A puppy’s first groom sets the tone for every groom after it. Get it right and you have a dog that hops on the table for the next fifteen years. Rush it, and you have a dog that shakes in the car park. The good news is that most of the work happens at home, in ten-second bursts, over a few weeks. Here is the plan I would give any new puppy owner.
When to start
Start as soon as your vet is happy that the vaccination course is complete. The sooner a puppy meets the salon, the more normal it all feels, and there is a useful window before the adult coat comes through, when the puppy coat is soft and easy and the visits can be short.
The home preparation, though, can start the day the puppy arrives. None of it needs equipment beyond a soft brush and some treats.
Week one: hands everywhere
Grooming is mostly being touched in places dogs would rather you didn’t. So the first job is to make touch boring.
Several times a day, for ten seconds at a time, handle a part of the puppy that a groomer will need: hold a paw and press gently between the toes; lift an ear and look inside; lift the lip and touch a tooth; run a hand down the tail; touch the tummy. Stop before the puppy wriggles, give a treat, and do something else. Ten seconds, treat, done. By the end of the week you should be able to hold each paw for a count of five without a fuss.
Do this when the puppy is sleepy rather than when it is bouncing off the walls. Timing is most of it.
Week two: the brush is boring
Now add a brush. Not a vigorous brushing session, just the sensation.
Show the puppy the brush, let it sniff, treat. Stroke the puppy with the back of the brush, treat. Then a few soft strokes with the bristles along the back, treat. Build up to a minute a day on the back and sides, then the legs, then the tricky bits: behind the ears, under the arms, the feet. Keep it light. You are teaching the puppy that a brush means a nice calm minute with you, not teaching it to tolerate being yanked.
If your puppy is a Cockapoo or any other doodle, this habit is not optional, it is how you avoid the matting problems I write about in how often a Cockapoo needs grooming.
Week three: noises and surfaces
A salon is full of things a puppy has never met: a table it stands on, a dryer that roars, running water, clippers that buzz.
- The dryer. Run a hairdryer on cool at the far side of the room while the puppy eats or plays. Over a few days bring it closer, then let the moving air brush past the puppy for a second or two. Never point it at the face.
- The table. Stand the puppy on a stable surface at waist height, with a non-slip mat, for a few seconds a day with a treat. A washing machine with a towel on top works. Keep a hand on the puppy the whole time.
- Water. A shallow sink or a tray with an inch of warm water, paws in, treat, out. Then a jug poured gently over the back. Then a quick rinse-down.
- Buzzing. An electric toothbrush held near the puppy, switched on, does a fair impression of clippers. Touch it to the body, switched off at first, then on.
Pair every new thing with food, keep every exposure short, and stop while the puppy is still relaxed.
Week four: the car, the quiet morning, the drop-off
The last week is about the day itself.
If the puppy is not yet a happy traveller, a couple of short, pointless car trips that end somewhere nice do more than one long one. On the morning of the visit, a proper walk and a wee, a light breakfast rather than a big one, and no fuss. Dogs read their owners, and a tense, apologetic drop-off tells the puppy there is something to worry about. Hand over, say something cheerful, go and have a coffee.
Tell me everything when you book: breed, age, anything the puppy hates, anything it has had a fright with. The five quick questions I ask every new owner are on the contact page.
What actually happens at a Puppy Intro
My Puppy Intro is £35 and it is a first visit, not a haircut. The puppy gets a gentle bath and dry, meets the table, the dryer and the clippers, and gets plenty of breaks and treats. The point is confidence: the puppy goes home clean, having met everything a full groom involves, without the full groom.
The first real clip comes later, once the puppy is settled and the adult coat is on its way. By then the table is just the place where the treats live.
Quick questions
My puppy is seven months old and has never been groomed. Is it too late?
No. The plan above works at any age; it just takes a little longer with a bigger dog who has already decided what it thinks of hairdryers. Start at week one, go at the dog’s pace, and tell me what you have done when you book.
Can I stay and watch?
Ask me when you book and we will decide what suits your puppy. For most dogs it is calmer if you are not there, because they spend the whole time watching the door for you. Some genuinely do better with a familiar face in the room for the first visit.
Will you trim the face at the intro?
The intro is for building confidence, so I keep the clipping to a minimum. If the fringe is in the eyes I will tidy it so the puppy can see, but the first proper style comes at a later visit, once we know the puppy is relaxed on the table.