Dryers ep199

[00:00:00] Episode 199. Let's talk about drying. Does your owner know why their dog needs to be dried? Why do groomers want to dry the dog? And then what kind of drying can we do? What kind of tools and techniques do we have? And let's also discuss, are dogs really afraid of drying? So this week is all about drying.

[00:00:21] This is the Creating Great Grooming Dog Show. And I'm Chrissy Neumyer Smith. I'm a master groomer behavior specialist, a certified professional dog trainer, a certified behavior consultant for canines, a certified professional groomer, a fear free, certified professional. I'm an educator at the whole pet Grooming Academy and the owner of Happy Critters in Nashua, New Hampshire.

[00:00:37] And this, my friends and colleagues, is the show where we talk about teaching dogs to be good for grooming and other types of care. Let's start off with some really basic stuff. Groomers. I think sometimes we assume that the rest of the world knows what we do, but here is a really important piece that I think that we forget to tell owners.

[00:00:57] Owners don't understand why we need to dry their dog at all. So if he's worried about something, why would you need to dry him? So what I tell my owners and what I'm telling you, any owners who happen to be here, or non groomers, I'll add that too. If you are not a groomer, you might not totally understand why we need to dry a dog.

[00:01:16] , dog haircut is different than human haircut. When we get our haircut, it is usually done wet. When dogs get their hair cut, it's usually done dry. Trimming when they're wet. Doesn't look right. That's not the way it's usually done. It won't look correct. So we are usually doing the haircut after the dog is dry.

[00:01:35] , and we'll talk a little bit more about that if we do some trimming before the bath, but no matter what to get a perfectly groomed dog, if we are doing our art, making it pretty to do a perfectly groomed dog, we really do need to have that dog's, hair dry. And our last final touches are always gonna be kind of trimming stuff.

[00:01:56] So we trim dry hair. Partly because like I said, it's, it's a better finish. But we also have to think about, , all of our tools. So we're gonna talk a little bit more about that. There are other ways to get grooming done If you as an owner or as another pet professional, know that a dog has particular difficulty with having their head dried or the dryer in general, whatever that may be.

[00:02:22] We'll talk more about the kind of things that a dog could be afraid of. If you know that there is going to be difficulty, it's up to you to talk to your groomer and to let them know. Tell us, we need to know 'cause we can find other ways to get the grooming done. We have some other options available to us and that's gonna be, , owner discussion that's gonna be discussing with owners the expectations and what things are going to look like if we have to make some modifications.

[00:02:49] But that is something we're able to do. That's something that your professional groomer should be able to offer you. If you don't tell us, we're gonna go ahead and do our normal day-to-day routine, which is to dry the dog or to expect to be able to dry the dog. And then we end up with a wet dog who can't handle a dryer and we can't really do a great trim on wet hair.

[00:03:10] So again, it's different than cutting human hair. We definitely need to have the hair dry. There are lots of ways around it. This is just in a perfect world, okay? And if you don't tell a groomer that your dog has difficulty, they're probably gonna plan for the dog who's fine. I prefer to expect them to have difficulty. I expect a pet to have difficulty even if they've been groomed before, if it's their first time being groomed with me. I have different tools, different techniques. I'm a different person, so I expect them to have some difficulty.

[00:03:42] And I prepare my owners for the idea that their dog might not be really good for this. This is just the way I like to do things. This is what I encourage all of you as listeners to do. Assume that they'll have difficulty and be pleasantly surprised if they don't. Woo. Yay. Look at you. You did great. Okay.

[00:04:01] But, um, let's talk a little bit about why groomers want to dry. So we wanna work on clean dogs. So when we wanna dry a dog, we wanna be able to do the bath first and work on clean dogs. And there are a couple of reasons for that. So if we are , trimming dry hair, as I already established, dog hair cutting is usually done on clean hair.

[00:04:25] If we want to do the trim after the bath, we wanna work on clean hair and we wanna work on dry hair. There are a couple of reasons. As a groomer, we also have to think about our health. Now you might not be thinking much about health, but when you are around lots and lots of dog hair, all of the gunk. That's in the dog's coat. We don't wanna be breathing it in. We don't want it in our lungs. We don't want it all over our skin. , hair splinters are a real thing. So even though a, the hair might be clean and dried and we trim it and it might get into our skin, I splinters, I know I'd rather have clean hair, making hair splinters than dirty hair, making hair splinters.

