It’s important to learn how to restrain a dog properly before grooming. This way you can handle your dog much easier during the grooming process. Restraints are a form of training and can be very helpful in teaching the dog to stand still while being groomed.

There are many tools for restraining a dog: grooming loops, muzzles, E-collars, tables, arms, and supports to hold a dog up. The best restraint, however, is restraining your own emotions while grooming. Never let your frustration show. When you begin to lose your cool, it’s time to stop. Wait until you are calm to begin again.

If the dog is small, you can pick him up and place him where you want him. Larger dogs, however, are another story. You lift them, drag them, and throw your back out just trying to get them to cooperate. If you want to establish yourself as the leader, it all starts with knowing how to walk a dog properly.

Learning to Walk a Dog Properly

An owner should teach his dog to sit and stay while the owner walks in or out the door or up or down a flight of stairs. This puts the owner in the leadership role, and it also keeps everyone safe.

The dog will not bolt into the street if she is taught to sit until her owner tells her to come outside, and she will not trip up her owner on the stairs if she is taught to wait her turn.

Essential:

To teach your dog to sit and stay at the door when you open it, put him in a sit and see what he does when you open the door. If he gets up, you have to block him, back him up, and tell him. “Stay!” firmly. Take one step out, turn around, and look at him. He should still be sitting there. Hesitate for a few seconds, then tell him, “Okay,” and he can come out.

Heel

Dogs who are taught how to walk properly on a leash learn pack order. Teach your dog to heel. When you walk the dog at your side but slightly behind you, that signals to him that you are in charge. Once he understands you are the leader, he will readily submit to most things.

You can use some easy techniques to teach your dog leash manners. If she begins to pull, simply stop or turn around and head the other direction. When you stop, make her sit. When you are ready to go again, tell her to heel and take a step forward. Be prepared to repeat this over and over until your puller learns she can’t go anywhere without you.

Many groomers find that if they walk the dog properly for just a few minutes before grooming them, the dog is calmer because she understands that the groomer is being a leader. However, she may still drag her owner because her owner has not shown her leadership on the walk.

Most groomers enforce obedience on the leash as a matter of safety. Unruly dogs are a danger to people, to themselves, and to other animals.

Obedience Tools

Most groomers will use a slip lead to lead a dog in their salons. Slip leads are inexpensive leashes with a ring at one end that you slip the handle through. This makes a lead that tightens up should the dog try to back out of it or charge ahead.

When used properly, slip leads can effectively restraint a dog and teach him manners. A choke chain is also a good tool for this, if you use it properly.

What is the correct way to put on a choke chain?:  The correct way to put on a choke chain is to make the letter “P” (for puppy) and, while looking at your dog’s face, slip it over his head. This allows the dog to be on your left side to walk. If you want to keep your dog on your right side, make the number “9” with the chain and slip it over his head so it will release. If you put the choke chain on backward, it will just get tighter and not release.

When you do use a choke chain or slip lead, it’s important not to continually pull to correct the dog—it’s a quick jerk and release. This lets the dog know what he is doing is unacceptable, and he will naturally stop and look at you when he receives a correction. Timing is everything. Soon, just a little tug and release works effectively to get the dog’s attention.

A head collar, such as a Halti or Gentle Leader, is very effective for teaching dogs not to pull. A head collar looks like a halter that goes on a horse. It has a loop that goes over the muzzle and one that goes behind the ears. Where a dog’s head goes, his body must follow.

Initially your dog may resist having this on his head. All dogs seem to have a little rodeo for a few minutes, but once they figure out you are not going to take it off and they must listen to you, they get with the program.

There are harnesses that help with this lesson, but they are not the kind of harnesses you see in the store where the leash hooks on the back of the dog. You hook the leash at the chest of the dog in these harnesses. If she pulls, the pressure will stop her or turn her.

Gentle Leader makes one called the Easy Walk harness. This type of harness is not good for the dog who likes to back out of her collar, but it is good for the headstrong dog who wants to lead you.

Obedience and Grooming

Most groomers do not have time to train the dogs that they are grooming, so if your dog is unruly, you may pay a higher fee for the extra time and work that your dog’s lack of manners has caused. Always talk to your groomer and let them know if you are having behavioral issues with your dog.

Some groomers are patient and will carve out some extra time in their day to work with your dog, and may give you some helpful hints to work on at home.

Once you have the walk down, the rest is easy. Taking your dog on a proper walk with him following at your side is one of the sweetest pleasures in life. Walking him daily will bring you closer together as you and your dog learn what leadership is all about.

Maintaining the Calm

Knowing how to restrain your emotions is just as important as knowing how to handle dogs. Everyone has bad or stressful days, but dogs will notice your stress or anxiety, and then they will act nervous as well.

If you feel stressed, you need to calm yourself first before you work on a nervous dog. Dogs view a stressed human as unstable, and who wants an unstable person working on her?

Essential:  Take care of yourself. Get enough sleep, and remember that a little exercise goes a long way. Don’t overburden yourself. Learn to say no and mean it. Learn when it’s best to just forget it and start another day. Pushing yourself while you are under stress may end in a horrible accident.

Practice calming yourself by counting to 100 slowly; breathe deeply through your nose and slowly exhale through your mouth. Ask yourself why you are upset. If the dog is acting up, take him for a walk. Maybe he needs to relieve himself. Get him a drink of water. Sit down and pet him for a while. Relax the dog.

Don’t attempt to work on the dog when you are losing your cool. This is when accidents happen. Breathe deeply several times. Talk softly to the dog and pet her; don’t let your emotions get the best of you.

If that doesn’t work and you find yourself becoming frustrated, put the dog in a crate or another secure area. Take a break, get a drink, sit down, and rest for a while. If you just can’t seem to calm yourself down, call it a day. Groom the dog another day.