the table to get groomed because she knows a daily grooming stops the knots and gets followed by a treat.
We love this story of your unicorn puppy! However, not all dogs are the same. We hope to reach many audiences and help people with all different types of puppies! Some even watch our videos to prepare before their puppy gets home. Knowing that they have a long-haired puppy who will need to go through this process is just part of the pre-training that sets them up for long-term success!
Ruh roh! We think you missed the part starting around 7:50 where we show you how we have taught our students to brush their puppies in a way that is comfortable for the dog. You can see demonstrations of how to introduce the brush and how to know when to proceed with the training. Some people take entire courses on this skill so a 14 minute video to learn how to avoid a common stressful experience in your dog is well worth your time!
Those areas can be bothersome to dogs so follow the advice in this video and slowly work up to it with lots of rewards so your dog can associate it with something positive. Do not go too far too fast.
I wish I got easy and clear directions back in the day, now my pup is 13 years old and really doesn't like brushing. but she is really treat driven so I think we can start now
Yes it's never too late to start. If she's had a long time of not liking the activity you'll need to have extra patience and probably use a very high value treat specifically for this task.
Thanks so much for this. Our cavapoo is 2 years old now, we'd never done intentional brush training but over the last 6 months he's become so reactive at the groomers that they coulnd't finish the groom for his own safety 😭 I'm so grateful to find this video so I can start doing something about it! We're taking it super slow with one session a day, have been going with that for about a week, getting ready to move to part 2! I think it's going to be a long process to get him happy with the brush, scissors and other grooming tools, especially around his face/the top of his head. We're going to take it one session at a time!
We are so happy this video has helped you. You are on the right track to keep it nice and slow. Because of his previous experience this might be achingly slow for you, but as long as it's positive for him, you're doing great! You might also do this with a new, very high value treat (moist, smelly ones are usually perfect). That will help him anticipate the training with a positive association because the treat is so tasty. You're doing great! Even if this takes a month or more, it's worth it for a lifetime of positive grooming sessions.
This is so helpful! Perfect timing 👏🏻 Thank you 😊
Glad it was helpful!
Makes sense, I’ll try your method
I have an 8 month old Standard Schnauzer and he fights me when i try to brush him. Has done this since I first got him. Groomer, however, saw him four times to wash and mini groom him to get used to it and she has no problems with grooming him now!
It sounds like you've found an extra special groomer!
Great video thankyou ❤ I have a 14week Westipoo and he had his first trip to the groomer this week. I’ve been brushing him (with some success) most days since I got him 6 weeks ago. I had a good chat with the groomer and she gave me some excellent tips on what to do ahead of his next visit in 4 weeks. It was a really positive experience for my pup and myself. I love your videos because they are practical and reassuring 💕
Thank you so much for your kind words! We truly appreciate them!
Thank you for sharing. really great!
Thanks for watching!
Such a helpful video - thank you!
You're so welcome! Thanks for watching.
So great! Anna is a 2 year old Yorker and so precious. She hates being brushed, but tolerates it until I hit a tangle. Your techniques are so helpful and I’m anxious, though not in a hurry, to rebuild a positive brushing relationship with her. Thank you!
We are happy to help!
Thank you! My new puppy has a silky coat, which means daily attention, but so far is afraid of the brush and just wants to chew the comb. Luckily, I searched for this video when I've only touched her with comb/brush just enough to see it was no go. I can already see she will love the snuffle mat I had ready for her... except she is not food focussed. This is the big challenge with her, but it's end of the first week and I'm hoping she gets more interested in food. One reason I like this video and the slow progression is that it helps me to not stress that I can't yet start her daily grooming, which I want her to love. She seems highly sensitive in general, so I'm more afraid of putting her off, than her getting matted because grooming hasn't started.
It's great that you found this video! You can begin working on this very slowly, simply showing her the brush and getting used to it. It's common for puppies to not be very food motivated at first. This gets better!
Very helpful ty
Thanks for watching!
Great video which I’ve shared on the Cockapoo Essex forum Thank you
Awesome, thank you so much for sharing! We're glad we could help you out!
Former pro-level student here. I literally just came in from brushing our 22 month old lab and this video was waiting for me.
