Salty Puppies
When a new puppy comes to our salon (after lots of cuddles, of course!) our first priority is to set them up for a lifetime of safe and happy grooming experiences. For puppies, grooming is often overwhelming; they are being exposed to new people, sights, sounds, smells, and sensations. The grooming process is not a natural or instinctive experience for pets, and it is something they must learn. Our policies for puppy grooming are designed to help you and your puppy develop a great foundation for their future grooming!
Policies for Puppies
We do not offer haircuts at initial puppy appointments.
Our puppy intro process consists of “Bath & Tidy” services at your puppy’s first 2-3 appointments.
These intro appointments must be scheduled no more than 3 weeks apart. Puppies do not have good long-term memory and clustering the appointments closer together helps them retain what they have learned.
The Bath & Tidy includes: two shampoos, conditioner, blow dry, brush and comb out, nail trimming/filing, ear cleaning, and trimming the hair around the paws, eyes and sanitary areas.
We will not do a full groom/haircut until your puppy can confidently handle a Bath & Tidy appointment with minimal stress. We do not force puppies or push them beyond their threshold.
In some cases, depending on your puppy’s progress, we may require more than 3 Bath & Tidy appointments to acclimate your puppy to the grooming environment and process.
We will discuss your puppy’s progress at each appointment and give recommendations and let you know when your puppy is ready for a haircut.
We do not accept puppies over 7 months of age who have not previously seen a professional groomer.
In order to help set your puppy up for success, we recommend you do the following:
As soon as you bring your puppy home, begin touching their face, paws, ears, and all over their bodies. Slowly introduce tools like brushes and combs. Go slow and use lots of treats and praise. Try to find moments of calmness to reward your puppy, even if they are very brief.
Work with your puppy up on a surface like a tabletop or counter, or the top of your washer/dryer, or invest in a folding grooming table. It may be helpful to have someone else help hold your puppy so they are safe. Again, use lots of treats so they know being up on a table is a good thing! Working with your puppy on an elevated surface helps them understand the difference between grooming time versus play or cuddle time, and also helps prepare them for the grooming salon.
Practice with something that sounds and vibrates like a clipper, some recommendations include an electric toothbrush, a beard trimmer, or an app on your phone. We love the Soundproof Puppy Training App! It includes many sounds you can practice with and training tips. Touch your puppy’s face and paws with something shiny and reflective, like the back of a spoon. This will help acclimate your puppy to shiny grooming scissors. As mentioned above, use lots of treats and reward calm behavior!
Schedule a grooming appointment as soon as your veterinarian advises you it is safe to do so. Ideally, most puppies will have a grooming appointment by 4 months old. Note: we do not allow pets from different households to interact with one another in our salon, so your puppy will not have direct contact with other pets, and we clean and disinfect the salon and grooming surfaces regularly.
Expect that it will take several appointments to get to your ideal style. Your pet’s comfort and safety and establishing a foundation for a lifetime of positive grooming experiences are more important than a haircut.
We will make recommendations at each appointment for what you should practice at home with your puppy. Doing so will help ensure your puppy gets acclimated more quickly. However, it is important to keep in mind that dogs are situational learners, this means that what your puppy learns at home doesn’t instantly transfer to the salon environment and it can take time for your puppy to make these connections. Even if your puppy lets you touch his paws at home, it may still take more practice for him to accept us doing it at the salon. Your work at home is still very important and helpful!
We also recommend enrolling in a puppy training and socialization class!