Why Some Dogs Get Worse Every Time Ep185

[00:00:00] Episode 185. Why do some dogs get worse about grooming time after time and they just keep getting worse? Shouldn't they eventually realize that it doesn't hurt them? Why don't they learn to just go with the flow? That's what we're gonna cover today in episode 185. The Six Reasons Why Some dogs get worse every time.

[00:00:18] I am Chrissy Neumyer Smith. This is the Creating Great Grooming Dogs Show. I am a master groomer behavior specialist, a certified professional groomer, a certified behavior consultant for canines, a certified professional dog trainer, an instructor at Whole Pet Grooming Academy, and I'm the owner of Happy Critters in Nashua, New Hampshire.

[00:00:35] And this my friends and colleagues, is the show where dog grooming and dog training meet. So I wanna talk about six reasons why some dogs get worse every time. There are plenty of other reasons, but I narrowed it down to about six. But the first and foremost, before we even get into those six reasons, I do wanna clarify.

[00:00:55] Dogs are having difficulty with being groomed. They aren't giving us a difficult problem. They are having a problem. So at its very core, if a dog is continuing to have problems, then their issue isn't being addressed. And I want you to pause and think about that for a minute. 'cause we don't often think about it that way.

[00:01:16] Does this dog have an issue that maybe has been overlooked? Maybe we haven't really found out what makes this dog tick and that's really common. So we'll go through six reasons. Why many of these dogs have an issue, but really at the end, there are lots and lots of reasons for a dog to continue to have difficulty being groomed, and that's what's happening.

[00:01:39] If a dog is getting worse every time or staying the same, staying at the same level of, nervousness, aggressiveness, , it's because they have an underlying issue that maybe hasn't been addressed. So let's get into our six reasons. And I'm gonna say I did pull this off of a Facebook discussion.

[00:01:58] This was directly out of a Facebook discussion. , I didn't join into the discussion. I know I probably should have, but I decided to make a podcast episode instead. , because there are so many reasons, and it's more than just a quick post, but what I found was a lot of groomers, , were concerned about just one aspect.

[00:02:17] So a lot of these six reasons came up. We aren't always thinking about all of them. Everybody had like a quick one or two answers, maybe not six or 20,000. 'cause really it's more like 20,000. So let's talk about the first one. And if you are involved with any of my classes or anything like that, or involved with dog training, one of the first things I always want us to do if we see a behavior problem, whether you're a trainer or a groomer, Anything.

[00:02:46] If you see a behavior problem or a behavior problem that's continuing to get worse, our first question is, is there a health issue? Is there a physical reason for this pet to be behaving this way? And I'm gonna say pet, because these are not just for dogs. A lot of these things are for, for cats too, for other types of animals.

[00:03:05] If there is a behavior problem happening, I want us to first think, is there a physical reason? So health issues could be something like pain. And I know that a lot of people who are not groomers might not realize that. A lot of our dogs live with a lot of different types of pain. Just like people come on, they get older, they maybe have sore hips or sore toes, or ear problems or tooth problems.

[00:03:33] , lots of things that could be causing pain. And a lot of our owners don't recognize that. They don't see it, they don't notice it. And sometimes they kind of beat themselves up when we tell them. , but I want you to think about. Is there a reason why this dog could be in pain? So I think we tend to think about older dogs, you know, our senior dogs, but I'm gonna throw out here, let's not forget our adult dogs.

[00:04:00] Maybe they had an injury, maybe they were running up the stairs and just, you know, fell funny. There are lots of things that could happen. And with our puppies, our puppies are teething. Think about that as a source of pain, what do human babies do when they're teething? They cry, they're fussy

[00:04:16] so think about there are lots of different types of pain and discomfort. Discomfort. Let's think about how many dogs just find this uncomfortable. The reason why dogs have behavior problems during grooming, Because they find it unpleasant, uncomfortable, and or scary. I say that a lot on this show, and if we can all just take that in because it helps us to refocus, like, oh, what is this dog having a problem with?

[00:04:45] Does this dog find it unpleasant, uncomfortable, and or scary and uncomfortable is part of this health issue, so perhaps. It's about how, , this dog can balance while we're trying to move them around. A lot of our dogs have some balance issues. Perhaps it's range of motion. Now you might think, oh, this dog is young and he's just being fussy about this one foot.

[00:05:07] If it's only one foot, that to me says What's going on with that foot, or what's going on with the foot that I'm asking him to stand on while I lift this foot? So let me clarify that a little bit. If you are lifting up the dog's right front paw and that's when he gets a little bit fussy, it could be that the right front paw is sore or that's what he's having difficulty with you working on the right front paw.

