Things You'll Need
- Training treats
- Grooming tools
Instructions
Take your poodle for a long walk immediately before grooming or a haircut. The walk must be long enough to tire your dog out fully. A short walk will just leave your dog all the more energized. A tired dog will be less to manage during grooming.
Massage your poodle when it's first placed on the grooming table or other area you intend to use for grooming. Massage slowly and deeply, as you would want if you had sore muscles, to help your dog relax and associate positive experiences with the grooming area. Massage the back of your dog's neck, its shoulders, along its back and down all the legs. Massage isn't just for pampering; it teaches the dog in a soothing, gentle manner to accept your leadership. At the same time, it teaches the dog to trust you.
Offer a few tiny training treats that are highly valued by your dog, while it remains calm in the grooming area or on the grooming table. Withhold treats if the dog is acting up, but offer one when the dog is calm.
Give the dog the training treats while the scissors and other grooming tools are in sight. As the dog gets more and more comfortable with the sight of the tools, gradually bring them closer for each session.
Stop the session at this point, without any grooming or haircut. Repeat steps one through five, without actually cutting the hair, for as many sessions as possible before beginning to actually groom the dog. When the grooming begins, move slowly and try to keep the dog calm and accepting. If you see the dog is getting upset and having trouble calming down, go back to doing something the dog has already mastered and then end the session on that good note, with a treat.
Take your poodle to a veterinarian for safe, veterinary-supervised sedation if your dog is severely matted, filthy or for any reason cannot wait to have a haircut. Once the veterinarian gets the dog's hair and skin under control, you can begin to work on steps one through five until your dog gradually calms down for all grooming. Waiting for a haircut when the hair is severely matted can result in skin infection and pain for the dog from the hair constantly pulling with every move.