Questions & Answers (FAQ's)
"How is it done?"
"Why do you prefer to do your own baths?"
"My dog is stressed at the grooming salon, will he be relaxed at home?"
"Can I be present when you groom?"
"How is it done?"
When people contact me, either by phone, email, or the submit-form page, I get many of the same questions asked again and again. So obviously a new web page was needed to explain what , exactly, I do, how I do what I do and what equipment I use.
If you contact me by email I will answer by email as soon as I can. If a question gets asked more than once I will add it to this page so anybody who is browsing the website and is wondering the same thing, can find the answers here. Several frequent questions and their answers are combined in the description here.
But one of the first questions I get asked is "What is a bathing system? Do I bring my own tub?"No, I use your own bath tub but I do bring my own equipment. All I need from you is the tub and about one inch of warm water. No shower head from you is needed. The bathing system has a motor, a hose and a suction mechanism that continuously recycles the water to spray on your dog. The water in the tub is changed between shampoos and conditioner. However, for rinsing, continuous clean water is used to get nice squeaky clean paws.
It may not be much to look at but it is designed specialy for spraying dogs. The force of the spray is calibrated to get the job done while at the same time giving a gentle massage to your dogs skin, and it does a great job. Cotton balls are placed in the ears to protect the ears from excess water.
After the coat is cleaned using only top-of-the-line grooming shampoos, I give the face a "blueberry facial scrub" (really! That's what it's called!) to gently cleanse pretty but mucky puppy faces. Care is also taken to keep shampoo out of your dog's eyes.
After wiping off as much water as I can using a special towel, I use a High Velocity Dryer to dry your dog completely and quickly. This fluffs up the coat to make trimming easier. This bathing and drying stage of the groom is essential and should never be skipped or even done prior to my visit.
My clipping system is convenient as it cleans after itself. The machine's canister itself looks like a small central vac unit for the house. The suction attachment clips right on the front of the clippers. This causes the fur to be lifted straight up just as the clipper reaches the fur to be cut. The result? Usually just one pass of the clippers is needed to give a clean, uniform cut to the fur. As an added bonus, the cut fur is sucked into the canister immediately. No fur is left to clean up afterward or just floating around in the air. It's faster, cleaner and easier, both on your dog and the time needed to groom your dog. The vacuum itself is much quieter than a normal home vacuum. Different clipper attachments are used to achieve desired lengths.
Then come the scissors. They come in various lengths and shapes. They are very speciallized and do an amazing job! A variety of different pairs of scissors for a variety of jobs.
Finally, if no one in the home has perfume sensitivities, I slightly spray your pooch with a cologne and add bows and/or bandana. Now your dog looks great, smells great and feels great.
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Special thanks to Chris and her dogs Lady and Oscar
for helping to demonstrate the procedures.
"Why do you prefer to do your own baths?"
What it comes down to is coat preparation; and that's done during the washing AND drying. I use shampoos that I know will remove the dirt but also any excess oils from the coat. The high-velocity dryer will fluff up the coat and straighten the hair leaving it in the perfect condition to be cut.
Plus, you won't be charged any less for doing it yourself: if the coat is not properly prepared then extra time is usually spent doing extra brushing and de-matting.
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"My dog is stressed at the grooming salon, will he be relaxed at home?"
Many factors might trigger stress in your pet: could be being away from home, maybe being crated, maybe noise level, intimidated by other dogs, picking up on other dogs stress, not liking water, afraid of the dryer, not liking to have the face trimmed, nails clipped, feet touched.... See, many things can be at the root of your pet's stress. If the environment is the trigger, grooming at home will relieve that. If the grooming procedure is the stressor, stress will occurred at home too but it might be easier to work with because of the more familiar environment and maybe with the parents cooperation. You might discover that your previous groomer might not have been as bad or mean as you thought, but that poochie is in fact, a very difficult dog to groom and that he has no problem using his teeth and claws to avoid the grooming session. At the same time, the parents can see the triggers and can work with the pets on a daily basis. If Toby hates having his nails clipped, mom or dad can manipulate the feet of Toby on a daily basis, so he gets used to the feeling of having his feet touched. If the noise of the dryer is a stress trigger in Fiona, have the dryer blow on Fiona (no heat) once in a while so she gets used to that. Grooming will be easier as she gets familiarized with the feeling. If Fido hates the clippers, have dad's shaver running and have Fido feel the vibration on his body. Run it back and forth along the dog for short periods of time. It will make Fido more comfortable if he knows that nothing bad ever happens. Having the groomer in your home is an invaluable opportunity to learn and establish strategies to develop a more pleasant experience with your pet's grooming. But, that requires team work.
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"Can I be present when you groom?"
Absolutely, IF it does not agitate your dog. Signs for agitation are when the dog keeps looking for you, tries to get off the table to be on you, whines and cries at your sight, or pulls on the loop to get to you. That makes it impossible to work. Now, if your presence appeases him, you are so welcome to stay, help, give positive feedback because he is doing so good and is being so patient and cooperative. If your dog is food driven, offering treats is ok if it helps. The goal is to make the grooming a positive experience. Whatever works!! But, if your dog is anxious, feeling sorry for him will be detrimental and he will pick up on that energy and will make grooming a poor experience.
After the grooming, your dog doesn't really care about what actually happened, he cares about the flow of energy while it happened.
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More questions? Please don't hesitate to ask!
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