[00:05:33] Or it could be because you're asking him to hold so much more weight on his left front paw if his left front paw is sore. And sometimes we don't think about that and we need to. So let's think about how can I help this dog be more comfortable. That is a really important way to help an animal feel better about grooming.

[00:05:53] So that's reason number one, why some dogs are getting worse every time. There could be an underlying health or pain issue that we didn't know about and we aren't thinking about, and that if we can work on that or modify our sessions for, for that dog to be more comfortable, we might be able to make progress.

[00:06:12] 'cause dogs aren't giving us a hard time, they're having a hard time. Reason number two, and this one is really, really common. Reason number two, why some dogs get worse every time is because they have always been afraid of grooming. Each groom has pushed that dog further and further, and sometimes their fear looks like they're frozen.

[00:06:35] And we sometimes mistake that for calm, cannot tell you how often we mistake that for calm while he was being so good and then suddenly, Now, if you're not a groomer, you might not know. So I'm gonna describe when we are grooming a dog and a dog is holding still we are focused in on the hair. I might not notice what that dog's face is doing because I might literally be working on the coat on a back leg.

[00:07:01] I might not be facing that dog's face. I might not see a whale eye. I might not see other body signals. I might not have a hand on their body to feel if they're loose. I'm scissoring. So if you think about a dog that is scared, sometimes they freeze when they're afraid. And for a lot of groomers, we miss that one.

[00:07:21] So ask yourself if this dog is getting worse and worse every time, is this dog just kind of frozen in fear while we groom? Has that been this dog's experience? I'm frozen in fear, but they just keep coming at me and just keep coming at me and just keep coming at me and just keep coming at me. And then it turns it, it goes from frozen to maybe trying to flee.

[00:07:40] Or maybe trying to fight, remember, freeze, flight and fight. , so we don't wanna trigger those kind of responses. So think has this dog always been afraid of grooming and now perhaps due to a health issue, or perhaps due to some other situation has become different in the way they express that fear?

[00:08:00] Okay, so that's reason number two. Sometimes these dogs had been afraid of grooming for years. I see it a lot. I see it a lot when I end up with an elderly dog who the groomer said, you know what? He, he's just becoming so difficult and he's so fragile. You know, he's never really loved it, but now he's really having some problems.

[00:08:19] We can still train. We have to think about the pet in front of us. How can we help this individual dog? Now, reason number three, remember we had six reasons why some dogs get worse every time, and reason number three is that I. I find this happens a lot. There's some body language that dogs give us that has been misinterpreted.

[00:08:42] We as groomers don't often have a whole lot of background in body language. We know what we know. We see signs, but we don't necessarily understand what the dog is doing. I'm gonna give you a couple of examples. , if a dog is nervous and they're trying to tone down the situation, , they're nervous, and they're trying to say , Hey, listen, can you back off?

[00:09:02] I'm a little bit scared. They might start sitting or turning away or curling up into a little ball, like pulling those little legs in tight. , Raising one paw. These are all things that dogs do to try to calm everybody else down. Like, listen, I'm really uncomfortable. Uh, I don't mean you any harm. Please leave me alone.

[00:09:25] Yet, it makes haircutting harder. And if we're not aware that, that's a very clear signal from a dog that they're saying like, listen, I'm really nervous. I'm really scared. We can end up becoming frustrated. So the dog keeps sitting and we keep pulling up to stand and the dog keeps sitting and keep pulling up to stand.

[00:09:43] And as we get frustrated, the dog does it more and more. And I've sometimes heard people saying that, their dog's being passive aggressive. That's not passive aggressive. The dog is saying, I'm really nervous, and you're like, knock it off. I know a little exaggerated, , but you're not listening to the, I'm really nervous and you keep doing things to make it worse by accident because you're just thinking, I just need you to stand, buddy.

[00:10:05] I need you to stand, or I need you to look, I need to look straight at your face. And the dog is trying to tell you like, I'm really nervous. And if you think about looking straight into a dog's eyes and holding their face really, really straight, when they're nervous, they turn away. That is normal and polite amongst dog society, if you will.

[00:10:25] And we as groomers see it is really frustrating. So for us to take a step back and think about the body language we are witnessing and what the dog might be trying to tell us, is this unpleasant, uncomfortable, and or scary? And if it is, how can I help this dog? In this moment to realize that this is, you can trust me.

