Ep181 Who Does The Teaching?

Creating Great Grooming Dogs

Who does the teaching? That's an interesting question, isn't it? So if we have a dog that has trouble with grooming, that has some difficulty, is showing some behavior that we do not want, is it the groomer who does the training? Is it a trainer, a behavior consultant? Is it an owner? Let's talk about all of our options this week.

The full transcript!

[00:00:00] Chrissy: Episode 180 1. Who does the teaching? That's an interesting question, isn't it? So if we have a dog that has trouble with grooming, that has some difficulty, is showing some behavior that we do not want, is it the groomer who does the training? Is it a trainer, a behavior consultant? Is it an owner? Let's talk about all of our options this week.

[00:00:20] You're listening to the Creating Great Grooming Dog Show. I'm Chrissy Newmeyer Smith. I'm a master groomer behavior specialist. I'm a certified professional groomer, a certified behavior consultant for canines, a certified professional dog trainer and instructor at 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 grooming and training. . So let's get into this a little bit today because I think that, , we all start wondering, well, where will this dog learn a new skill if it comes down to training? And I know some of you are kind of new to that idea that we can teach the dogs to be good for it.

[00:00:56] And I hear you. , it was not always what I thought either, but we can, we can teach them to be good for it. So who does? , so my quick answer is that I think it needs to be collaborative. I think that it's more than just one person who does that . I think that that's something that we need to do as a group.

[00:01:13] And what I mean by that is there is some stuff that the Grimmer is gonna need to do differently. , there's stuff that the owners should be sent home with also, and we often will have to work with a trainer or with somebody else in that dog's life also. Now, the reason. Let's get into just a little bit about why, , I hear groomers say things like, oh, but owners will just make it worse if they go home, they go home with the owner and the owner's gonna make it worse.

[00:01:42] And let me explain what's going on there because I hear you, I hear what you're saying, and I know that owners can definitely make it worse. But what a lot of non trainers don't realize is that dog training is all about talking to owners. Dog training's all about teaching people [00:02:00] and it's really a unique skillset.

[00:02:02] , it takes a long time to learn how to effectively teach people. And so what do you need to be able to teach people, ? You need to have them understand how to do something that's important. And it may seem really obvious, but think about how many of our owners have trouble brush. Even if they have the right tool, have trouble brushing, even if they have the right tool, and they have been shown a few times, they're still having trouble just brushing, which you would think, but you brush your own hair.

[00:02:32] How could that be hard? But it is. Okay. So our owners need to understand how to do a thing, and that's where dog trainers are very good at helping owners understand. Here's another part for owners owners need to understand why. Why does he need to know how to do this?

[00:02:52] Why is this gonna make a difference for this dog? Why is it gonna make a difference for them? Why, why are we even spending the time on it? Because if they don't understand why, then they might be stressing their dog out at home trying to just touch 'em with stuff. The classic example is the person who's been massaging his feet.

[00:03:13] Oh, I just know the, the trainer said we should touch his feet a lot. , and actually non groomers don't really understand the purpose of foot touching, which is why we get a lot of dogs who have a lot of behavior problems, even though people have been touching their feet. Because it is not enough. , it's not extensive enough.

[00:03:33] It does not translate to nail trimming directly. So it's not a bad. , but it's just sort of like the, the very bare minimum . So they need to understand why. They need to know why. Why are we doing a thing? What are we working toward, so we have the how, how are we gonna do it? The why are we doing it?

[00:03:52] What are we working toward? Like what does the finished product look like? And that's part of goal setting,[00:04:00] ? What does the finished product look like? What do I want your dog to be able to. during the next grooming appointment. Is it, maybe it's standing still on a table, maybe it's being brushed. , maybe it's, touching a tail.

[00:04:16] What is it that we actually want this to look like when we see this dog next that gives an owner the, the idea of like, what would they need to teach now? The other part that we can talk to our owners. Is the three Cs. You guys have heard this over and over and over again, but we need our owners or anybody else who's gonna work with that dog to know that the goal is for the dog to do all of this stuff, whatever stuff and things we choose to teach and be calm, comfortable, and cooperative.

[00:04:50] We are not gonna fight with them to get it done. We're not gonna hold them down and then rub 'em all over with a , electric toothbrush and think that that's gonna help 'em be good for clipper work. . And I say that and it sounds kind of cheeky yet. Groomers. That's why so many groomers are like, don't send owners home with homework.