Arwen does well with all parts of her body, except her tail. We need more work on that eventhough I don't brush it everytime I brush her. Great video, as always, Michelle.
You are very welcome! We're so glad that we could help you and your pup.
Very informative.. like that you sad why not rush the process.
We are happy it was helpful!
Thanks! Appreciate it ❤🎉
Thank you so much for your support!
This is very helpful, thank you for sharing! My 1.5 year old standard poodle hates brushing. I've spent so much time trying to desensitize him with lots of treats and going slow, but after watching your video I am realizing we need to take a couple steps back and go even slower for him! I put too much pressure on getting mats out and I need to put more pressure on making sure he is saying YES instead! I love the idea of using a snuffle mat during training sessions. And I can ask the groomer to go shorter with his haircut so we can avoid those mats a little better. 😊
We are so glad this video was helpful! Thanks for watching!
Hi, Thank you for the informative video. I have a 3,5 month old corgi puppy and he does not like the brush at all. He is okay with slow and calm nail clipping, just a couple at a time for now, but I will definitely follow your instructions to get him to enjoy the brushing. :)
You're very welcome! We hope that your puppy soon enjoys being brushed by you. You've got this!
Thanks!
Thank you!
Great video, my puppy is 1yrs old. And the way she feels about being brush is displeasing to her. However, after watching this video we're alot of good techniques was presented. I will take that advise and began to practice with the pup. Thanks a lot for the video 👍🏿
We are so glad it helped you! Just go nice and slow, at your dog's pace, and you'll get there!
Thank you Michelle! My 9 wk old poodle mix really does not like the brush. Because she’s a poodle i stated from day 1 exposing her to the brush in hopes of her getting used to it. She’s a very mild personality, but when the brush comes out she turns into a snarling devil shark. I now realize i was just doing too much too fast. Thank you for these training tips. I live on your channel!
We are so happy to help you and your poodle! It's easy for humans to take the training a little too fast but once you slow it down you will see better results! It might feel achingly slow but that's ok, it's important to go at your puppy's pace!
I have a 3.5 mo Miniature Schnauzer. She HATES brushing. My fingers are suffering. Excited to try these methods.
Yes, you'll definitely want to take it really slow and advance only as she is comfortable. But you'll get there!
Thank you for these tips! My puppy is a 9week old shihtzu and she hasn’t been enjoying the brushing. I will slow down the process and add some treatos too.
Great idea - kudos to you for taking tips from this video and applying! Thanks for watching!
My puppy (a rough collie) hate being brushed, thanks this helped a lot
We are so happy to help you!
My dog is a 2year old Shichon this is a great video
Glad this video was helpful. Thanks for watching! 🐶
Thanks. I needed this badly. My 13 week old Aussiedoodle HATES the brush, it's a fight. Will be starting over using your technique! Fingers crossed.
You can do it! Take it so slow! So slow that you're bored! And then even slower!
This was actually really helpful. I thought my dog was unusual for hating brushing. He’s getting better, but still pouts after 😭
We're glad you found our video useful. You can always give your pup an extra special treat after brushing sessions to provide even more reinforcement to this experience!
My puppy is an 8 month old Cavalier. She grabs the brush and runs away with it wanting a chase. I'll start over with these steps. Finally, something I can do about it 😊
We are happy to help! Let us know how it goes!
Great video as always.
I was wondering how you then progress to the “red zone” areas? My pup still hates the brush on his legs/red zones
Thank you, Ndidi 🤗 You'll want to treat this with lots of consistency and break it down into extremely small steps. For example, instead of brushing pup's legs, you'll run the back of the brush through the legs. You'll repeat this until pup is no longer having reactions to those touches!
Gigi, my mini goldendoodle, just turned a year old on August 8th. She does not mind being brushed on her back. She does not like brushing of her ears, legs, tummy, and tail. Also, she tries to bite if we touch her paws. We try to brush her daily, but sometimes we cannot. We usually tag team brushing. One of us holds a yummy bone to chew and the other brushes. We use the Chris Christensen Slicker Brush and Andis Pet Steel Comb which our groomer uses and recommended to us.
We're glad that you got some input from your groomer on which tools to use! We recommend that you try this method (mentioned in the video) to make brushing a bit more of a comfortable experience for your pup!
