Ep196 Unseen Signals

[00:00:00] Chrissy Neumyer Smith: Episode 196, Unseen Signals: Understanding Sudden Bites in dog grooming. This week we're gonna talk about the, it came out of nowhere, those kind of bites. Some bites happen without warning, but what can cause that? What subtle warnings might have been missed. Now whether you're a seasoned groomer or just starting out, this episode will give you some insights and help you have a safer, more understanding work environment.

[00:00:25] This is the Creating Great Grooming Dog Show. I'm Chrissy Neumyer Smith. I'm a master groomer behavior specialist. A certified professional groomer. A certified behavior consultant for canines, a certified professional dog trainer, a fear free, certified professional. I'm an owner of Happy Critters in Nashua, New Hampshire.

[00:00:41] I teach at the whole pet grooming academy, whole pet nh.com.

[00:00:46] So this week we're talking about those sudden bites that it came with no warning. I hear this one a lot and there are a couple of things going on there. So generally, we're gonna start off with this idea that all dogs are gonna find grooming a little bit scary.

[00:01:03] Let's start there. Okay, so unless this dog is actively happy, we should assume that they're under some sort of pressure. We should assume that they're having a little bit of difficulty. I want you to think about that difficulty might show up in really subtle ways, but unless they are actively like, woo-hoo, everything's great, then we need to think that maybe they're under some stress.

[00:01:27] Now as dog groomers. If you're not a groomer, if you're a trainer or an owner, you might not realize that some dogs do enjoy grooming. Some dogs are actually pretty happy about it, and they're like, woo hoo, everything's good. Okay, so as groomers, we do still, we do see that sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes we do.

[00:01:44] Now, when we see that a dog that switches from that to maybe trying to bite us, my first thought is always going to be, did something hurt? Did something hurt? If a dog honest to God is like, Hey, I'm super loosey goosey and I'm having a good time, and suddenly tries to bite someone or growls or air snaps or does something aggressive, okay, reacts in a way that we do not want.

[00:02:12] My first thought is going to be, is that dog sore? Did I just do something that hurt? And you might think, Nope, this dog is healthy. And boy, I hear that a lot. Like you're an awful lot. Apparently. Everybody thinks their dog is healthy, but sometimes there is something that's sore. Sometimes you just hit a tangle the wrong way.

[00:02:34] Maybe you're brushing along and didn't know there was a tangle dangling from something very, very sensitive and grabbed it. Just pulled it tight. And a dog that wasn't expecting that. Now I'm not saying that because it hurt. That's a good reason. To try to bite somebody or try to hurt somebody.

[00:02:51] What I am saying is that we need to figure out the why. So if this is a case of a dog who is normally relaxed, everything's happy, and suddenly has a reaction that you feel came out of nowhere, always, always, always think health and safety first. I'm gonna give you an example. We had a dog at the grooming shop I used to work at. , we were brushing him and he was still learning about being brushed. Kind of a young dog, young adolescent, , got up near his neck and had a sudden burst of reaction, which was a little bit of screaming and some air snaps.

[00:03:26] He wasn't actually trying to hurt anybody, which by the way, we will talk about that a little bit too. Most of these things are dogs that aren't trying to hurt anybody yet, yet. Trying to do these things are warnings, please leave me alone. Gimme some space. Anyway, he had this reaction and luckily our first thought was, let's see if there's something wrong.

[00:03:48] , that was unusual. He is not usually like that, are you okay? Always start there because when we told the owner later, the owner said, believe it or not. Oh, he was hit by a car yesterday, but the vet said he was fine. Didn't bother to tell us that at check in, you know? Hey, is anything different with him?

[00:04:10] Is he? Is he doing all right? Yep. Did not, did not even occur to him. So if we had continued, if we had assumed that maybe he was just being difficult, which is all right, we're into some dicey stuff. If you think dogs are just being difficult, please think about, Nope, this dog's having a hard time. But if we thought this dog was giving us a hard time, not having difficulty.

[00:04:35] What if we had increased, holding onto him? What if we had tied him down tighter? Which we should not be doing groomers. We really should not be doing that. That's, that's setting us up to fail. But instead, our first thought with this particular dog was, wow, is he okay? And it turns out he was not.

[00:04:54] , and when he was fine in future groomings, that behavior did not come back up. That was a pain response, and we have to watch for those. If something seems like it just came out of nowhere, we should assume it's some sort of a pain response or perhaps startled, there are lots of reasons why a dog might suddenly go, whoa. Maybe you just really scared him. So that's one of the top ones. If a dog is honest to God, relax, loosey goosey, normally playful and tries to bite at you or tries to bite at somebody or acts aggressively or suddenly has this burst of a behavior you don't want and you don't normally see.

