My dog won't let me groom him. How to make ear, teeth, nail care easy?

Question

My dog doesn't want me to clean his ear, brush his teeth and cut his nails after he have gone in a pet grooming last month what can I do to convince him? Pet's info: Dog | Shih Tzu | Male | 9 months and 19 days old | 5.9 lbs

Jeffrey Milner · Accepted Answer

Azriel is just a puppy still, so you still have plenty of time to train him into the type of adult dog you would like. You need to take things slowly one at a time and can not expect too much in the beginning. All of these tasks need to be rewarded with positive reinforcement. Of the three activities you have described above, I think in general the ear cleaning is probably the easiest and most tolerated. So for example, I would first start by offering praise and reward just for Azriel allowing you to touch and stroke his ears. Eventually move further and further with your hands and fingers to the inside of the ear, continuing to reward and praise. Do this over the course of a week or so. Once you start seeing little to no reaction negatively, start introducing the cleaning aspect of it. If you use q-tips or gauze, first you have to get him used to these. Bring them close to his face so he smell them, and if he doesn't run away, reward him. Eventually, start bringing them towards the ear and touch them to them, rewarding similarly for a neutral response. Move closer and closer to the part that needs to be cleaned until you are actually there. This could take a while but in the end this type of reward based behavior is the way to go. Once comfortable enough, start the actual cleaning process and continue to reward. This should end up working but may take a considerable amount of time depending on how much Azriel hates this activity. Take a very similar approach to the other two things you listed. Hope this helps.

My dog won't let me groom him. How to make ear, teeth, nail care easy?

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