5 Ways to Ease Your Dog's Grooming Anxiety

Grooming anxiety in dogs can look different depending on your furry friend and their threshold to stressful situations. Before you can even consider helping your dog to feel better about grooming, you first have to be able to identify how they’re feeling. Understanding their anxiety is the first step and looking for behavioural changes that can indicate that they’re not keen to go to the groomers. A study on grooming anxiety measures cortisol levels in dogs before, during and after a grooming session and found that most dogs who displayed anxiety in a groomers had high cortisol levels before they even got there. 

Being able to pinpoint how they’re feeling will help you to start to change how they feel about it. Symptoms can be as simple as refusing to get in the car, this might not even be limited to just going to the groomers but if they have a negative experience they may be avoidant of anything that could resemble going back.  

When dogs are anxious they will shake, pant and they may become restless or try to hide away to avoid it. If avoidance fails, this is when they can try to escape or use aggression. Dogs will use aggression when they want space and will often use calming signals and appeasing body language first. The doggy ladder or communication is something that a pooch often scales through when trying to communicate that they’re stressed. In severe stressful situations, your pooch may even go to the toilet in fear. 

Once you identify that your beloved pet is feeling anxious, the work doesn’t stop there, you need to find the trigger that makes them anxious. They may not be concerned about the experience as a whole so identifying which part of the grooming process they’re worried about will help to tell you what you need to work on. There are lots of potential triggers that could be worrying to your furry family member, these include:  

If you have groomed your dog at home and they’ve had no issue then it could be the addition of someone they don’t know. Groomers will often ask you if your pup had anywhere they’re sensitive to being touched to better understand if they might be anxious about anything. Working with your groomer and having a chat about any negative experiences that might have worried your pup along with at home grooming is important to discover what exactly they’re fretting over.  

When you identify what is giving your pup anxiety during their grooming sessions, you can start to work with them to desensitise them to it. Whether it’s the water or handling specific areas or even the noise of certain pieces of equipment, you can work with their worries at home to make sure they can get comfortable. Start with short and positive handling sessions to get your pooch comfortable with their paws being touched, ears and anywhere you may not regularly handle but a groomer may need to touch. Even little things like moving their tail will help them to get used to the sensation. If your pup is worried about anything, take it nice and slow and give them lots of treats to make it a positive experience.  

You can introduce the equipment at home like brushes and nail clippers to get your pup happy. If you don’t have equipment like hair clippers at home you can find the noises on YouTube to play and reward your pooch for listening calmly to. Making desensitisation part of your routine will help to create a good experience and the transition to a professional environment will be a lot less intimidating.  

To get your pooch even more comfortable with being handled and make grooming a breeze, you can use calming aids. Calming aids are all products that are infused with ingredients that promote relaxation so you won’t have to worry about them getting too worried. When choosing a calming aid, you just need to make sure it’s compatible with grooming. Calming wraps are great for dogs that are worried about things like loud noises but they aren’t very useful in a grooming environment as your groomer will need to remove them to bathe or brush your pup. Supplements like the Zylkene 75mg Calming Supplement may be a more suitable option. Zylkene contains natural milk protein that has been proven to reduce anxiety in both dogs and cats.  

Alternatively, you can try some calming treats like the VETIQ Healthy Treats Calming Dog Treats. They are made with a mixture of lemon balm, chamomile, and the amino acid L-Tryptophan to aid in naturally calming your pup’s anxiety. Pheromones are also a great way to rid your pup of any pre groom worries. You can get plug ins for the home to limit any stress building before the groomers but they also come in handy spray bottles to take with you. You can give your pup a quick spritz with some extra calming spray just before their appointment with the Adaptil Calming Spray. 

Finding the right groomer for your fur baby is one of the most important steps to putting them at ease during a grooming session. If you plan on using the same groomer time and time again, your pup will likely build a bond with them and a trip to the groomer will become a fun visit that they can actually look forward to. If you have any worries before visiting a groomer, most are willing to have a chat with you beforehand. Some will even offer for you to visit the salon before a groom and work with you and your beloved pet to go at their pace. This means your pooch may not get a full groom right off the bat but if you’re working on developing a good relationship and building their confidence, it’s a great idea to start slow.  

There are lots of different kinds of groomers and if your pup is worried then finding a force free groomer that uses low stress techniques should be at the top of your to-do list. You can even find groomers that are cage free and really take the time to get to know your precious pet. You may even be able to be present for the first few sessions to make sure your pup has a chance to feel comfortable and bond with them. It’s all about communication and making sure your canine companions' needs can be met.  

Reducing grooming anxiety takes patience, but the payoff of a calmer, happier dog is worth it. With some preparation and TLC, you can help make grooming less scary. For more advice and grooming products, have a sniff around in store or online today.