[00:05:33] Always, always, always think health. Think body, think something is wrong.

[00:05:39] Now the other type of he bit without warning. Could be the dog who, , maybe he's new to being groomed by you, or maybe he is used to being groomed by you, but he is used to you ignoring all of the subtle signs, a great example, owner's at home and they continue to do things and the dog is like squirming around and trying to get away, and they just continue and the dog is squirming around and the dog air bites a couple times, and, and then the owners let go.

[00:06:08] They're actively teaching that dog to bite harder, to get better results earlier. If you're gonna ignore all of the subtle signs, if you're gonna ignore a little bit of a lip curl or, or a whale eye. When they turn their eye and they're, they're kinda looking at the side like, ah, like the scary movie. And they can, they, they can't quite look away.

[00:06:27] That's the whale eye. When you see the white part of the dog's eye, if they have been doing that and you just ignore it and you just keep going and just keep going. You're teaching them that we're not able to understand those subtle signs. Dogs are all about body language. All about the body language, watch for the body language.

[00:06:47] So often I meet dogs who have been turned away in many places. It's kind of what I, what I do. , and some of those dogs have been actively trained that no one is gonna pay any attention to anything subtle. And some of those dogs are actually pretty dangerous because their first thought is, I need to go big.

[00:07:07] If I want this person to let go or not pick me up at all, or not put a muzzle on, I need to go big so that they'll back off. Okay. This is taught, unfortunately, we didn't mean to teach it, but that's what the dog learned through our process, whether that be the owner or a trainer or a groomer, or at the animal hospital, but that's what the dog learned.

[00:07:31] If I'm subtle, no one's gonna notice. They think we're dumb dumbs. They're like, these humans do not understand subtlety at all.. Dogs have some polite versions. Have some polite versions to say, I'm really uncomfortable with this.

[00:07:46] Now, here are some problems that we have as dog groomers. Now, if you are not a groomer this is gonna seem a little bit off for you, but I want you to think about dog grooming.

[00:07:57] We are very rarely looking at the face and the face's expression. Unless we are actively trying to trim the face, in which case we're still usually looking for symmetry and we're looking at the hair around the face, but not necessarily what the eyes are doing or the expression the dog is trying to give us.

[00:08:17] We're not usually looking at the way the ears are being held or the tail or what, how their body position is, except within the realm of what we are trying to get done. Now, I know sometimes owners and trainers are like, well, you need to watch for that, and I agree with you. We do. However, that is asking a groomer to really step back from their role as groomer and be watching for some training stuff.

[00:08:43] If you have never tried to trim around an eye with sharp tools, you probably don't understand what a groomer is trying to accomplish, and the safety factor for that. We are watching, but we're not watching the dog's whole expression while we're watching this one individual piece. This little area of hair that we have a sharp tool next to that we're trying to trim within a millimeter of skin and eye.

[00:09:11] So if you think the groomer is looking at his face, we probably are not, and that's part of the disconnect is that, , you might think it's so obvious what his body language is doing. If you are grooming that dog, it might not have been obvious at all. Now, groomers, I encourage us all, and I get a lot of value out of this too, to video yourself grooming.

[00:09:36] You don't need to share it with anybody, just do it for yourself and watch yourself groom and see if you pick up on some warning signs while you're watching that you didn't pick up on in that moment, because most of us do. I do. There are times where I'm like, wow, I knew that dog was panting, but I didn't really notice the tail wagging and the front paw bouncing around and stuff like that.

[00:10:00] Dog was just being really silly. Maybe I did not notice in that moment because I'm looking at hair. I'm looking for balance and symmetry and evenness, and not necessarily noticing all of the body language. It can be really telling for us as groomers. Especially if you're working with a dog that maybe in the past has bit without warning or had a response that was dramatic seemingly without warning, to watch how you groom to be an observer in your own grooming room, and it can be very, very, very helpful.

[00:10:38] In the next part, we're gonna talk a little bit more about some of the reasons why some dogs might have a dramatic response. If you're enjoying the show, please remember, subscribe, like, follow whatever format you're doing. This is available on podcasts, anywhere you listen to a podcast. You can watch this on YouTube and you can go to creating great grooming dogs.com and watch or listen from there.

[00:11:03] So please share it with a friend.

[00:11:06] So when we talk about having these dogs, like giving no warning.

