Dog Handling for Professional Pet Grooming

For those of you who are curious about professional pet grooming, it is indeed a great field of study and practice to get involved with. Of course people will think and ask you how many times you will be bitten by the random dogs that come inside your workplace, but if you know what you are doing, you should not be getting dog bites every week, eventually leading to the resignation of your pet grooming profession. Dog handling in the professional world is all about technique, and after years of practice, you’ll love dogs more and more. Dog bites do happen on occasion, but most of the time because the animal is scared of not knowing who the groomer is and being involved in a different environment that the dog is not familiar with.

Dog Handling

Dog handling inexperience can lead to improper techniques that will make the dog uncomfortable. It is important to treat each dog with special care and to make sure that you know what to do in emergency situations to earn the dog’s trust. Going to work everyday with a positive attitude will feed each dog you see throughout the day some positive energy to feed off of. Giving the dog a small treat when they first walk in can also mellow the mood of a dog, who does not want anything to do with any pet groomers. The use of helpful equipment surrounding the pet grooming facility should also be used to the advantage of creating a good experience for the dogs that are checked in.

Just like every person, dogs also have pet peeves and it is important that proper handling skills be used when a dog can be aggressive. Do not show aggression yourself if you have chosen not to be bit and prevent any aggression to comfort the dog and let them know that you are their friend. Adjusting the dog on a table in a good position without moving them numerous times making them feel uneasy will help out with the dog’s pet grooming experience too. This will prevent the result of injury. Dogs can be dangerous if they are rubbed the wrong way, so make sure that you are handling these dogs with the professional care that was provided to you by previous groomers. The groomers that have been in this pet grooming business for years know techniques through constant day-to-day practice and can save you a trip to the hospital from a dog bite or reaction.

Dog handling situations can be easy if you know what you are doing and follow the rules. One must take into consideration that these dogs coming in and out of the grooming facilities do not have this treatment done to them everyday. They have to adjust to new settings and a new environment, so it’s up to the professional pet groomer to make this happen. Imagine going to an office and having hand held dryers waving around you, being soaked in a bath with a random person cleaning your anal cavity, trimming your nails and shoving sponges and whatever necessary tools in your ears to clean. For a dog that does not go through this process everyday, it is something that they have to get used to and with a good pet groomer, the dog will be in heaven, thanking the professional pet groomer for a nice clean coat.

There are many tools and useful techniques available to make everyone’s job a whole lot easier. But without proper training and without following guidelines, you can’t expect something to be done right. Dogs are comparable to people when it comes to loyalty and having a heart, so it’s up to the professional pet groomers, as well as the owners to treat every dog with the same positive mind state to make them feel at home. Make sure you enter this profession with patience, understanding and compassion, which will go a long way for those of you interested in the pet grooming industry.