[00:05:07] I think every groomer out there has had a couple of pretty good infections from that skin, infections from that. Groomer's lung is a very real thing. We should be wearing masks when we're grooming and when hair is flying around, when we're drying. But if we're not wearing a mask, or even if we are, I'd rather it be clean hair flying around than dirty hair flying around.

[00:05:30] Okay, so for our own groomer health, we want clean hair. We wanna work on clean hair, , sinus infections. I've had a couple of really good sinus infections from, working on dogs who were not clean. , some of these things are choices that I have made because I work with dogs that have difficulty for grooming.

[00:05:50] So I am more likely to make some exceptions and to work on some dirty coats, but that is less than ideal and there are some extra precautions I need to take so that I don't end up with a sinus infection or eye problems. That's another example. , the furs flying around. I'd rather it be clean fur than dirty fur.

[00:06:10] So groomers want a dry dog to work on and they want that dog to be clean for their own health and actually for the health of everybody else. You might be thinking, well, I mean, I sleep with my dog. He's, he's pretty clean, but we get down all the way down to the skin. I mean, we are getting stuff off that you guys don't touch, so it really is an important part.

[00:06:33] We can. Work around it if we need to, but most of the time your groomer wants to wash this dog dry, this dog do trimming on a dry dog. And that's our process. So to understand that that's part of what we do. And there are reasons. Now another reason why we want to work on clean dogs is because the dirt acts like glue.

[00:06:56] It just gunks everything up, the brushing time to to brush out mats so much easier for most of us if that dog is now clean and has conditioner. There are lots of things that we do in the bath to help release some of those mats and some of those tangles, but all of that dirt acts like glue. So it creates more work time. Harder work time and less healthy work time for those of us who are groomers. And I'm gonna say, I think a lot of non groomers always think like this is the one exception, like, but just make an exception for him.

[00:07:31] And I am willing to make except exceptions for dogs, but I don't think that the average non groomer out there knows just how many behavior cases we are all seeing. Because when I ask groomers, how often do you see behavior cases, these groomers are telling me, I ask them like every week, every day. Most of the times they laugh and say multiple times a day.

[00:07:55] So you may be thinking like, well, I can't he be the exception and maybe he can. But we do need to understand that there's a process and we wanna work toward that, that perfect world process where we can get this dog clean and work on a clean, dry coat. And we'll talk more about some of the ways we can do that, but there's a reason why groomers do that.

[00:08:17] So if we can figure out a way to get that dog clean, get that dog dry, and maybe, maybe we work on that dog's dry coat the next day, maybe that dog air dries, but we have some options. But to know that there is a reason, because um, I hear lots of myths out there.

[00:08:34] And lemme tell you, this is a myth. Oh, dogs just hate not being dried. That loud, loud noise, their sensitive ears, that has not been my experience. Okay. There's a lot more to why a drying might be scary. So many dogs learn to be fine for it. So let's not just decide like, oh, we'll, we'll just make sure he never has to work with a dryer.

[00:08:56] Another reason why groomers wanna work on a dry dog, a clean, dry dog, is that the trim looks better if you want really pretty trims. This is what we need to do to make those trims look really nice, and that is the art that we like to do. But we can sacrifice that art to help an animal feel safe and to help them feel like, um, this is going to be okay.

[00:09:20] So there's some things that we can do, we can modify, but just know there's some reasons. Now, another reason, more reasons, , why groomers wanna work on clean, dry dogs is because dirty dogs and wet dogs destroy our equipment. Destroy our equipment. Our equipment is so expensive. , and just getting more and more expensive every day.

[00:09:43] It's not uncommon for your groomer to spend $400 or more on a pair of clippers. Yeah. And burning out a motor on a pair of clippers, because you're running it through dirty dogs is not really fun. , all of those clipper blades, multiple multiple blades. I don't wanna run my blades through dirt. We know that dirty dogs are gonna destroy our equipment. Maybe it's just sharpening. You know that the things will need to be sharpened, but also as it dulls as we're going through, like let's say it's a large dog and we're, we're doing some shaving, we're , trimming up all of this dirty coat and that blade starts to get dull, and we pull out another one and that blade starts to get dull and we pull out another one.

[00:10:24] There are only so many blades that we all have. And keep in mind, this dog is not an exception to the rule. We all see many, many dogs with behavior issues. So grooming dirty dogs kills our equipment.

[00:10:38] Now, like I said, we've got a couple of different things that we can do, and we'll talk about those in the next part, but just know that there's a reason why we want your dog to be dry when we work on them, and that we can find some other ways around it, but we might still want your dog to be clean and dry for us to be able to work on them.

