A new puppy is an exciting addition to your family and there are lots of things that you can do to make your puppy feel at home and start enjoying life as part of your family.
Getting your puppy into good habits early on will be very beneficial for a number of reasons and save you lots of time later. One of these good habits is hygiene and grooming and brushing your puppy can be very enjoyable for them as well as getting them used to being handled. You can brush their coat with a slicker brush, gently “brush” their face with your fingers, and practice holding their paws and touching their ears.
Brushing is a perfectly safe activity to do with your puppy but it’s not advisable to try and clip their fur or nails without proper training. You can start this practice with your puppy immediately from the first week of ownership. Once your puppy is used to being brushed then in order to help them learn to socialise with others outside your family you can find a dog grooming service which specialises in grooming puppies. The first groom should be as early as 1 week after their 2nd vaccination, which would commonly be around 12 weeks.
The first time you take your puppy to the grooming parlour it’s understandable that they may be nervous but it’s important that the puppy is left with the groomers without any notice of you (the owner). When an owner sticks around it makes the puppy feel more nervous, and therefore will take longer for the dog to adapt.)
A trip to the grooming parlour should be enjoyable and fun for your puppy, although the first couple of sessions may be fairly short to make sure they don’t get stressed while they are still getting accustomed to being groomed by a new person.
The first few experiences need to be positive experiences, with lots of love and play. The grooming parlour will become their special place away from home.
A first grooming session should include activities such as bathing, brushing, nail trimming and ear cleaning. The more that your puppy gets used to the groomer and being groomed the longer the sessions can last and more in depth they can become.
It can take two to three sessions for a puppy to become totally comfortable with the grooming process. However, as long as this process is approached in the right way, it can enable a dog groomer to establish a lifelong happy relationship with their new client.
At the end of the first few sessions both you and the groomer can give your puppy lots of healthy treats so they associate a trip to the grooming parlour with lots of love, enjoyment and tasty snacks too.