[00:05:07] Cuz then they come back and the dog's like, oh, bring it. I, I hear that vibration going and I'm, I'm ready for the fight cuz that's what my owners have been doing since we saw you last. So we need to know that the dog is supposed to be calm, comfortable, and cooperative the whole time. The purpose is to help the dog feel good about it and to feel.

[00:05:30] that's really key. So we're trying to help build good experiences. So when, when we as groomers are trying to send somebody home with homework, there's a lot to teaching people, and this is a good reason why groomers should not let owners. , just go home and try things on their own. Okay. If you are not good at instructing owners, that's okay.

[00:05:51] We can collaborate for things like that. We can come up with some handouts. You can lead them to this podcast. You might find an episode in particular that makes a lot of [00:06:00] sense for owners. There were a couple of episodes specifically for owners, but the, everything on this podcast is meant for owners too.

[00:06:07] It might be a little over their head, but that's okay. , but we really need to help them underst. The how, the why, the what, , what it looks like in the end. , understand that the purpose is for calm, comfortable, and cooperative handling. Not to take 'em home and show 'em whose boss or whatever crazy thing they might try.

[00:06:29] But also, here's another key point if we're gonna be talking to owners directly. If you're a groomer and you're not used to instructing owners, here's another key point. We need to make sure that the owners understand why this is necessary and why it affects them. Do not let owners walk away thinking that they are giving you a precious gift.

[00:06:53] Like, oh, I guess I could do some training. You know, cuz he gives the groomer a hard time. So I'll do that for my nice, nice groomer. It's not for us, it's not a precious gift for your groomer. It's so that your dog is better prepared for our services. So that we can continue to offer you our services and so that your dog can have better care.

[00:07:14] So it's about them. It's about the owners. It's about the owners having a dog who's gonna be better for dog grooming, who's gonna be better at the vet's office, who's going to be better when they need to brush him at home or trim his nails or look in an ear. So we need them to understand why it's important for them, and that's really, really helpful.

[00:07:35] So when we're talking to people, our people teaching skills are really kind of unique and dog trainers spend a lot of time learning how to talk to people. Now, another reason why a lot of groomers are not very successful with sending owners home with homework is something that we as trainers run into a lot too.

[00:07:56] You only meet one of the owners. Maybe not [00:08:00] everyone in the house is on board, so someone else might be hearing the instructions entirely differently. We tell the husband and he goes home and he interprets that through his own eyes and then he tells , the wife like, okay, well this is how we're gonna do it.

[00:08:15] And, and then the wife tells, the teenager and okay, so now we've got, we're playing telephone. What's better is if we cut out middleman at every stage we. No more middlemen. If we can talk to them directly or send them a video, send them a podcast, talk to them through, a trainer.

[00:08:35] Send them to a trainer if you know a trainer that you refer to, which is part of what we'll talk about in the next segment, is talking about collaborating, but to talk to them and find out everybody in the house has to be on board or not. Interfer. That's tricky. Okay. It's really, really tricky. Dog trainers, we handle this a lot.

[00:08:58] Okay? There's always someone in the house who thinks that they need to be super, super sweet, and someone else who thinks they need to be super, super stern and they aren't communicating very well at home either. So when we get the dog back who knows what they've been working. Maybe someone is untraining just as fast as the other one can train.

[00:09:18] Okay. This is really common stuff, so it's not that we can't send owners home with homework. , it's that if you're not good at instructing people, you might not get really good results. Okay. , so that's kind of from the groomer point of view. If we're thinking, well, what can I send them home with? All right, first we just need to be able to organize our own thoughts.

[00:09:41] what do we want from this dog? What do we think the owners can work on? . And then the next part we're gonna talk a little bit about collaborating with others and the common questions that I. , if you're enjoying the show, please remember to follow or subscribe, share it with your friends and tell everybody, you know,

[00:09:58] So in the second part, I wanna [00:10:00] talk about if you haven't had success with helping owners understand, or maybe you haven't had success with owners going to a trainer. Here are a couple things. , I think that often groomers think that everyone knows what groomers. and actually everybody else thinks they know what groomers do also.

[00:10:18] But if you are not a groomer, you might not really have an idea of what it is we do that we are, picking up their feet. We're in between every toe over and over and over again in a distracting environment. We hold their attention for about two hours. Like the average dog, then a, the big doodle with a haircut.

[00:10:39] Yeah, that dog is gonna spend a significant amount of time, , on the grooming table, in the tub with people's hands all over them. And so we need to be able to communicate together. Now trainers sometimes give advice that does not make sense for dog grooming. Dog groomers sometimes give advice that doesn't make sense to the dog trainer.

