Prepping for your dog’s first grooming appointment can feel scary—for you and your pup! We’ve pulled together a handy list to help everyone have a great experience:

1. Before grooming, make sure your dog is acclimated to the human touch by petting and brushing your dog regularly. If dogs are familiarized beforehand, this allows for a more relaxed experience for the dog and groomer. Grooming is not only a haircut and bath, nail clipping is vitally important for dogs. Overgrown nails lead to bad posture, infected ingrown nails, and a torqued spine. Yikes!

2. To ensure things go smoothly, your dog should know the feeling of having someone close to their face and having their ears played with, this not only provides comfort for the dog, but provides an easier experience for both the groomer (and dog) when ears are trimmed, cleaned, and blow-dried.

3.  DON’T scold your pup if they are reluctant to go into the grooming room. Give treats, show love, and quickly exit to not build anxiety with a long goodbye.

Grooming appointments are available during daycare or boarding stays or by separate appointment, for our clients. Let us know if you’d like to book—simply reply to this email, or call/text us at 203-895-4202 and we’ll book it!