[00:11:00] So we'll talk about that more in the next part. Are you an experienced groomer who wants to take your career to the next level? Are you committed to helping pets learn to be good for grooming? I teach the Master Groomer Behavior Specialist Diploma, and it's four eight week online classes with presentations, followed by live Zoom calls.

[00:11:18] So you can stay here and you can enjoy this free content that I continue to make, or you can take your career to the next level. And the WPGA is a licensed post-secondary trade school offering real diplomas for real professionals. So find out more, go to whole pet nh.com. Let's talk about drying. There are two ways that we can dry dogs, one type of drying is mechanical means, and the other is evaporative means. Okay? So one is actually physically removing the water. The other is when we're using air, air flow and temperature to remove water.

[00:11:57] Toweling is mechanical. Squeezing them out is mechanical. Air drying after we maybe squeeze 'em out, towel dry, , and let them air dry. That could be something that we can do. , as I said, we can modify sessions. What if we dry one day and then we, , do the. The trim the next day. So Bath, send them home, toweled off as best we can. Let 'em air dry and then do trimming the next day. Now part of the problem with that. That owners need to understand and trainers need to understand, that trim is gonna look a little bit weird because some of that hair is gonna gr like dry and cowlick.

[00:12:37] It's not gonna dry nice and straight and fluffy. It's not gonna have a good blowout or a fluff dry like we normally would have to do any sort of real trimming. It's gonna dry up curly, it's gonna dry up kind of with cow licks. It's not going to be a pretty trim, but this is one way that we can help with the skincare and maintenance of your pet when we are having issues with the dryer and the drying process.

[00:13:01] So it is something that we can do, but let's talk about some of our other tools and techniques , so let's talk about the high velocity dryer, the HV dryer. I think, non groomers don't understand why we use this tool.

[00:13:15] I think everybody thinks that this sound is so loud and why would we do that? Um, it's the one that looks almost like a shop vac the reason why we use the high velocity dryer is because it is really the fastest way to get a dog dry. And you might think that drying is scary.

[00:13:34] So we wanna use other tools, but what if it's not the drying that's scary. What if it's the amount of time that we're doing with a dog that that dog is having difficulty with? Then the amount of time can be decreased by using a tool that does it faster. So let's not just throw that out. Let's continue to use our high velocity dryers.

[00:13:56] But it is loud. But like I said, it is the fastest way. To get a dog dry. Now, I also want to mention here, if you have a dog who is shedding it is the most effective way to get that shedding coat out in huge amounts, super, super fast. There'll still be brushing, but getting in there with the dryer to de shed, it just comes right out.

[00:14:18] , so the high velocity dryer is our go-to tool. If we know that your dog has difficulty with a high velocity dryer, there are some things that we can do, but I'm gonna say right here, right now, I'm still going to encourage you and your groomer and anybody else to work on teaching that dog to be comfortable with the high velocity dryer.

[00:14:42] Okay? It's just gonna save a whole lot of time over their lifetime. It is not nearly as traumatic as people think it is. In my experience, and we'll talk more about is drying scary, but the high velocity dryer is an excellent tool. . So, , groomers, when we talk about the high velocity dryer, there are a couple of things that I see groomers doing that are inefficient or perhaps not really great for the dog. Who is afraid of drying. And first off, that flat nozzle.

[00:15:12] The flat nozzle is a water peeler. It is designed to shove water off of the coat. It's like a squeegee or a snowplow, just shove in the snow off to the side. , it is a way to mechanically take water off of the coat.

[00:15:29] That flat nozzle is all about getting them to the point where nothing is dripping. No dripping water. If they shake, nothing is coming off. That's what your, flat nozzle is for the water peeler, it is designed to go flat up against their skin and just shove that water toward the floor, toward the drain.

[00:15:49] I find often people are just like squishy s swishy squishy and all over the place. Use that. Do a process. Start at the top, shove water downward. There's no point in drying feet if everything above a foot is wet, . So starting at the top someplace, if a dog is uncomfortable with the dryer, I usually start off, um, turning the dryer on away from the dog, usually pointing at the floor, bring it up close to maybe a leg, back leg, or a hip. See how they handle the sound of the dryer, the feel of the dryer before I bring it over to where I would start.