[00:11:01] you know, like, Hey, can we just work on doing this? And the trainer's like, why would we do that? And I think that it just makes a whole bunch of people feel like, , we can't trust anybody else with it. Okay. Now, I will say from a trainer point of view, there are plenty of times where groomers are like, oh my God, we can't send 'em to a trainer or a trainer.

[00:11:22] I remember it was a Facebook post where a trainer said, I'm just looking for a groomer to send these people to who will not do the dog's nails, cuz we're actively working on that. And groomers flamed that trainer. They were upset with that trainer.

[00:11:36] And I was really embarrassed for our entire industry. If a trainer is working with a. and trying to actively work on teaching the dog to be comfortable for something and asks us as groomers to please skip that if we can. If the dog seems nervous at all, please skip it. They are actively working on it, guys.

[00:11:57] That's awesome. We need to be [00:12:00] joining in going. Oh, fabulous. Okay. What kind of signs of stress do you want us to look for? What are you working on? How are you working on it? I wanna help. Okay. We should be collaborating. We shouldn't be saying that dog's, nails need to be, again, the dog's nails do not need to be done right now.

[00:12:17] Even if they're super long. If we're working toward the dog being calm, comfortable, and cooperative for their. For their entire life. So sometimes groomers and trainers don't mix well, which is sad. Guys, I want us all to get along. I do. I really, really do. But the other thing that happens there is that sometimes owners are the middle man.

[00:12:41] Remember, we're back to the middle man again. Right? And owner's gonna describe what a groomer wants to a trainer, and they're not gonna interpret it. , that's playing telephone. Okay. So we need to think about how are we going to convince our owners if you are working with a trainer, please, I need to talk to your trainer.

[00:13:02] Yeah. Let them know I wanna talk to your trainer. Is that okay? I'm gonna call your trainer and we're gonna just find out, touch base and find out. , let the trainer know what's been going on in grooming and ask the trainer, Hey, , can we find a solution for this particular set of issues? Maybe it's loud noises, maybe it's, , way too wiggly and silly when other dogs are in the room.

[00:13:25] , maybe it's not even an aggression issue, it's just a dog who's just. Just plain wiggly or barks or whatever it is, but to talk to the trainer directly as a groomer. Talk to the trainer, trainers. Talk to the groomer. Don't send an owner with a story because the owner's story is going to change a little bit.

[00:13:44] Okay, middleman, we're playing telephone and it's not very effective, so we need to talk more about why. Something needs to be done. . Get all on the same page so that we can help the dogs. All of us. [00:14:00] So let's talk a little bit about, , who else can work on a dog? Who else can do it? I know there, there's some debate about, the person with the grooming tools needs to teach about the grooming tools.

[00:14:12] They don't have our tools and that's true. Okay. The groomer has tools that maybe the owners don't. But that's where we start talking about, just start touching 'em all over with stuff and things. Just random things. Let your dog think that any object. Could be rubbed all over their body at any time, and they are expected to kind of just hang out, stand still, , let us do this stuff and be calm, comfortable, and cooperative.

[00:14:43] And then maybe that's when you bring out, , the cheap electric toothbrush that makes some noise or, or maybe the beard trimmer. And you've got the blade guard so that you're not actually using the beard trimmer, but you're just making the noise, rubbing them all over with it, right? That's where some other tools and other types of object.

[00:15:00] Can still be really helpful. And dogs can be very, very specific about you get a new clipper and they're like, Ooh, that clipper sounds different. A different dryer or a different nozzle for a dryer. Okay. That doesn't mean that we can't be working on it. It means that once they get into the grooming setting, there will be additional work that still needs to be done.

[00:15:21] Okay. And then also think about. The grooming environment is different. There's a lot going on in a grooming environment, but owners can still work on things like that. A trainer can still work on things like that. A lot of trainers have a grooming table available to them, and if not, they can use one platforms or agility equipment or something to just stand that dog on a surface and You might be surprised how many different types of distractions a trainer can think up.

[00:15:50] When we practice things like sit, stay, sometimes there are balls being tossed around, toys being tossed around, , half the class tugging with their dog while the [00:16:00] other half is in a sit stay. There's a huge amount of variety that a dog trainer can come up with if they know what the goal is. What does it ultimately look like?

[00:16:13] What is the behavior that we're working on and what do we ultimately want? So if they were, if the distraction is the issue, yeah, a trainer can easily do that, even though it's not the same as the grooming environment. If they know what is happening in the grooming environment, they can come up with some strategies to work toward that grooming environment.