[00:10:47] We're gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be fine. Can I diffuse that? Because if they keep getting worse every time, there's a pretty good chance that they've been giving some body language that we might have missed. Okay, so think about that because it can create a vicious cycle. The dog's like, oh, I'm so nervous.

[00:11:06] And we're like, I'm getting frustrated and the dog's like, that makes me more nervous. , and it does not mean that this dog is defective or that somebody did something terrible to him. One of my own dogs, if I'm frustrated, Even if it's not with him, I drop a spoon in the kitchen if I see him frustrated, he's like, oh, curls up in a little ball.

[00:11:26] , like, oh, I just wish everything was fun like it was five minutes ago. It's just the way he responds to the humans around him being frustrated. I can only imagine what he would do if he ha he was on a grooming table and someone was telling him to knock it off when he was trying to say, I'm nervous.

[00:11:42] So ponder that for a minute. If dogs are getting worse every time we see them, there are some reasons, and that reason always backs up to they're finding it unpleasant, uncomfortable, and or scary. Okay, so that was three. We have health issues as number one. We have number two, the pet has always been afraid of grooming.

[00:12:04] We have number three, we have some body language that might have been misinterpreted. And like I said, sitting, turning away, curling into a ball might feel like that dog is fighting you. And so you fight back and you know it, it's just a vicious cycle. So that could be happening. So let's kick a little break and we're gonna move on to four, five, and six.

[00:12:24] If you're enjoying the show, remember to subscribe, follow, like, share whatever it is you're doing on whatever platform you're using. The show is also available as a podcast. You can find it anywhere you listen to podcasts. It is also available on YouTube. And to find any of those, go to creating great grooming dogs.com.

[00:12:46] So number four, we have reason number four of Why Dogs. Some dogs get worse every time. Now this one is something that I wish more groomers knew about. What about age-related issues? Now, what does that mean? Here is a classic example. We are working with a dog as a puppy, and this dog is doing really well as a puppy.

[00:13:09] We do all of our homework. We're working with them every time, and then they get to about that adolescent phase, and suddenly, suddenly it happens, right? Because adolescents and teenagers respond to things differently. I want you to think about the dog that at that age, that starts getting worse.

[00:13:28] Might be because we are working with an adolescent who has less patience than they had as a puppy. What I know, I was a really agreeable little kid. I turned into a teenager and I was not as agreeable, and then I grew out of it. All right. Think about that. , the adolescent phase, and it's not that they're trying to be mean or they're trying to take over the world, just that they have much shorter attention spans.

[00:13:55] , their patience is about as small as it's ever gonna be in their entire life, okay? And we sometimes start treating them like adults because at this age, an adolescent dog looks so grown up. Sometimes what we're seeing when we have dogs that just keep getting worse every time, or what I worked with him as he was a puppy, and now look what's happening, what's happening?

[00:14:19] And sometimes that's because they were a puppy and they were doing all right for a while, and then they reach this age where they have no patience at all. They go through a second fear imprint stage that many people don't even know about. , so second fear imprint stage is just this extra time where they're extra spooky.

[00:14:38] Usually happens around eight or nine months old. , but maybe that's when the first grooming happens, we've all seen that, or, you know, they've been coming in all along and this is the well now he's not a baby anymore and we're gonna do a full groom and he knows better and we sometimes feel like he should know better.

[00:14:56] But that's an adolescent dog having a tough time. They're having a hard time doing the things that we're asking them to do. Sometimes if we're having an adolescent dog, that continues to get worse every time because you know, from year old to two and a half, probably right there in that prime area, for a dog to be having these adolescent issues, right?

[00:15:19] We need to think about how can I help this dog find this more pleasant? How can I help them be calm, comfortably cooperative so that we can help them get through it? If they're continuing to get worse at that age, it might be because you're just pushing them too hard. That's not wishy-washy. I know sometimes people are like, oh my God, but they need to be groomed.

[00:15:41] But this is an investment in 15 years of grooming that 15 year lifespan. If this dog is a year old, he has 14 more years of grooming, why ruin it now? Because we feel like he absolutely has to be perfect today when we can help build that trust and help them become comfortably cooperative for all of our future groomings, it's an investment.

[00:16:05] So right now it is September 4th, 2023. Dogs being born right now will be being groomed if we're basing it on 15 years will be being groomed in September of 2038. 2038. Okay, everyone think about 15 years. What are you gonna be doing in 2038? Are you still gonna be fighting this dog? That's crazy to me, it makes no sense.

