Jump to content

Had My Lab Groomed For The First Time Today, Was I Expecting Too Much?


5tumpy
 Share

Recommended Posts

Teach your dog to stand up on a table - this is where you should do all your grooming. This also indicates to the dog that it is "grooming time" and will help let the dog know what behaviour is expected of it. Most dogs are less inclined to want to play when they are up high (as mentioned by previous posters).

Use two people if needs be, and reward and brush. Reinforce with the stand command. If the dog wants to play, a firm no, then stand, should be used. Once the dog settles - rewards! The dog will enventually get used to being up on the table and being groomed up there.

And it's also much better for you your back, and will help when you need to put a bit of elbow grease into getting all that coat out!!!

Labradors are big dogs and I wouldn't have thought that groomers would be lifting them up on tables to groom them ;) - correct me if I am wrong groomers :)

Also in re-reading the OP post, I am shocked that the groomer clipped this dog's whiskers :) Why on earth would they do that :) , I would be very upset if any of my Lab's whiskers were clipped during a grooming session :confused: .

I believe thats what hydraulic tables are for ;)

No way in hell i'd be grooming dogs all day on the ground!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 80
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Labradors are big dogs and I wouldn't have thought that groomers would be lifting them up on tables to groom them biggrin.gif - correct me if I am wrong groomers smile.gif

your wrong :)

it's hard enough on your back without leaning over/sitting on the floor

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe thats what hydraulic tables are for :laugh:

No way in hell i'd be grooming dogs all day on the ground!!!

I've yet to work anywhere that has a hydraulic table :thumbsup:

I lift dogs on to tables.

Edited by Clyde
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe thats what hydraulic tables are for :laugh:

No way in hell i'd be grooming dogs all day on the ground!!!

I've yet to work anywhere that has a hydraulic table :thumbsup:

I lift dogs on to tables.

Yeppers, nods in agreement, yet to be blessed with a hydraulic table.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well personally i'd lift the dogs too, but i guess for people who complain that they are too heavy, there are those special tables. :thumbsup:

Perhaps the OP might want to teach his to put his front feet on the grooming table, and then lift the back end up - best way for everyone involved!

Personally i just call table and my dogs leap up! The hard bit comes when you have to explain to 2 of the 3 up on the table that they then have to get down!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have an electric table, hydrolics are to much like hard work! :thumbsup: lol

With this lab, the very best thing you can do when grooming her is to NOT give up until she is calm, then praise and let her go do what she wants. She needs to learn to be calm and letting her get wound up thinking she can play with the grooming tool is sending her the wrong message. Is she will sit still for 2 minutes, then stop before she starts to get worked up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

slightly OT - but do labs often need trimming of foot hair? Golden Retrievers, yes- cockers etc definitely.. but I have never heard of it :laugh:

As for the whiskers, that is ridiculous, IMO .Are whiskers untidy and hard to manage ? :confused:

Some labs have a lot more fringey hair that others. I have a bitch who gets long bits underneath, out the back of her legs and in between her toes. My boy lab has has never grown these bits but she does.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know nothing about grooming but for $60 I would have expected to see a dog that looked groomed and did not have hair still visibly dropping from the coat.

I know with my Pugs, none of whom will sit still while I brush them, that I have to make a concerted effort to remove all of the hair during big moults such as this time of the year. I have to spend double the time getting rid of the hair than normal and I use several methods, a metal rake type comb that removes a lot of hair, a softer brush that removes a lot of loose stuff and then I use a rubber grooming glove to finish off. Normally I would just use the one brush at other times of the year. I can clearly tell after I have spent this time that I have groomed my dogs and I am not a groomer.

I realise that there is a huge difference in size of breeds but I still feel you have been lead up the garden path by the groomer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I wash my labs and they dry they have a lot of dead hair on the surface of their coat. I suspect what has happened is that they've managed to bath the dog but not brush it after it was dried.

They could have charged a reduced rate for not getting the whole job done but then that doesn't acknowledge the time that they spent TRYING to get the job done because of the dog's behaviour. They probably wasted more time than they would have if he'd stood still.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My very young puppies can stand on a table sensibly and be groomed, I find it unacceptable that a mature dog is a handful when being groomed...not the dogs fault, it's the owners fault for not ensuring they've trained the dog in an acceptable manner :thumbsup:

Groomers shouldn't have to put up with unruly animals, hell, if you can't groom your dog why should a complete stranger be expected to put up with poor behaviour?

Edited by Aziah
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A bit late in the piece to mention but I agree with the others who have posted in that I can't understand why the groomer would have clipped off the whiskers. I understood that the only time that's done is for the 'fluffy' breeds, when their faces need trimming - it's a bit hard to trim around their whiskers. For a lab, I would have thought a bath, blow dry, brush, clip nails and an ear check would have been all that was necessary.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

An update guys... We haven't ended up getting her down a trainer yet, no time... However, we have been brushing her daily, and it's gotten to the stage now where she's standing reasonably still... She'll wander a little, but not making it any harder for us...

Thanks for your help guys!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As an ex-groomer, I groomed a lot of "bad" dogs. No way in hell would I have returned a dog in that state. We prided ourselves on the 'finished product' regardless of how difficult the dog was. Brushing is not enough to remove undercoat like that. We would have raked the dog first to loosen the hair, then bathed it and blowed it until the hair stopped coming. It would then have been lightly brushed to get the last few out. $60 is expensive for a wash and dry (that's what we charged but as I said, we were all about the finished product).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

$60 for a wash and blow dry of a labrador seems about right..... But they wouldnt have spent 3 hours grooming your dog.... only takes perhaps 15-20 min to wash and perhaps half an hour or so to dry. Therefore about 1 hour really even allowing for the fact that the dog might be a bit squirmy.

The woman who does the grooming at my business is great with the dogs and if she gets one that is a handful she calls me over to help out and i will hold while she washes.... Often after the wash we let them have a run around in a yard to let them burn off some energy before we use the dryer.

We are lucky that we work well together as it is handy to have a groomer and trainer work together. Plus we have the advantage of her teaching me how to groom and I help her with hints how to handle some of the dudes.

We also have some big undercover yards where we can let the clients burn off energy. Sometimes I kick a soccer ball around for them before we start. This seems to really help settle them and make them more relaxed with us. When they come back again they seem to be more enthusiastic and cope much better.

Labs are shockers for losing coat and the professionals dryer and comb out at the end is the bit that seems to help drop the coat the most. Perhaps the groomer you used wasn't able to use the dryer on your dog, hence why you picked him up with lots of loose coat.

Dont give up on groomers, I'm sure you can find someone really good, however you need to prepare the dog for them so here are two suggestions :

1. make sure you give your dog a big run before you take him to be groomer.

2. get him used to the noise and feel of the dryer - just use your hairdryer in bits and pieces to get him ready.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I second what those said about finding a different groomer, and staying with your dog next time, just to make sure it's all ok.

I don't understand why some of you think 22 months is too young to start training. In my club - we've had lab puppies graduate grade 5 ready for CCD at 11 months old or even younger and they're supposed to stay in puppy class till they're 6 months old, and they're only supposed to graduate one grade per month. Labradors that like food are super easy to train. Grade 5 - includes "stand for examination" which should allow a groomer to do their job without a battle.

Some of them do shed a lot of hair though. I like the rubber curry combs they sell in horse / equestrian supplies shops. Haven't tried a furminator - is a lot of money to spend if you're not sure if it will work well or not. Have seen a "rake" used on a Golden Retriever - which worked much better than the curry comb on that particular dog.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...