Fluffyspoos

So I'm house sitting for some friends that own three standards, they groom two them selves and I come over and groom one of them for them. We always do it in the backyard, so I'm kind of limited as far as everything goes. They're cut when their hair isn't freshly cleaned and it's still curly.

They don't get back until saturday and the girls are looking a little fuzzy, so I wanted to surprise them and do everything professionally at the salon. The only problem is that Ness, their oldest standard, is 10. She keeps up with her two five year old daughters but her owner's always groomed her and I groomed her once a year ago when I was in training.

She's not showing her age other than some white around her muzzle, I just wanted to make sure it would be safe for me to take her and get her groomed. What do you guys think?

flyingduster

any good groomer will be certainly able to cope with a big older dog! Most dogs dont' get groomed at home, so they come to us for life, including right up until the month they die of old age...
I personally start to taper my grooming towards their age when they start to show it. I have a 13 year old standard poodle who comes in, and while he still leaps about and is certainly not about to drop dead, he DOES find standing for 2 hour straight to be hard. I've been slowly over the past year, encouraging him to lay down flat on his side like a show dog to be groomed. He's not hugely comfortable laying like that on the table (less secure feeling I think), but has begun to offer it to me a few times while drying him and doing feet etc now!

With an older dog you just have to be aware that standing for a couple of hours is hard, and standing on three legs while their feet are done is harder still. Most of my older dogs sit or lay down, and I let them, until I need to get underneth them or whatever. Ya just work with them, and they're fine.

Fluffyspoos

Thanks flyingduster (: she's groomed at home on her side mostly, so that position isn't new to her.

flyingduster

yeah, a lot of dogs are groomed on their sides, but most pets aren't secure enough in the unusal environment of a grooming parlour (often noisy & busy, apart from being a different place to home and smelling of strange dogs and people) to be totally comfortable on their side, and so hence 99% are groomed standing up! Just let the groomer know that she is older, and that she is also used to being groomed on her side if she's had enough of standing, but she'll probably be fine anyway.

Fluffyspoos

I'll be grooming her! ^^