How to Prepare your puppy for their first grooming appointment! 

 Puppy’s First Groom

A puppy's first pet grooming session is a momentous occasion for pet owners, almost on par with a parent taking their child for their first haircut. The experience, which can often try the patience of even the most skilled ​pet groomers, can have a lifelong effect on a pup, be it positive or negative. Here are some important tips for dealing with the occasion for the benefit of all involved.

🐾Preparing Puppies
During the first grooming session, the main idea is to familiarize puppies with the process. A pup's initial experiences at the grooming salon can set the stage for how he responds to being groomed for the rest of their life. So it's important to make the experience as pleasant as possible.
We can get a jump on navigating the challenges of introducing a puppy to the pet grooming process by giving their owners some tips for preparing the pups for what could be a scary experience. The more socialized and used to being handled a puppy is, the better.
We encourage pet owners to prepare their pups to be handled in ways they might not be used to. For example, they may want to regularly tickle their paws (including between their toes), ears, and tushies, which are some of the areas the groomer will be working on. You can also use an electric toothbrush to rub over their body, face, and paws to simulate and help them become more comfortable to what our clippers will feel like.
 

🐾Getting Started
On the big day, when the puppy first arrives to be groomed, we will start by slowly introducing ourselves to the little one by speaking in a soft, soothing voice, petting and cuddling the puppy and playing with them for a bit. By gaining their trust, we enable the puppy to regard grooming as a fun, enjoyable experience. Above all, patience is key.

We will stick to an abbreviated session to avoid stressing the pup, enabling the pup to get used to being handled by a groomer. Bear in mind that pups may be frightened when they are first exposed to such alien devices and tools as clippers, noisy dryers, and grooming tables.

We don’t do a lot during the first sessions; we want the puppy to become acclimated to being handled. The first experience must be a good experience, with lots of love and treats. This is their special place away from home. If you push them through the experience and restrain them, then you ruin that dog for the rest of their life.
 

🐾When to Schedule
Many puppy owners make the mistake of waiting until their pups are six months of age or older before taking them for grooming. As a general rule, puppies should be no more than 16 weeks old, as younger pups are easier to train. We take puppies as early as 8 weeks old. The initial grooming sessions should be kept short and sweet. We highly recommend sticking with the following services the first few times that we groom your pup:
Bathing, Light brush out, Nail trim, Ear cleaning, Light trim where especially needed, such as around the face
Starting slowly will enable us to build up to a full cut and other more elaborate services. The pups should also be loosely restrained. Everything should be loose, never tight. They’re not going to be leash trained, but they can be table trained. They are going to be on a loop, but we will stay with them at all times for their safety and to help them adapt to this.

The same goes for bathing. We will be with the puppy at all times; it has to be a loving experience. It’s just like with a baby; you help them through it so that bath time becomes a fun time. Just lavish them with love. It’s through that regularity that they come to terms with the grooming experience.

Your pup is going to need grooming at least four to five times a year for the rest of their life. If you provide a pleasant experience, they will see the grooming salon as their loving place away from home, and will be happy to come there.