[00:16:31] So anybody who's like just forced them to make it happen is probably seeing dogs that get worse every time. And that new dog that's just got born this year that's just getting born right now, that's gonna be groomed until 2038, could learn to hate grooming forever. Or they could. Spend some extra time in the beginning and be aware of what this dog is experiencing at each level.

[00:16:57] So teen related issues are part of the age related issues. Now, we also have from adult to senior, another really common age related issue. Sometimes we miss the beginning of that. We're thinking, oh, I've been grooming this dog for years. I know exactly what to expect. And then one particular day, this dog is being a little bit difficult.

[00:17:17] I say being difficult when what we really mean is having difficulty. This dog is having difficulty today that maybe is making my job a little bit harder as a groomer, but need to think about for some dogs, they start having some health problems earlier than maybe we suspect maybe that's, a chronic shoulder issue.

[00:17:37] Maybe it's, a back foot that they have trouble with. Maybe it's something to do with their tail, but they start having some age related issues. Often earlier than we would guess before they're old and frail. , as someone who's a middle-aged woman right now, I gotta say there are some age related issues.

[00:17:54] So let's just think about that for a minute. Am I able to do the things I was able to do in my twenties? A lot of them, but not all of them. We need to think about these ages too. So if we have a dog who is getting worse every time, let's think about if they're transitioning from one age to another, if they're having some issues, some difficulties that maybe we can explore more.

[00:18:18] Reason number five, what is going on at home? It's a good question. , actually, I will say the Facebook discussion that I saw was really focused in on, well, what are the owners doing at home? And it's a good question. We don't wanna throw owners under the bus, but we do need to know what's happening at home.

[00:18:37] So things that could be happening at home, that could be making a dog get worse and worse every time. A lot of our owners could be struggling with behavior problems on a daily basis, things that maybe you don't even know about. , all right. Non groomers to the trainers out there, dog trainers, you have a blind spot.

[00:18:57] And let me tell you what, it's the blind spot for dog trainers is that everyone who approaches you about dog training recognizes they have a problem and have made at least one step toward maybe fixing it. Dog groomers often see people who have no idea that that's not normal, who don't see it as a problem at all.

[00:19:18] So if they're at home and they think nothing of the fact that their dog will growl at them if they sit on the couch next to him. What do you think that dog does during grooming? Yet there might be a groomer who thinks, I don't know what's going on with this dog. He's so weird about grooming, when really this dog has a much bigger problem.

[00:19:37] So it's important for us to ask our owners what's going on at home? Are they brushing? Do they fight with the brush? Have they been brushing? And the dog eventually growls at them and then they stop, and now they can only pick up the brush and the dog starts growling. There are a lot of things that owners are doing at home that we can explore.

[00:19:55] Perhaps there's something else going on at home. Maybe there's a stressor happening at home. Maybe they've been having, , roofers or construction at home. Maybe Somebody just moved away. Maybe one of the kids just moved to college. Maybe, one of the people in the house have passed away.

[00:20:11] Maybe there's a new baby. Maybe there's a new pet. Find out if there are any stressors at home that could be making this dog have more and more trouble during grooming a dog that's under stress, and then we bring him to a groomer that he already thought was stressful, is going to have more problem with it.

[00:20:29] Okay. When you're stressed out, do you handle stress differently? I do. So if I'm stressed out already and then you add more stress, I'm not gonna be able to handle it as well as I would've if I weren't under stress already. So let's think about that. What is going on at home? And also we need to help our owners.

[00:20:46] We need to help them understand if something is not okay, it is not okay to have a dog at home that's willing to bite you, and that's not okay. That's something you send to a trainer. That's really, really important. That's not safe. So let's talk to our owners and help find out what is going on at home, if there are any stressors there, because again, reasons why some dogs get worse every time is because there's more to it than what we are seeing on the grooming table.

[00:21:16] Like I said, there are six reasons why some dogs get worse every time. So reason number one was the health issues. We talked about pain, balance, range of motion. Reason number two, the pet has always been afraid of grooming and each grooming has gotten worse and worse and worse, and they're frozen and we didn't notice it.

[00:21:35] Reason number three, some of the body language being misinterpreted. Reason number four, with some age related issues. Reason number five. What's going on at home? Is there something stressful going on at home? And reason number six, I know this one is gonna make it make us all feel so icky, but let's go ahead and we're gonna delve into it anyway.

