Brushing ?

P

pixgal

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Miss Sadie (15 wks) Does not like being brushed.
I have a pin and reg hair brush. She doesn't like either.
My other Shelties loved being brushed.
Is there a trick to getting them use to it. Right now she fights me whenever I try to brush her.
I haven't tried a slicker but I don't think the brush is the problem.
I'm not going to show her but she needs to be brushed.
 
If she really doesn't like it I would start with baby steps. The first time, do about two strokes, then exclaim "OK! What a good girl!" and run and get the cookies.

Later that day, do two more strokes, and the same thing.

Next day, do 3 or 4 strokes. Do this multiple times a day.

My girl doesn't love to be brushed and still squirms if she thinks she can get away with it, but sits still because she knows what happens at the end. As soon as we're done I say "okay!" and she jumps up and runs to the treat jar.
 
Shelby wants to play with brush when we brush her. If I lay her across my lap she will let me brush her head to tail without going after the brush and actually enjoys it. But this was not acceptable when I she took the CGC certification. We did clicker training to get her to stand still to be brushed and she learned quickly. She still will only stand still for a short time and to be honest now that we passes the CGC I do let ner lay on my lap to be brushed.
 
Like anything they don't like, it takes positive reinforcement.
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As corbinam indicated, its baby steps. So lets assume your pup is still a baby and start all over

First you just put the dog into grooming position (whatever your prefered position is). Treat and praise. Move the dog around and put back into position, treat and priase. Stroke ears, feet, tail. If you can get dog on his back for a belly rub, terrific. That's enough for Day One

Day Two. Move the dog into grooming position, treat and praise. Then bring out the torture tools. Now you are just going to let the dog sniff them , then just touch the brushes against their bodies. Treat and reward. If dog relaxes, you can move immediately to the next level which is just a light brushing. Gentle touch, non threatening. And don't forget to touch ears, feet and tail again....with a firmer grip each time.

Day Three and beyond....You gradually become a little bit more intrusive and insistent on their cooperation....but treating and praising all along. And you build from there

My dogs don't LOVE to be groomed, but they put up with it. If they see bring out my grooming bag, they do go running the opposite direction. These days, not because they don't like to be brushed, they do like it...but mostly because they know that brushing sometimes leads to nail clipping or poop chute trimming eventually. I haven't figured out how to give them different signals on that yet. But at least once I have them in place, they mostly don't fight back.

p.s. there is also the Sheltie wrestler hold you can employ as a last resort. This requires a flat surface with the dog on the same level as you and your legs. And yes, you wrestle them into position, and use your legs to hold them into position. Once they settle, you treat and praise and then you can begin.
 
I don't know if this will help or not, but my Sherlock does not like to be brushed when on the floor, but if we put him on the counter top in the kitchen he goes limp (thinks he is at the vet I guess) and you can do anything to him.

Worth a try...
 
It's good you are thinking of this now! It's so important to get them used to brushing when they are babies. Especially if you have a Sheltie.

I started off with a kids' comb and a human pin brush from Walgreens with Buffy before I got my Chris Christiansen pin brush. A good pin brush is important and might be worth the investment. (I think All Systems also makes one; I know there's a thread about this in Grooming.) Make sure the ends are polished so they don't scratch her skin and hurt her. I chose not to use a slicker because the pins kind of hurt my skin when I tried it. Also, I feel like it doesn't get down as far in her fur.

I used to brush Buffy when she was just waking up from a nap and groggy. Like late in the evening when she was practically asleep. Treats are good and small intervals too, like others have said.

Your pup is the cutest. :smile2:
 
It took me forever to get Bela to let me brush her. I guess puppy mills don't brush their dogs very much :eek2:.

I started VERY slowly - one brush pass at a time. A couple times a day. She now loves it. In fact, yesterday, I laid her down on a little leather ottoman in the den, and she went limp and let me brush her for over an hour! Then, miracle of miracles, let me trim her feet without making a scene.
 
I always get the puppy played out before starting the process of grooming. Instead of going at it like I'm going to get it all done I basically groom the part that isn't moving. I work on them at least once daily and will give them things to chew on or just plain eat. My show dogs learned to go to the edges of the table by feeding them parts of their meals up there. I brush with the lay of the hair first going over the hair and graduating to layer brushing with the grain of the hair. When they are good with all of that then I start teaching to have the hair brushed against the grain. I also teach them to lay on their sides so that I can get arm pits and chest hair and any foot hair trimming. During our lessons I do a lot of foot handling, ear handling and mouth handling. By the time the westies were six months old they were being stripped and in show groom, the Belgians were able to have sprays and fluffing done with blow dryers. I tossed my Chris Christianson brush in the garbage when it went through my Belgians loin - pins weren't all buffed as it turned out. The company offered me a new brush if I mailed the other one back to them - big wow. Tinsel is a work in progress as I am trying to teach him when he has so much fear of it all but we will get him used to it eventually, I hope!
 
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