# Fighting the Face clipping



## Birdie (Jun 28, 2009)

Welcome to the forum! :welcome:

We had the same problem when I first started grooming Desmond. What I did was a TON of positive reinforcement with the clippers. 
I would move the (turned on) clippers down his face (not actually cutting, just so he could feel the vibrations, give him treats, then eventually hold the handle on his nose so he could feel the vibrations and give him lots of praise/treats etc. I just did this sort of thing for short periods of time every day until he was totally comfortable with the clippers being on his nose. It helped a lot, and he does great with them now. Then again your girl has already been groomed a lot before so it is probably different for you. 

I would suggest not pushing her if she really really hates it. I would work on it a little at a time (I know it's inconvenient, but it's very helpful). Try and get what you can done, but if she's fighting a lot then move on to another area and come back to it later. It's time consuming but it does make the whole process less stressful for the both of you.


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## Alicia (Oct 23, 2009)

Thank you soo much Birdie for your advise. Since she will have to be groomed for the rest of her life.....I am sure the process and time spent will be well worth it. 

I really enjoy the grooming. I love making her look more beautiful. I am hopeful that one day she will enjoy it too. She does great with being brushed out and having her feet clipped. So in the big picture, overall she is really good. I will set out to work as you did.
Thanks again


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## *heather* (Jul 30, 2009)

Alicia said:


> Thank you soo much Birdie for your advise. Since she will have to be groomed for the rest of her life.....I am sure the process and time spent will be well worth it.
> 
> I really enjoy the grooming. I love making her look more beautiful. I am hopeful that one day she will enjoy it too. She does great with being brushed out and having her feet clipped. So in the big picture, overall she is really good. I will set out to work as you did.
> Thanks again


I'm having some challenges with this as well, like you said, the nose and whisker areas are the worst! He's never mean or anything, he really tries so hard to tollerate me, but just keeps moving his head from left to right then up and down... ARGH! It's so tiring and time consuming! Although's he's gotten a bit better, it's still pretty hard. I have done what Birdie said, holding the vibrating clipper against his face and body to get him used to it, but I should do it more I guess and treat when he behaves...with the focus being on the end of his nose more... he hates that part!!
I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem!  I really want to be able to do a lot of his grooming myself too!


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## *heather* (Jul 30, 2009)

by the way... Alicia, :welcome: to the forum!! Your girl is gorgeous in your profile pic! ... looking forward to seeing more pics of Gracie!! I loved Red Standards! :thumb:


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## Aidan (Mar 4, 2009)

Alicia,

In the salon when i'm training a dog to get used to the clippers before I even clip their face or feet or anywhere I turn the clippers on and hold them to the dogs face so that they can get used to the vibration against their skin and while i'm doing that I reward with a high value treat, something the dog really enjoys. I keep a box of freeze dried liver treats in the salon and I haven't found a dog yet that turns them down!  

When I finally can shave a bit I shave just a little bit and reward, it makes the groom take three times as long but it helps quite a bit after awhile.

Also depending on the color of your dogs skin a 30 blade can be quite sensitive. On one of my dogs a 30 does fine but on the other she has light pink skin so a 30 has irritated her so I use a 15. You might want to try going up to a 15 and just see if it bothers her as much.


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## WonderPup (Oct 26, 2008)

I do about the same as aiden posted about holding the clippers up against the face and letting them get used to the vibration. 

I had the same problem as you when I adopted my older standard Jazz last year. She was already an adult as her previous owner only had her groomed every four months or so. She had the groomer clip her to the skin and viola no more grooming needed for 4-5 months depending on if it was cold outside. Ugh. Of course Jazz wasn't especialy well behaved for face and feet clipping and she didn't especialy like being brushed though she didn't misbehave for that. I just started a little at a time, every week sometimes two or three times a week if I had time. I held the clipper against face or foot, gave a cookie, ran the blade over a small section, gave a cookie. It worked pretty well. In a couple of weeks I could clip face, feet, and tail with little trouble even though she still kind of hates it lol. Weekly FFT trims and baths just became another fact of life and eventually she accepted it with little complaint.


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## KPoos (Aug 29, 2009)

I don't think many dogs enjoy having a buzzing clipper next to one of the most sensitive areas of their bodies. It's just part of owning a dog you have to clipper the face. I think that you just need to be kind of firm, maybe put her head in a noose and try to get as good with the clippers as you can so you don't have to take long. If she's good praise her. If she's not then you have to restrain her a bit. It's all up to you in how you personally train your dog and how much you are willing to just suck it up and not have a perfect face cut until she will be more still.


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