Schnauzer

Question
I have a 12 year old male Schnauzer.  He recently had a bad experience with being groomed.  I ended up taking him to the vet several times for neck and back problems.   Now will not let me comb him without excessive biting of brush and/or me. My question is:  What can I do to retrain him for grooming?

Answer
Dorothy -

Poor old gent.... At his age, her certainly didn't deserve to have a bad experience.

My best suggestion would be to do this:

1.  Pick out the very bestest treat you can find - cheese is often a good choice
2.  Make tiny bits of it - like 1/3 the size of a pencil eraser
3.  Don't feed him one meal when you can take the time to work with him within an hour.
4.  With one hand feed him tiny tiny bits of treat one right after the other (one at a time - not an open hand) and very gently brush him with the other hand.

If he reacts badly to this, back up the process and feed him tiny bits in the presence of the brush.... and the next step would be touching him with the brush and then laying it back down....

Do this a couple of times a day for only 1-2 minutes at a time.

Within a pretty short time, he should start to learn to trust you to be gentle with him and that he will be safe.

I would do it on the floor, and not on a raised surface so he feels as safe as possible. If you do it on a table, he may relate the table to being hurt.....

Once he's letting you brush him gently, you can grandually add in raised surfaces.... an ottoman, the bed, your lap, and eventually back onto the table.

Be shameless with treats, and then gradually fade them at each step before going on to the next step.

Good luck

-Beth