@@HowToTrainADreamDog, thank you for the great advice. We will try the brushing approach in the video. Is it too late for the brushing experience to change since Gigi is 1?
I have a 6 mo. Morkie so full of energy and very loving. We live in UT and have gone to some training classes but he still is jumping and barking at people. He does pretty good on leash. He hates his crate and gave up and let him sleep on my bed. (my bad, I know) He is getting ready to be neutered and I am worried about him jumping on things.
Now is a good time to start teaching him what you'd like to do instead of jump and bark. This video can guide you a bit and the training games in our course can help you teach him! ua-cam.com/video/AmlJcJRchDw/v-deo.html
Yikes, I have been doing this all wrong! Good thing I have only been trying for a week. Puppy Milo bites and squirms when I try to bush him so I guess I am getting a strong "No thank you!!" message. Thanks for the great process, will be going back to square one!
Young puppies are learning new things all the time so you can re-teach Milo to feel better about the brushing. The trick will be to go slooooow. It's hard for humans to do but it's worth it!
My 6 month Shiloh Shepard somewhat tolerates it. I give her something to chew while I'm doing it. Hardest area is behind ears and face. She doesn't let me and usually has matted areas.
We hope you learned some helpful tips from this video - even for those tough areas!
Our lab is 9 months old. She doesn’t like to be brushed. I thought maybe my brush was too ruff but it looks like one in your video. Do you have to have the treat mat? We don’t have that sort of thing. Great video.
We hope you learned some helpful tips from this video and can slowly get your pup more comfortable with brushing! You don't need a treat mat, but we would recommend one. Here is one we recommend! www.howtotrainadreamdog.com/lickety_mat
Hi- love your helpful videos . My pup is a bichonpoo and about 5 months and getting his first grooming this weekend. He had his first mail clipping about 3 weeks ago and it was rough. Apparently he tried to bite the handler and another handler was present to distract and other trimming. After this service, or coincidentally we noticed a slight change in behaviour when we lift or pick up our dog, and he starts to growl, snarl then bite our hands off and scared me. I’m actually feeling stressed knowing the fact that he will not enjoy this at all. We do brush him with no issues and often touch his paws without any issues, however don’t want to cut his nails. I’ve asked the place how do they handle a nervous or a biter , and they said they’d use either a cone or muzzle. What is your opinion or suggestion. Help!
Hey there! We're so glad that you've found are videos helpful for you and your puppy! We're also sorry to hear that the grooming visit didn't go so well. We highly recommend that you look into taking your dog to a fear-free groomer. Fear-Free groomers work to make sure that your pup is as comfortable as possible - they work WITH your dog! This helps your dog's confidence and comfort levels, as well as lessening the likelihood of changes in behavior! You can use the Fear Free Directory to find one near you: fearfreepets.com/resources/directory/
So you painstakingly adapt your Havanese puppy to allow brushing her back over a week or two. So what do you do about the mats that just formed on her haunches and actually will require actual brushing??
If you have a "must do it now, without desensitization" issue, you can try doing it in very short durations throughout the day, using very very high value treats. Try to do the bare minimum to get the mats out so you don't see regression in her acceptance of brushing. Once you get through the mats, continue your brushing desensitization regularly so you can prevent mats. It's hard but you'll get there! It sounds like you're doing great trying to help her tolerate it.
I have a 4 month old cavapoo. His first groom is scheduled for Labor Day. He tolerates some brushing, but his fur is very fluffy and the poodle in him is bringing in some mats. He’s let me trim the hair on his feet and face, but he’s not a big fan of me combing his hind legs where the matting occurs. I’m hoping they can clip him short so we can start from a place that doesn’t seem so urgent.
Make sure you've found a trusted groomer, and make sure you're working on introducing him to the brush and being touched well before his first groom. We hope you learned some helpful tips from this video!
@@HowToTrainADreamDog absolutely! We work in grooming every day and the groomer has a very specific puppy grooming setup to make it fun and enjoyable.
Just wondering, is the snuffle mat important?
Enrichment and giving a dog a chance to do species-typical behaviors is important. The snuffle mat is one option for that, and we find that most dogs love to forage for their food. It's a great option for a rotation of enrichment and feeding games.