[00:11:10] Now we do need to think about safety, and I have had a couple of dogs in the past that had a bite history. I was like, all right, well let's, let's prepare ourselves for the safest grooming possible. Now, if you have had a dog that maybe the owners are saying, well, you know, he is been kicked out of a couple places, and they said he bit without warning,

[00:11:33] we do need to protect ourselves. I am not particularly against any particular tool. But I want you to know if we feel like this dog is dangerous and we can't protect ourselves, this dog is not a pretty haircut. All right, everybody take a deep breath. If your dog is dangerous, if you're an owner of a dog who is likely to hurt somebody, don't bring them to the pet stylist without working on this.

[00:12:02] Okay, there's homework to be done. There might be trainers involved, there might be a veterinarian involved, there might be medication involved. There might be a muzzle involved, but we can't just assume that a dog groomer puts up with that or does that . Dog groomers aren't here to get hurt.

[00:12:19] Right now it is May 19th, 2024, May 19th, the month isn't even over, and I know of four groomers who have been injured by a bite. Just this month and one dog who has died in dog grooming just this month. Just this month. This is really important. It still happens. It happens everywhere. So if we know that a dog is likely to have a response like that, we need to be planning ahead.

[00:12:48] We need to be thinking about helping that dog be calm, comfortable, and cooperative. You guys have heard it many times if you've been listening to the show, we want that dog to be calm. We want to help that dog have a better experience than they have had in the past. We want that dog to feel like they're safe, and if there's something particular that that dog is worried about, we wanna know ahead of that time.

[00:13:14] We wanna know what that thing is before we get in there. Some dogs, it's only one thing. Classic example is the dog that thinks it's it's their face or it's their feet, or it's their tail and their bum. Those are the top ones. Most dogs aren't particularly worried about their hip or their shoulder, , or even their belly.

[00:13:34] So if there's something in particular, we wanna know what that is so that we can maybe come up with a plan to keep everybody safe. Now, it may seem like a dog isn't giving you any warning, but a dog who is clearly uncomfortable with any part of the process, that's your first warning. That's the beginning of the whole warning.

[00:13:56] Listen, I'm telling you, I am not comfortable with this. I don't want this done to me, and we want to help them. Now. Sometimes we have to break grooming up into smaller, smaller, smaller pieces. Little itty bitty, teeny tiny pieces. Not everything happens all at once. We're any of us experts? The first time we did something.

[00:14:20] Bam. Look at that. I can write, right? Most of us write every day, but the first time you wrote something, trying to learn how to write letters seemed pretty daunting. We did a lot of practice, okay, these dogs need practice, and in many cases, if it's a dog who's coming to you because they have had problems in the past, a lot of that practice has been fighting with the groomer, fighting with the owner, fighting with the vet, and many times losing.

[00:14:50] , think about how terrifying that could be, and I know sometimes people think I'm being anthropomorphic when I say that, but let's think about it. Do you think that you could terrify your dog? Yeah. So what's anthropomorphic about it? Yeah, it could be really, really scary. We know that, and some dogs have had a very, very scary experience with their groomer, with their vet, with their owners.

[00:15:16] Okay. And I am raising my hand. I have done that. Right. It's, this isn't a judgment call. This is just saying like, let's step back and think about the dog's experience and how they are likely to experience it next time. So if they're coming in and they're already nervous. That is your warning.

[00:15:35] Anything they do was with warning, they're already telling you they're nervous, so let's break it down into stuff that's easier. Let's make this whole process easier for a dog who is nervous. And I'll tell you, there have been a couple of cases where I use a muzzle, and the muzzle is there to help remind the dog that you cannot bite me.

[00:15:56] And I proceed just as gently and carefully as if that dog could I back off if that dog shows any signs of being nervous or any signs that they're, they're uncomfortable. Or if I'm not making progress back off a little bit, see if I can get them to relax a little. And those two cases in particular that I'm thinking of, there was a medical component, there was a medical component that these dogs were super worried about you touching them and having a muzzle on.

[00:16:29] We don't wanna use any of our equipment to just force a dog through it. If we're using safety equipment. Like I'm using that as my backup. I don't want the dog actively like trying to bite me and just like put a muzzle on and keep him from doing it. I want that as my backup plan in case I'm not able to help this dog stay calm.

[00:16:49] What if I'm not able to help this dog stay calm and they happen to be wearing a muzzle? It means I happen to not get bit, hopefully, fingers crossed, muzzles are not a sure thing. You can get bit through a muzzle and they can pop a muzzle off. So. If we want to set this up to be comfortable for them and make them feel safe, the way we can work on that is to help them feel comfortable, but also sometimes it can be a benefit to remove the option of biting.

