In need of desperate help with dog aggressive at groomers.

[BlueIvy11]

Anyone any advice and where I can go with my dog now? I'm just at a loss.

He is 14 months old and is a shitzu cross jack russel. He has the shitzu coat. Overall, he's a pretty good dog. He's been with a trainer for a while and we don't really have any issues apart from recall, which is improving. The biggest issue is the groomers. He is a nightmare. He will not let anyone near his face, he has to be muzzled when he goes. My trainer has been working with my groomer on this and we improve slightly but then it goes again.

He will bite if we attempt his face, which is what desperately needs doing, especially around his eyes. The past few months we have just been taking him, letting him explore around and doing little bits. But it's getting to the point now where it has been months without a groom and I'm just so stressed about it. I don't know what else to do. I've spoken to the vet who just told me to continue with the training, but he desperately needs doing now. His fur is going matty. I've tried everything I can possibly think of without overwhelming him.

To add, he's been going to regular grooms since he was 16 week old. This issue only started just before he hit one. Nothing has happened to make him anxious. Any advice would be appreciated!

Have you tried a different groomer?

Maybe one that comes to your house?

Clearly something is upsetting your dog so maybe a different person, approach, environment might help.

Mine developed a fear of the drier after a vet admission. Now our groomer simply leaves him wet but I appreciate it's a bit harder when it's the actually trimming that's the issue.

Have you considered having him sedated/partially sedated and groomed at the vets, just to stop the matting or any issues with his fur?

How does he react if you try and trim his fur yourself?

Thanks for replying!

Yes, my friend is a mobile dog groomer and he just wasn't having none of it. He allows you to do his body, but just not his face. So he comes out looking like a lion if we attempt it. My usual groomer spends quite a while with him and is very patient.

I don't know where his fear has come from, it's like he's just switched. He's only ever this way at the groomers. We've tried the plug in thing and music. I just don't know what else we can try.

I asked the vet this and it was a flat out no from them. I'm going to speak to them again tomorrow as I think this is the only solution really to atleast get his fur tidy, otherwise its going to get worse.

He used to let me trim his eyes absolutely fine and now he won't let me at all really. I manage to get them trimmed a little so his fur isn't completely covering his eyes, so I guess that's something. I'm always positive with him if he becomes anxious. He's just becoming matty on his chest and legs right now. I brush him a few times a day but it's not doing much use.

Other vets may offer the same option - I would definitely ask around if that's possible. It's not ideal but you don't want him to develop really bad mats in his fur as they can become infected if they're left too long.

I would also have a google and see if there are any other groomers in the area that specialise in nervous or reactive dogs - even if you have to travel a bit to get there.

I suspect what's happened is that his face has been nicked or hurt accidentally while being brushed or groomed, and now he just panics and assumes it'll happen every time, bless him.

That is my main concern with the matts. I dont want it to get out of control and I can see it building up now, so I want to get the issue resolved as soon as I can really. My vet said he has a mixture of two furs, so he matts easily. I'm going to have a quick Google now and see if I can find a specialised groomer for this. I don't mind paying the extra money, I just want him to be healthy with his fur and happy obviously.

I know last year he was caught when doing his claws as he was excited by other dogs there, so wiggling around. So maybe it's been a slow build up and made him anxious over time? This was around 6/7 months ago. It's awful seeing him panic when they move towards his face.

I would do all I could to avoid sedation for grooming as it can make behaviour modification much harder.

Do get in touch with a behaviourist to show you carefully how to do do bemod for this. It is way more than treating the dog when being touched etc. Bemod is incredibly effective and if done at the dogs pace and correctly carried out can be life changing relatively quickly

Has he had a vet checkup? Something around his head or face might be bothering him. Sore teeth, maybe?

You have my utmost empathy as I also have a fear biter ☹️ lucky mine is short-coated and doesn’t need grooming as I dread to think how he’d be.

It's my last thing to ever try with him. I hate the thought of it but I'm becoming desperate for him with his fur.

I've emailed a few this afternoon and I'm hoping I get can somewhere. Due to him still being a puppy, I think it would be alot easier for this to be handled now and saves him distress later down the line.

He was at the vets in January as a cat got to him in the garden, got a scar on his mouth now due to it. But this has been going on before that. It obviously hasn't helped though. He's petrified of cats now. I will mention it to the vet though as I've not thought of that. He is abit dopey when he's on his zooms around the house!

It's awful isn't it 🥺 he's as sweet as anything but soon as they go near his face, he's a different dog. I don't want to keep putting him through it so I'll try anything right now. I wish he had short fur!! But he's fluffy as anything.