On the subject of grooming.. (part 1)

You should have seen Doobie the first day I met him.  The poor thing was so matted that he looked like an afro with feet.  His ears stuck straight out like the wings on an airplane only they were about 2 inches thick with matts and you couldn't see his eyes at all.  I was at his original humans home (I have an aversion to the word "owner") so there was nothing I could do except to try to explain to the woman that those matts hurt and he needed grooming ASAP!  Unfortunately Doobie didn't come home with me that day, but his mother Annabelle did.  She looked more like an old fashioned mop that had been through the ringer a few times too many.  But don't fret, it took a couple weeks, but we were finally able to get the rest of the pups out of there and into foster homes.

Annabelle after her first grooming

Doobie after his first grooming.  He looked like he had never seen
the sun - and he probably hadn't.

 Because of the condition Belle was in, the only thing we could do was get her groomed right away.  There wasn't any time to worry about conditioning her to like it - it had to be done.
Fortunately,  I know the groomer.  I used to work with her so I knew first hand how great she is with dogs.  And 10 years later she is still the only one I trust with our dogs.  God forbid she ever retires!
She is the first one I recommend when people ask, usually because they don't know who to go to or they've had a bad experience or, I should say, their dog has.

If your new puppy is going to need grooming, the time to start looking for a groomer is before the puppy comes home.
Not all groomers are alike. Start asking your friends that use groomers who they use.  Then ask them why.  Exactly why.  While I do like the dogs to look good, I'm not picky.  The most important thing is how they are taken care of while they are in someone else's care.  So get specifics.  How is the dog when they go there?  Is he afraid?  Have they ever found any mysterious cuts or problems that should have been brought to their attention by the groomer or receptionist when they picked him up? and so on.  If you like what you hear, see if you can make an appt to go and check them out.
Here is one person's experience with groomers.  I have edited out parts to shorten it.

We first started taking our dog to the groomer at our Vet and I would usually drop him off. Our dog would shake and be scared until he saw the groomer walk up and then his tale would wag and he would go right to the groomer and I just felt like that was a sign he liked the groomer (and not the pokes and shots from the vet!). Long story short the groomer disappeared and the vet said they weren't going to have a groomer anymore.So we started taking our dog to ____ (based solely off of reviews on yelp.com and location) and my husband would usually drop him off. One time though (and the last time), I dropped our dog off and he was crying and clinging on to me and shaking when the lady tried to take him from me. So, I called my husband and asked him if that was common... he said yes (husbands! grrrr!).        Anyway, that is when we asked you if you had a recommendation. You said that you took your dogs to Susan at Kenhaven, and since it's right near my husbands office we figured we'd give it a try. Our dog isn't crying and clinging to us when we leave him and I love that the staff lets us know everything.

                                

Before (just need a little clean up)

After

Here is another person's experience with grooming

"I changed groomers because the former groomer was recommending some training techniques that I didn't quite think were appropriate.  It made me feel uncomfortable to think if these behaviors were suggested, then perhaps the groomer was doing them to our dog while he was there.  I also noticed that he would come home from the appts very wound up!  I thought that if he was acting different after each of the appts, then he may have been under some stress during those appts.  If only dog could talk!"

But if you think about it, her dog was talking.  And thankfully she listened!

There are a lot of groomers out there, but not necessarily all of them are good ones.  It is important for you to pay attention to how your dog behaves when you bring him and when you pick him up. Also trust your gut.  If you don't have a good feeling, then find someone else.  You also have the options of finding a groomer that will come to your home or learning to groom your dog yourself.   Just remember, always be an advocate for your dog. Because if you're not, who will be?

Stay tuned for part two… Preparing your puppy                  On The Subject Of Grooming - Part 2