We have a 5 month old Yorkie and he seems nervous of everything, especially his brush 🤷🏻♀️.
For some dogs who have a nervous disposition it can take longer for them to be comfortable. But if you take it nice and slow and advance only when they give signals that they are comfortable, you'll get there!
Is it too late for my 7mo old Havanese to be trained with your initial four stage brushing method? Or in pad training for urination?
It's never too late to work on these skills! Just take the trianing at your pup's pace and watch for stress signals. End the sessions when you see sings of stress or overwhelm. With older pup's we have to go a bit slower but it's still doable!! Happy training.
kinda have the same problem i have a big 10 month old german shepherd and jerrylee likes being brushed but trys to bit the brush when im doing it
Hopefully you got some good tips in this video! If your GSD is biting the brush you might need to go slower and re-introduce the brush as a positive tool.
7mo. And not so much, but my husband does it anyway. Where can I get a snuffle mat?
Here's one of the snuffle mats used in this video! www.howtotrainadreamdog.com/snuffle_mat
I had to get a little unconventional with my Shiba since the Pandemic went onto full swing a couple weeks after i got her. Spring was warming up and she was blowing her winter coat. So i took her favorite chew toy (sheep horn) put it on a small pre proof pad and let her munch on it while she was being brushed. When she had enough i let her go play. I let her lay down during the whole process which makes it difficult for me, but that's kind of been our thing since. 🤷
It is absolutely great that you let her go play when she's had enough of the grooming. It sounds like you're a pretty great puppy parent!
@@HowToTrainADreamDog Thanks. Doing my best!
My puppy is 6.5 months and he’s…tolerant. It’s not his favorite thing but I probably did rush it. Same with nail clipping. He got hurt the other day when I was clipping his nails and I felt awful! I do have a furminator but I haven’t used it on my puppy yet. I’ll never forget using it on my 4 year old Australian Shepherd who had some bad mats from the shelter. I basically pulled the hair right out and he bled a little. I didn’t notice because he didn’t make a single sound the whole time but I felt terrible! I’m super careful now because I don’t want to hurt my puppy.
We love that you are super aware and careful with your puppy. It sounds like you are on the right track, hopefully this video helps you as well!
How do I keep my poodle from getting mats if the process takes more than a couple weeks?
We recommend that you take what you can get with brushing, even if it's only 30 seconds before your pup is telling you "no!"
How do you train a dog
We can help with that! Tell us more of what you're trying to train and we probably have a video that can help you.
I have a Pom he can't have that many treats. Have to watch his wieght also. He gets 1 treat a day
So how do I do this?
You can use kibble. Try changing the kibble a little bit, either making it cold, warming it up, putting some warm water on it or making it into a mush. Did your vet tell you to limit his treats? Most of the time puppies are not in danger of gaining weight from average treats and training sessions. Older dogs are more at risk of weight gain. But definitely listen to any advice your vet has given. You can also break the treats he's allowed to have into very small pieces so he's still getting a reward for the training.
So I have a baby Bernese mountain dog is there a certain age I should start brushing?
Once your puppy has settled into your home you can begin the desensitization process. This is good to start when the puppy is young because the puppy brain will be more positive about new things. Just go slow like this video suggests, so you have a lifetime of a content dog while being brushed!
@@HowToTrainADreamDog you always see these “Day 1 potty trained” videos online and part of me is like really? Doesn’t the dog have to get used to the home first and the routines
Yes that's like expecting a newborn baby to be potty trained at 1 week. It's not really possible based on what we know of brain development! The human can help to prevent accidents, but it takes months before the dog has the brain capacity to recognize a full bladder and then recognize what to do about it.
My Boykin Spaniel hates being brushed and spins and spins. I can’t get her to let me do it.
Go ahead and try breaking it down into the four phases like we did in the video! We hope by doing it this way, you'll see your pup get a bit more comfortable with this process!
I have a 5 month old Golden named Ollie and if I don't put the brush up out of his reach he will bring it to me to brush his back, especially the butt area, however, if I try to brush his legs he avoids and wants to leave. I have tried using the back side of the brush and just touching his front legs but as soon as that happens he is out. I can tug, hold and pet his legs no problem but if I touch it with the brush he freaks. So I have been just brushing his back and he loves it, he is young so his leg feathers have not grown out but they soon will and they will need to be brushed, any advice ?