[00:16:23] And then when I actually start drying, I like to start someplace up around their neck, maybe a little bit, pointing down their ear. I do want to remind everybody, high velocity dryers can injure pets. Yeah. Lots of our tools can injure pets. We've talked about that a lot on this show, but I do want you to remember that, , a high velocity dryer where a dog is shaking and maybe gets, the high velocity eye dryer pointed into their ear, could injure them, pointed toward an eye, could injure them, um, pointing into their nose or even sideways because I think we think about nose as being forward the sideways that the, that little slip, that nare

[00:17:04] is that little slit on the side. We don't want the dry high velocity dryer pointing in that either. So if a dog is shaken around a lot and moving around a lot, you might not be able to use the high velocity dryer on their head very effectively or safely. But we wanna work toward that because a high velocity dryer is going to save a lot of time.

[00:17:24] So the high velocity dryer, we'd start off with that water peeler, that's mechanical means shove all that water off, shove it all off, get it that dog to the point where if they shake, there's no water coming off. Then switch nozzles. I am not a big fan of the cone nozzle and that's the one, the condenser nozzle. , I think that we already have these super high powered dryers and then we condense that down and we can really injure dogs with these. Okay. And really if you think about, the human hair dryers, those diffusers, once you get all of that water as much of that dripping water off, now you are trying to evaporate, you can remove that nozzle and put a different nozzle on.

[00:18:08] That's wide, believe it or not, a wide nozzle. Or, I actually usually just take my, take my flat nozzle off of my dryer and just put the end right up against their skin. Right up against their skin and, and let it fluff out and hold it there. Here's the tricky part. Hold it there in a little area until that area is dry.

[00:18:30] ? I see way too many groomers going. Swishy, swishy, swishy, swishy like 12 inches back and forth, back and forth, back and forth and back and forth. And that is not a very effective way to dry dogs. So after we've done the flat nozzle, the water peeler taken off as much water as we can go in with something wider and let it evaporate.

[00:18:49] ? And that's where you're gonna have a much better finish and your dog is going to be dry faster. Okay, so that was a little bit about the high velocity dryer. What else do we have available to us for the pet that has difficulty? We also have cage drying. Now cage drying has been kind of vilified, but there is still times where cage drying might be the best choice for an individual dog.

[00:19:14] . Our goal is to make it as safe as possible. If you have a dog in a crate with a dryer pointing at them, there has to, absolutely has to be somebody there monitoring that and not like a dog behind a towel where you can't see them. Not just in the room, but somebody watching, somebody actually watching and making sure that that dog is still safe, that dog's not panting, that dog's not overheating.

[00:19:39] And to do that with a dryer at a very low setting if there's a warmth setting. Most of our cage dryers today have, temperature controls, , that don't allow them to get hot. They only get warm and a timer. We still need to monitor that dog. But that could be something that a dog who is having difficulty with the dryer might find more comfortable.

[00:20:03] Or it could be putting them in a crate with a whole bunch of towels and letting them just air dry with no dryer on them. That could be something that we do, something that we offer a customer whose dog is still learning, who still has difficulty with the drying process. Now, another tool that we have is we have stand dryers and we have fluff drying.

[00:20:25] So stand dryers usually have warm or hot, , they're on a stand, obviously stand dryers, they're usually on wheels. And you lift that, that stand dryer so that it's blowing on the area that you're brushing. And it's a brushing and a drying process, warmth and air, evaporate water.

[00:20:44] So you would still wanna do that on a dog who is moist, not soaking wet, and to use the stand dryer and brush through and dry, um, it is really, really pretty. Finish that way. , but I, I don't happen to own a stand dryer. That's a house called groomer. That's a bit much to drive to somebody's house with a stand dryer.

[00:21:03] But it's a very, very good tool. They tend to be quieter and because your hands are on the dog and your hands are right there where the air is going, , for a lot of our dogs, it's easier for them. So, stand dryers, fluff, drying might be something that an individual dog finds easier. It does take longer than the high velocity dryer.

[00:21:25] . Now, another tool that we can use if we are dry, A dog who is really having some difficulty. I really like my dryer brush. Those little tiny handheld brushes that have a dryer attached to them. It's like, I don't know, 35 bucks or something.

[00:21:41] They always show pictures of a dog who is soaking wet, like a golden retriever or something who is soaking wet, and then the dryer brush that would take you a week. That is not what that tool is for, but if we have a dog who is just nervous about some little areas. We can use a dryer brush. Often they will let me use a dryer brush around their face so that I can get that fluff dried look and maybe get a pretty trim.

[00:22:06] So a dryer brush in the handheld regular human dryer could be something that we do to spot dry little areas and to help that little area look really pretty. Everybody wants like their doodles head to at least, like even, and that's part of how we do it. It is very difficult to get an even trim on a dog who has been dried on evenly.