[00:17:20] Maybe that's an, , Elizabeth in collar, so. In the dog training world, an ecollar is an electronic collar and the dog grooming world, an ecollar is an Elizabethan collar. So just for clarity, I'm always gonna say Elizabethan collar, you know the cone. So what if we do something that helps keep everybody safe while still working on, can I help you feel safe?

[00:17:45] Can I make progress today? Because the dog that did something that seems like it had no warning was giving warnings. There is usually a warning. Now, the couple of cases that I'm talking about that were truly medical, one of them was a dog with a head injury. So she had had some sort of brain trauma as a, as a pup.

[00:18:06] She was found as a stray with a severely broken jaw. And, um, yeah, there was definitely a medical component to her behaviors. And when something, , was scary, she would jump directly to hard bites with anybody at any time. Like, don't wake that dog. She was not a healthy dog. She had a, a. Physical reason why she could go into a burst of aggression.

[00:18:36] Now, I will say, I'm not gonna call her unpredictable. It was pretty predictable. If she's startled, she's gonna bite and she's gonna bite hard. And she was a little lhasa with a head injury, it was predictable just that you didn't necessarily know what was going to startle her. But I taught her to be calm for me.

[00:18:53] We did use a muzzle to help her remain calm while we could all be safe together and get some things done. And actually she was really, really safe for me to groom for many years. , I didn't meet her when she was younger, but I met her toward the middle of her life. She's now gone, but for many years I was able to groom her quite safely.

[00:19:14] We taught her to be comfortable with the muzzle. She would allow me to put it on, so nobody's saying to, to not. Be safe with these dogs. What I'm saying is to think about their feelings. I know it's so wishy-washy, but think about their feelings. Think about the why. Why is there no warning? Did I miss any subtle signs because I was doing a hair cut?

[00:19:38] Because I was drying? Because I was grinding nails. 'cause I was trimming nails. How much body language, for those of you who aren't a groomer, how much body language do you think we can see while we trim a nail? Hmm. Yeah. You think, you think you could see a whole vast array of body language? Not usually.

[00:20:00] So what I'm telling groomers to do is to help the dog feel calm, comfortable, and cooperative. But what does that feel like as a groomer? If I'm holding a paw, that's a dog who is allowing me to hold their paw, that's a dog who's not pulling away. That's a dog who has relaxed into my hand. Now for the trainers out there, I would say that's a start button behavior and a tactile cue for a start button behavior.

[00:20:24] If I can open my palm, and the dog's foot remains there instead of trying to get away, that's their start button. That means, yep. Okay, go ahead. You can continue. If they try to pull away, I'm gonna like, okay, what's wrong? Let's, let's see if we can reassess, maybe try a new position. Try a different tool.

[00:20:44] But the purpose of this discussion is that dogs give you warnings. It is really easy to miss a warning if you are grooming a dog. And if you have a dog that's a little bit dangerous, maybe you want some extra preparedness, maybe you want another set of eyes, and I don't want you to just give that away.

[00:21:05] Okay? If that requires another set of eyes that has to be paid for. Our owners have to pay for that. Nobody's asking you to do this for free, but if we do it right, we can help a dog be safer and which is safer for us and safer for the dog.

[00:21:25] And over time, we're planting more seeds for future groomings.

[00:21:29] It's all about those future groomings. Don't worry about today. Don't worry if you didn't get every nail today. Today is really small. It's the bigger picture. The bigger picture. Did this dog walk away going nail trims aren't so bad? Even if you only did back feet? Hey, take it. That's wonderful. What if you forced the front feet and he walks away going, I hate nail trims.

[00:21:55] So think about the bigger picture. Think about the bigger picture, and that most dogs do not bite without any warning. And when they do. That is a health issue. Something is going on, maybe that's like my head injury dog with some brain trauma. Maybe that's like the dog that I used to groom who had seizure disorders.

[00:22:17] And maybe that's the dog who has been taught not to bother with anything subtle because you know, humans are dumb. Humans will don't understand subtle, just go big. There is something going on. If a dog goes from happy, relaxed to trying to bite you, something bigger is happening. Okay? That's not normal.

[00:22:39] That's something health. So again, warning signs. Sometimes we miss them as we're doing a haircut. We're looking at our tools, we're looking at the finish. We're looking for like little clipper lines. We're not paying attention to the whole body because we have two eyes and they're on one spot.

[00:22:59] So if you're enjoying the show, like I said. Like, subscribe, follow, tell a friend. I do teach the Master Groomer Behavior Specialist diploma program at the whole Pet Grooming Academy, and we have new classes starting up about every other month.

[00:23:14] Have a great week. Bye.