Today was Rexy's turn on the table. He is an 11 year old Pomeranian/Poodle cross. And, I might add part snarly tasmanian devil! The whole idea of a groom is offensive to him. He growls through almost the entire process and certain aspects send him off into 'bite at everything' mode. I'm quite used to him by now. I groomed him for 3 years before I took him under my wing to live at my house when he was 8. His owner passed away and nobody in the family wanted to take him on. He came with some peculiar behaviours that have improved over time. Watching Ceasar Milan on TV gave us a lot of insight on how to deal with most of his social type problems.The dislike of being groomed has not changed a whole lot...nails, and front legs especially as well as the blow drying and oh yeah the washing of the face. His summer groom is a #5 all over (Cariboo Chihuahua) and 5/8 on the tail. In the winter I let him grow into his Pom self with just a tidy around the feet and legs, maintaining the #5 on the face and ears. Right now he is in transition...a tidy up with 5/8 on his body and tail, scizzored legs.

These photos show him full summer trim and full winter trim.

He was true to form for his groom today...growling throughout and snapping at the dryer. He was surprisingly good and quiet while I shaved his pads and believe it or not plucked his ears. I trimmed his nails without using a muzzle. The fronts often require a muzzle to be used...but not today. I sometimes think that he realizes that he is the only one getting wired up over things and calms down inspite of himself. Mike popped in briefly from his adjacent workshop to comment that he was amazed at my patience with the little crank as he could hear the snarly performance over there. I find there is more success to be had by remaining calm and proceeding carefully and methodically with no rushing when it comes to the 'difficult' dogs. Most of the dogs who display this type of 'don't touch my feet or legs' behaviour during the groom are easier to handle if I gently lift and allow the foot or leg to lie loosely on my hand or arm while I work on it rather than holding on for a tug of war as I have witnessed other groomers do. It does help to also remember where the bite zone is!

Anyway, today was a successful groom...about 3/4 of the way through Rexy was feeling calm and giving me soft little kisses on the cheek while I worked on him. Sigh...what a great feeling.