It sounds like you might want to go slower with Ollie on brushing the front legs. For now, just show him the brush and give him treats. Don't worry about touching his legs just yet. Follow the tips in this video and go nice and slow!
@@HowToTrainADreamDog Good advice but problem solved, I changed to a different style brush and he has no issues but he still does not like the first brush, I can live with those results. Thanks for the feed back and keep up the great work, you do a good job… great advice and delivered well !!!
My Shih Tsu is 1 and she HATES being brushed and she hates going to the groomers. She bites me and attacks the brush and tried to run away when I try to brush her. So she gets matted hair and then the groomers think I’m a bad pet mom. I’ll try these steps and see if it works.
Let us know how it goes! This is a lifelong activity for her so helping her love it is really important.
@@HowToTrainADreamDog It’s working I think! She lets me brush everywhere except her feet. I’ll work on her some more so hopefully she’ll let me do her feet too
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Thanks so much for your comment! We hope you enjoyed the video!
Thanks for watching! How old is your puppy, and how does she or he feel about being brushed? Let us know!
Our Morkie puppy is 13 weeks and we've been forcing a quick brushing. I'm looking forward to taking my time for this approach and hopeful for him to eventually be OK with brushing. He loves digging and playing in the dirt so daily brushing is needed for his long coat.
My 4,” month old
Shih tzu fights me brushing, even though I’m holding her filled kong
We hope that you'll be able to start applying the training we've mentioned - starting at Phase 1! If you need further help, you can always enroll in the pro-level of our online course for more personalized input from our certified trainers. 30 Days to Puppy Perfection:
www.howtotrainadreamdog.com/puppy-perfection-course-learn-more/
What about dogs that hate when we try to clean the gunk from their eyes. My 8th month cockapoo hates it. He fights me all the time.
You can use the same techniques in this video to go slower and ask for your dog's consent. If you go slow enough and offer good treats, he will likely be fine with it. It'll take some training to re-build his trust with you coming close to his eyes but you'll get there!
@@HowToTrainADreamDog would that be a separate training because he hates being brush too.
Yes you can work on these separately, making sure to always go at your puppy's pace. The book "Cooperative Care" by Deborah A Jones can guide you through this process.
@@HowToTrainADreamDog so during this time we do not try to comb them at all?
if it's making him upset, then no, do not comb. But make the training for combing your #1 priority and use super tasty treats so you can comb him as soon as possible. Sometimes we have to take a step back in order to move forward.
Oh heavens. This took way too long for a long haired pup. She would have been a matted mess. We used peanut butter on a licj toy to acclimate her. When she was a pup she got soooo dirty baths were weekly. I think this might work for short haired dogs but long haired digs tgat require brushing daily need a fast track. Now at a year okd our American Eskimo tries to jump up on the table to get groomed because she knows a daily grooming stops the knots and gets followed by a treat.
We love this story of your unicorn puppy! However, not all dogs are the same. We hope to reach many audiences and help people with all different types of puppies! Some even watch our videos to prepare before their puppy gets home. Knowing that they have a long-haired puppy who will need to go through this process is just part of the pre-training that sets them up for long-term success!
bump
Thanks so much for your engagement!
Hawking your swag for first half of the video… get to the point
We hope you enjoyed this free training info!
Video too long and no demonstration like your thumbnail showed a small dog.
Ruh roh! We think you missed the part starting around 7:50 where we show you how we have taught our students to brush their puppies in a way that is comfortable for the dog. You can see demonstrations of how to introduce the brush and how to know when to proceed with the training. Some people take entire courses on this skill so a 14 minute video to learn how to avoid a common stressful experience in your dog is well worth your time!
@@HowToTrainADreamDog only shows big dogs
Thanks for watching.
@@dellascorner317says the person with 3 subs 😅💀
@@Electricoyoungmusicians whatever that means 🤡
What about the belly and leg hair
Those areas can be bothersome to dogs so follow the advice in this video and slowly work up to it with lots of rewards so your dog can associate it with something positive. Do not go too far too fast.
@@HowToTrainADreamDog got it thanks