[00:22:28] So these are some of the tools that we have, dryer brushes and the handheld dryers. Many dogs are fine for those. So we have some other options, they're just for like little tiny touch-ups, but they are available to us if we want to help an animal feel safer while they learn.

[00:22:47] Now let's talk a little bit about, is it really the dryer that's so scary because I think we make some assumptions. I think that we assume that it's the sound of the dryer, and that could be the case. How do we figure that out? So if I have a whole bunch of dogs in the room and I'm working on a particular pet and I turn on the dryer, the dog who is afraid of the sound of the dryer.

[00:23:16] Responds when they hear the dryer start up in the room, whether it involves them or not. And that is not usually the case. Most of these dogs are not yet worried about that dryer. It's not on them, it's not interacting with them. They're on the other side of the room, like whatever, watching us turn on a dryer.

[00:23:37] Okay? So I suspect that it's not simply the sound of the dryer. There are dogs who are afraid of the sound of the dryer. As soon as you turn on a dryer, they give the same kind of response that they might if they were at home and you turn on a vacuum cleaner. And believe it or not, I've had plenty of dogs that the owners thought, , because they're afraid of the vacuum cleaner would be terrified of the dryer.

[00:23:58] But these things sound different. So not usually the actual sound of turning on the dryer unless you are startling them and turning on the dryer with the nozzle facing their face. Or facing their body. Turn it on, facing the floor. Get in, assess if that dog is worried about when you turn the dryer on.

[00:24:18] . Even if maybe you only groom one dog at a time, like I do. I don't have a room full of dogs most of the time, but I've certainly, over the decades I've been grooming, been in a room full of dogs while I turned on the dryer. But I'm at their house, so I don't, if I don't know how they're gonna be for a dryer, I turn it on facing the floor I can turn it on low, put it up higher, see what they look like. Then when I point it at their dog. I'm going to bring it toward the tub. , think about the sound and the echo quality of being in, in the tub. So rumors, you're gonna have to visualize this, but put your hands like up next to your head and talk, and you're gonna hear that it sounds really, really different.

[00:24:59] Okay. The sound bouncing around inside the tub is gonna be very different than maybe that same sound bouncing around in a room. So some of our dogs have difficulty with the dryer, the high velocity dryer when they're in the tub, but maybe not on the table. Something to think about. , does the dog respond when we turn on the dryer and it's, and it's facing them in the tub?

[00:25:22] So does the dog respond when we turn on the dryer and it's pointed at the dog? , does the dog respond to a particular area, which is really common once we start getting near a neck or near a head. , and also.

[00:25:37] Assuming it's because we're near their neck or near their head, when really it's the dryer hitting the grooming loop.

[00:25:44] Once it hits that, grooming loop, it starts hitting something else and it makes a different sound. These are some things to play around with groomers. I want you to play around with what is this dog actually responding to? What are all of the things? Because sometimes it could be the sound of the dryer turning on, and if it is, well, we should expect that they're gonna have some difficulty.

[00:26:04] Sometimes it's in the tub with the dryer turning on. Sometimes it's the area that we're working on. Just think about the, we can help these pets be less afraid if we are willing to kind of meet 'em halfway. So owners, there are reasons why your groomer wants to work on clean dogs, and there are reasons why your groomer wants to work on dry dogs. And if we as groomers say, all right, well, if your dog really cannot handle the drying process, let's do a bath.

[00:26:37] Let's try to get 'em as dry as best we can. Maybe that's towel drying as best we can and sending him home and doing his haircut tomorrow before he gets a really good chance to get it all dirty again. Hopefully it's not raining, but think about, um, we are gonna try to adjust this, but also continue to work on helping this pet be comfortable with the dryer.

[00:27:01] And I think that's really important. I am, I'm really not a big fan of, oh, well he didn't like it. Let's never do that again. If this pet lives to be 15, this pet will have grooming needs their entire life. And you might think, oh, I'll just let him air dry. But you know what, sometimes our senior dogs, that's not safe for them.

[00:27:20] Some of our senior dogs really do need to be dried because it's too cold. , so be thinking about the different reasons why a dog might not like drying and the options we have to try to help them feel better about it. So if you're enjoying the show, please remember to tell somebody else. Tell a groomer, tell an owner, tell another pet professional.

[00:27:45] , you can also find the show at creating great grooming dogs.com, at YouTube and anywhere you listen to podcasts. Have a great week.