[00:21:54] This is a safe zone, guys. We're all friends here. Okay? Reason number six is that it's us. Oh, I know. We have been pushing a dog too hard, too far. We've been trying to get a grooming done on a dog who is having difficulty, and many, many times we have actually created our own problem. This dog is getting worse and worse every time because, and here's a key thing I want you to think about while you're grooming.

[00:22:24] Do you stop when you're having difficulty or do you pause and reassess because the dog is having difficulty? That's a big important key piece. That's actually what I find a lot of groomers , when they tap into that and they start thinking, okay, the dog is having difficulty right now. I could probably keep forcing it, but what if I pause here?

[00:22:47] This is my decision point. He's being a little wiggly, or he is curling up, or he is looking like he's scared or he is trying to jump off my table instead of how can I get the groom finished? How can I help this dog become comfortable and cooperative? What's going on with this dog? Let's run through some of the reasons why this dog might be acting this way.

[00:23:06] Why this dog is having difficulty. Because it's really common for us to be like, oh shoot. Okay, well I gotta get this done. You're okay. You're okay. You're okay. And not notice that this dog is having a really hard time and we're making it worse. 'cause we do and we don't mean to, right? There are a lot of people out there doing some , Really misguided forced groomings on dogs with behavior problems.

[00:23:33] And I say misguided. It's not that they aren't lovely people who have the best interest of the dog in their heart, but if we're pushing dogs further than they can handle, and that grooming is getting worse and worse every time I propose to you, isn't it a good time? To start thinking about why the dog is having difficulty and helping the dog have a better time because, we really don't need to have these battles,

[00:24:01] remember that 15 year lifespan, that five-year-old dog on your table, don't think he's too old. You have another 10 years of grooming him, 10. So let's, let's reign it in and think about, okay, he's having difficulty with this. Let's pause this. Even though I could wrestle him, even though I could physically get it done, before I go and try to do that, let's pause here and think about, can I get him calm, comfortable, and cooperative?

[00:24:29] Is this too much for him? How can we make progress? Because sometimes we have been making it worse every time. Dogs that are getting worse every time we've been missing something. And I know what makes us feel icky. It does for me. I've missed a lot. So you are amongst friends. It's a safe place. Okay. But I want you to think about with when we miss signals or when we are trying to get the job done, and then eventually we're like, gosh, it's just so hard to get him finished now.

[00:25:03] It means that we have missed the opportunity to help this dog be comfortable. We're only thinking about getting the grooming done, so take a moment here. I want you to think about this. We do not sell haircuts. We sell hair cutting services. Don't sell a haircut. That's not how you're going to make money with a dog, with a behavior problem.

[00:25:25] Okay? Trying to get a perfect haircut on a dog who's struggling is why They get worse and worse and worse every single time until eventually. Until eventually, what do we hear next? It's time for him to go to a vet groomer or to be sedated for grooming when actually it's really time to start sitting down and thinking, why does this dog find it unpleasant, uncomfortable, and or scary?

[00:25:48] And how can we help them be calm, comfortable, and cooperative? So that about wraps up my six reasons why some dogs get worse every time. There are so many more, but really, if they are getting worse every time, it means that during the last grooming, we planted the seeds for the next grooming. Now, every time we groom a dog, I wanna plant the seeds that will sprout up as, oh, grooming's.

[00:26:13] Not the, not that scary, but what we've been doing is saying, yep, grooming is just as scary as you thought. Maybe even worse, sometimes we have to think, all right, how have I been making this worse? Okay, this is a safe zone. Okay. Really think about it. Is it me? Is it me? Did I miss one of these things?

[00:26:35] And it's okay to learn. We're all in this together. We're gonna learn about it. , so those are our six reasons. We have health issues. We have, the pet has always been afraid of grooming. We have body language being misinterpreted. We have age-related issues. We have what's going on at home, and we have that.

[00:26:52] We have probably been pushing them harder and harder and harder, and literally teaching them to hate grooming. So if you enjoy this podcast, like I said, Subscribe, like, share, tell your friends whatever version you're doing. You can find the podcast episodes anywhere. You listen to podcasts. You can find it on YouTube creating great grooming dogs, or you can go to my website creating great grooming dogs.com.

[00:27:15] I do teach the Master Groomer Behavior Specialist Diploma program at Whole Pet Grooming Academy. That's wholepetnh.com, and I'm gonna throw out here for the first time. I do have two classes. They're self-guided. You do not need to attend live for those ones.

[00:27:34] So those are also listed at wholepetnh.com. Have a great week.