[00:16:35] Um, and then there are other people who might help out too. A lot of our dogs go to doggy daycare. and there are some really interesting things that they can do with doggy daycare. They're very experienced dog people.

[00:16:48] They can also work on some stuff. They can also work on, come on over here. Let me look in your ears. But everyone needs to be on the same page. Okay. Your pet sitter could be doing some of it. , certainly with some of our older customers, some of our elderly adults who. Can't do a lot of this stuff with their own dogs.

[00:17:08] , I have a lot of elderly customers and when I get on the floor playing around with their dog, their dog is not used to that at all. , the 80 year olds rarely get on the floor and play with their dog. So often there are other people involved with caring for a dog, so we can get them on board.

[00:17:24] Okay. But this is about sharing information and collaborating. and someone has to be pretty good at teaching people. And that's where trainers and behavior consultants come in is that we are good at teaching people. Well, we should be good at teaching people. It's a significant part of a dog trainer and a behavior consultant's job.

[00:17:45] And I'm also gonna add here. The difference between a trainer and a behavior consultant, really kind of comes down to the type of work that we do. There are lots of different types of dog training, and I think many of us who are not dog [00:18:00] trainers, the non dog trainers think that dog training is obedience classes.

[00:18:04] But that's just one piece. So a dog trainer might be somebody who runs obedience classes or runs agility classes. , they do group classes and they're teaching new skills, but they aren't necessarily the let's. Break it down, figure out what the cause of a problem and work on problem solving.

[00:18:21] That tends to be the behavior consultant. It's sort of like the difference between an elementary school teacher and the guidance counselor. So if you think about that, like, oh, so a behavior consultant is a dog trainer. Who likes to dig in and gather all the clues and figure out what makes a dog tick and try to come up with solutions.

[00:18:43] Okay. A lot of dog trainers like to do that too, but that's really kind of what the difference is. Okay. And then there are other, other variety of professionals out there for us too. So of course the veterinarian. Let's see if there's a health problem and if they need a behaviorist that is a veterinary special.

[00:19:02] your veterinarian is going to send them to a vet behaviorist or it is a PhD. Okay. That is not your local dog trainer. That's a significant amount of college education. Okay? Not trade level. That's academic. . And I need you to know that because there are a lot of times right here groomer saying, oh, he needs to go to a behaviorist.

[00:19:24] really? You think the average dog trainer or average behavior consultant can't figure out why this dog is spooky about a loud noise? You really think they need to go to veterinary school and then some additional study to figure that out? , you know, like really, most of us can figure out a lot of that, but like I said, dog trainers might not fully understand the grooming process and they might not know.

[00:19:51] Okay. I talked to trainers and I'm like, guys, , if you've never groomed a dog, you might not realize just how many times we touched [00:20:00] that dog all over. Just how much focus we need from them. , the kind of things that make grooming difficult. You, you don't really understand until you really spend some time learning about grooming and groomers, trainers wanna.

[00:20:15] I know who knew they. They will listen to you if you say, Hey, these are the things that are concerns. These are the things that we need help with because this dog is not safe to groom. And they're on board with that. And if not, find one who is so, I think that we can all work together to teach dogs how to be good for grooming.

[00:20:36] Okay. And that really is at the end of it. , there's stuff that owners can do. There's stuff that trainers can be doing. There's stuff that groomers can be doing, but it's not likely to all be fixed during a haircut, during a grooming session. ? We're gonna have break away from the idea that he's getting a haircut, and I hope he learns to be good.

[00:20:55] We might have to do some modified haircut. Some modified grooming sessions while he's learning how to be good. , and that's just part of preparing for a lifetime of grooming a lifetime. These dogs are gonna live to be 15 right now it's 2023 in 2038. Do you still wanna be fighting with this dog?

[00:21:17] 2038? Think about it like that. Seems crazy far away, but 15 years. So if we can help them be good now, right? And just collaborate and work on it and let go of the idea that trims need to be perfect. , you're not selling haircuts. You are selling haircutting services, and this is a dog who isn't well prepared for your services, so you are helping the owners with their problem.

[00:21:46] Talking about everybody working together is really, really important. Hopefully you're enjoying the show. I would love it if you would send in some ideas. , we can do that through the Facebook page or the Facebook [00:22:00] group for creating great grooming dogs. If you are interested in my classes, the Master Groomer Behavior Specialist course, , master groomer behavior specialist.com is finally up where I have listings of the people who have graduated so far, and I do offer my classes through whole pet nh.com.

[00:22:18] That's whole Pet Grooming Academy.