Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/08/01/watch-how-this-gifted-dog-groo.html
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Compassionate, courageous and not anthropomorphizing the doggo’s behavior.
Not all heroes wear capes.
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The general “Debbie downer” consensus on Reddit that always comes around to point out the dark side of cute animal videos is that the dog is still very stressed but submitted rather than continue fighting.
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Puppers was just scared, not aggressive.
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The dog was still nervous, licking its mouth, but look at the very end when it lifts its head to be petted, that to me looks like it is also beginning to enjoy the experience.
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Not sure “talented” is the right word. “Well-trained” might seem a little disrespectful, true, since we are talking about dog groomers. But why can’t we say that she’s had plenty of experience with this sort of thing?
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It looks like me each time I have to go to the hairdresser.
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Seeing how she keeps her grip tight on the harness, I’d also go with „experienced“…
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Why is “talented” the wrong word to use? Just because that talent is honed by plenty of experience doesn’t diminish someone being really good at something, does it?
A pianist can be “talented” even though that skill is developed through countless hours of practice, same as a plumber or a painter.
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Same here. Gosh, I hate getting a haircut. The ladies at the place I go are all super nice and friendly, been going there near 20 years. It’s just the whole vanity aspect, making me look at myself in the mirror for 20 minutes, I don’t like, I guess. My little kids weren’t fans either, but that’s little kids for ya.
And to the video, yes, the groomer is definitely experienced. Wish all people knew how to approach doggos they don’t know.
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She’s definitely very good, she’s cautious without being nervous or hesitant. Dogs pick up on that and her general attitude and demeanor sets up the situation to maximize success in a safe way. Even if the dog had continued to be aggressive she had a good hold on him and with enough time and patience she would’ve been able to get to the grooming.
Personally i wouldn’t have the guts to do this with a strange dog but then again it’s not what i do for a living and i’ve never been in the situation where i had to quickly gain a hostile dog’s trust.
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I think ‘defensive’ is a better word.That dog wasn’t trying to bite anyone, it was biting in the air, trying to create space when pressed into an uncomfortable situation. It still takes skill to signal both that you are not impressed and will not back off, and that you are not hostile.
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The first lesson in gaining trust from a dog who doesn’t know you is to tie it down so it knows it is helpless.
The second lesson is have the off-camera owner talk to the critter to calm it down?
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That moment at the 38s mark when the dog goes from “DON’T TOUCH ME IMA BITE YOU W/ MY BIG TEETH RAWWRR!” to “Oooh, that feels nice, keep going…”
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Would guessing “Stockholm?” based on the effectiveness of rapport-building with the detainee be too literal?
I think only if the dog went on to become a dog groomer itself. Which it well might.
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They always ask me to take my glasses off, so it’s not as big a problem. Have you considered getting worse vision? 
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Last time I used a groomer we have used for years, my dog came home looking butchered, bleeding, and missing large areas of her fur. Groomer said she was uncooperative, and we hadn’t been brushing her at home.
I went off on her, refused to pay, and when she tried to stop me, I called the police to report her abuse. Got my dog. Left and never went back. Have since been to other groomers, who say my dog is one of the best behaved and happy animals they have met.
This looked like a groomer doing it right, and if it got out of hand, she would have stopped.
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Yes the dog is still nervous. He can’t go from terrified to happy in a few seconds. But the groomer very skillfully showed him that 1. she’s in charge and won’t back down and 2. that this won’t result in pain for him. So he both gave up trying to scare her away and stopped being so scared when he realised that her touch wouldn’t hurt and might even be nice. This kind of thing can be seen in every vet clinic on any given day, thought lots of vets are much less skilled at dealing with it. It usually happens when the animal isn’t used to being handled, and especially by strangers. It’s why everyone should train their animal to accept handling, transport and being in unfamiliar environments. Makes things safer and less unpleasant for everyone involved.
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Back in my short time working in a vet clinic, one of the best tricks for getting uncooperative dogs to calm down was to send their owners out into the waiting room. If the owner is nervous, the dog picks it up and gets skittish which makes the owner more nervous etc. Remove the owner, feedback loop breaks and the people left in the room are all calm, making the dog understand there’s nothing to be scared about.
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