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Teach your German Shepherd to stand still for grooming

Is your German Shepherd difficult to brush? Above is a video of Jabber the wooly mammoth, demonstrating a grooming trick you can try, along with a training strategy for teaching your dog to stand for brushing.

German Shepherds blow their coats twice per year: in the spring and again in the fall.

First, note whether your dog has any problems or sensitivity when you handle the following areas:

  • Ears (Does your dog have a history of ear infections?)
  • Tail
  • Skirts (hind legs)
  • Legs and paws (Any bad experiences with nail trims, in the past?)
  • Reaching toward her collar
  • Collar
  • Head

If so, you’ll want to resolve any handling issues before you begin teaching your dog to stand for grooming. (If your dog is growling at you or otherwise behaving aggressively when you attempt to touch him, do not attempt to train him on your own — contact a qualified animal behavior consultant or veterinary behaviorist!)

Steps for teaching your dog to stand on a platform while grooming

  1. Start by clicking for two feet on a platform.
  2. Once your dog will stand for 30 seconds or more on the platform, introduce the brush or grooming rake by showing it to the dog while he is on the platform, then clicking (or saying “Good”) and feeding. Don’t touch your dog with the brush yet! Repeat 4-5 times, or at least until your dog stops moving off the platform when you pull out the brush.
  3. Brush in short bursts, 2-5 seconds long, then stop, and feed.*
  4. Continue brushing 2-5 more seconds, then feed and release your dog.
  5. Start again, this time making some brushing sessions a few seconds longer before you feed / release.

Be sure to start brushing your German Shepherd in the easy-to-handle places (usually her chest and back) before you move onto trickier areas such as tail or skirts. Eventually, you can use the release as a reward, along with brushing areas he or she likes (such as the chest) as rewards for brushing the harder areas.

*You can drop the clicker at this step, unless you happen to be great at holding treats and a clicker while you brush! I do not use a clicker in the video above when I get to the brushing step, and carry the treats in my pocket.

What to do when your German Shepherd blows his coat

German Shepherds have two coats: a longer, firm outer coat with coarse hairs that usually shed out as single hairs and a softer, fluffier undercoat that sheds in big clumps. The German Shepherd loses or “blows” his ample undercoat twice a year (more often for pregnant/nursing females or bitches coming out of season).

GSDs need regular grooming year-round, but the grooming that takes place during the time a German Shepherd blows his coat (usually in the late summer or early fall) needs to be more intensive than usual.

Check out how to train your German Shepherd to stand still for grooming.

You’ll notice your German Shepherd is blowing his coat when you start to see clumps of light-colored undercoat coming out when you brush him or her.

This is a good time to give your dog a once-over with the brush and run a warm bath. Warm water, as well as the skin massage that comes with a bath, helps to loosen the dead hair so it will fall out more easily. Use a large rubber grooming brush in a circular motion to both shampoo and rinse during the bath (this Grooma Original General Purpose Comb works well).

After the bath, towel your GSD thoroughly to remove excess water from her coat. If your pup will tolerate blow-drying, use a high-powered dryer or a hair dryer on the “cool” setting along with a pin brush or comb to blow out the loose hair as your dog dries. An easy way to clean up after the brushing process is to groom your dog while he’s standing on an old bedsheet — when you’re finished, simply pick up the sheet and dump the hair in the trash. Shake the sheet outside and it is ready to put in the washing machine.

Just when you thought you were finished, the real fun is about to begin. An undercoat grooming rake will be the key to getting the rest of the undercoat that’s falling out. Use this tool lightly over your dog’s shoulders, flanks and tail, and not at all on the face, legs or ears.

You’ll want to brush until you’re tired for this first brushing (shouldn’t take long as there will be so much coat to pull); then wait a couple of days and brush another 5-10 minutes. You might do one to two more brushings about a week later with the grooming rake, then use it as a maintenance tool about once per month the rest of the year. If overused, the rake can remove too much undercoat, which is your German Shepherd’s protection against the elements. Use a regular pin brush for your dog’s weekly grooming sessions.

Photo Credit: spencerdax via Compfight cc