Cultivating Cooperation & 2023 Highlights

The Schnauzer Grooming Club Newsletter

Before technique is even a consideration, before grooming tools even matter, there is your mutual relationship, both in general and on the grooming table. You both bring completely different realities to the grooming table and the experiences that happen there, and cooperation lies in the common ground you can find and build grooming activities upon. Each grooming relationship is different, because each groomer and each Schnauzer is unique. Even so, it is possible to Cultivate Cooperation even where there is uncertainty, fear, or volatility on either or both sides. You only need one or two small changes to shift the direction of your interaction.

There are routines and handling techniques that reduce your dog’s uncertainty, that reassure them that they are not suddenly in a dangerous and hostile alternate reality when they step on the grooming table. We tend to want to “go straight to work” but that doesn’t give the dog any opportunity to adjust to the reality of less control than they prefer. Instead, you might create a routine of having a “warm up” session where you focus on affection and appreciation before you start going straight for feet and face.

Other routines might be naming the parts of the dog you’re handling, like, “good face,” or “Paw, thank you for letting me hold your paw.” This repetition of the words gives the dog context, and that fosters predictability and that helps them feel more control which allows them to relax more. Another routine is remembering to reward cooperation (don’t wait for perfect behavior, there’s no such thing). You can “capture” anything positive with praise and a reward — don’t poo-poo progress, even if it’s less than you would like it to be. It takes a series of small steps to come a long way.

Finally, hold your dog in the same way each time you work certain areas, like feet, and don’t begin the work until the struggling stops. Most dogs are also distressed by the struggling, especially when we get frustrated, moreso than with the work itself. Practice holding in ways that limit your dog’s ability to flail around and become hysterical so that you can create praiseworthy pauses that lower intensity. Sometimes the moment is brief, but try to cut the toenail or scissor the feet or face in the moments between struggles and those moments will gradually become longer.

Your mindset is critical! What are you thinking about the dog when you are grooming? What are you thinking about yourself? What do you believe those things mean? Do you know that we tend to get frustrated more because we expect too much of ourselves and project our insecurities onto our dogs? Sometimes our relationships with our dogs are the most transparent and vulnerable relationships we have so it’s easy to get our feelings hurt when we misinterpret our dog’s resistance. It’s almost never personal, we just think it is, because we’re afraid that it is.

One thing I know for sure, your grooming relationship will improve if your mood is good. I know we can’t always control that, but it’s within our power to create a relaxing environment for us both, and to set aside enough time not to rush. If you give your grooming sessions the same kind of preparation you do a date, you’ll both have a better time.

Timing is everything, and varies based on what challenges confront the “grooming team” of you and your dog. From practice interactions to hour-long sessions or more — when, what, how long and how often you work on which tasks will affect the mood of each session — and the order you stage and execute the work in can make a big difference to the overall flow of the grooming session and the the impression it leaves on you both. Always remember that grooming is something we do with our dog, not to our dog.

For a deep-dive into the mindset and techniques of Cultivating Cooperation with your dog, check out my 60 minute Webinar HERE.

Coming soon: the next Cultivating Cooperation webinar will be all about working with puppies!

2023 Schnauzer Spotlight

What an amazing year and story arc 2023 has been, centering around Roger, Top 5, multi-BISS GCHB Straw Hat Here to Love. He was my favorite male in the second “Love Litter.” I like how he improved on Frodo’s body (back through mama Celty’s Halcyon blood from Bullet) while retaining his typey silhouette, coat, temperament, head and movement. My own show highlights from 2022 with Roger include Best in Sweeps and Best of Winners at the National Specialty in Oklahoma City and finishing his Championship with Best of Winners at the Knickerbocker Regional Specialty. With my many other responsibilities and goals that was the perfect time to place Roger with Chris White to start his Specials career.

2023 was about new… everything. New friendships, new teamwork, new networks, new ideas and new venues. I got to spend so much time traveling, growing and bonding with my good friends, Chris, and Yvette. They steadied me to navigate some serious density I encountered this year, really showing their true colors not to let a sister fall during the heavy weather. We don’t often get the chance to see how deeply others really care about us — it is a virtue of adversity to discover we are not as alone as we feared.

Sometimes when you are living intensely, an event will resound like a ringing bell or of hammer striking the anvil, bringing new reality into instant focus. That’s how I remember Roger’s success at the Prarieland Specialty in Illinois, in May. Best of Breed multiple days, including the Specialty itself and a Group 2. Kudos to Laura King for an awesome debut weekend with Roger! That was the launching off point for a lot of consistent summer showing and I want to hand it to Chris, he committed with me all year to Roger’s grooming and jacket maintenance with admirable consistency and dedication, especially considering we weren’t able to meet up again for shows until the fall.

Roger got to add “BISS” to his accomplishments again at the Knickerbocker Specialty in NJ and we appreciate the help of Margery Good covering him when she could there and during the Potomac Valley Specialty week in VA. Pinch-hitting on the day of the Specialty, I even got to handle Roger to BOS under the judge who literally wrote the book on breeder-owner-handling, Pat Trotter. After also putting up Roger’s sister Kismet, BOW from the bred-by class, what a day to celebrate!

I was really looking forward to traveling with Chris and Roger to Orlando for the AKC National Championship Week but unfortunately sometimes running a small business means suddenly canceling plans. It meant I wasn’t there in person when Roger went Best of Breed twice and went on AKC TV for the Working Group competition, including on “the big day,” but it did mean I got to spend the time with Roger’s puppies instead so, as silver linings go, it was a pretty good one!

Roger’s breeding to Winnie is the first part of intertwining Roger’s Straw Hat/Halcyon bloodlines with Postems. I like that we got consistently square puppies, with stout bodies and bone, nice heads and some good coats. Those were all traits we wanted to see come forward before we committed to breed Winnie and Frodo through frozen semen in the future. By spending a week and a half with Roger’s puppies, I really got to know them well, temperamentally as well as physically and I’m so glad I could — they are social, outgoing and confident and will fit well into a variety of home situations including some show homes.

Some of Roger’s puppies are still available. If you’d like to inquire about them, or their parents’ pedigrees or health clearances, please message me. I’m pleased with these puppies and welcome them going to some fitting homes. I can’t wait to see how they grow up and influence our future breeding decisions and direction. Breeding is such a long game, it will be years before we know Roger’s ultimate contribution to Standard Schnauzers but what a fun year this launching pad has been, seeing and being seen, and he’s not even 3 years old yet.

Cheers, Roger, Chris and Yvette! Teamwork really does make the dream work!

Private Instruction and Questions:

Would you like personalized guidance about any Schnauzer Grooming Instruction you’ve seen? Would you like help creating a grooming “road-map” to get you, with more certainty, from your “point A” to your “point B,” and beyond? I offer both private, in-person, and virtual instruction on every aspect of Schnauzer grooming, from pets to show dogs, puppies to Seniors, and prep to maintenance, as well as access to my exclusive grooming community and monthly Q&A Sessions.

Message me at StrawHatStandards@gmail.com for a free 20 minute consultation on your best next steps for you and your Schnauzer.

Other Courses and Resources:

Schnauzer Maintenance Clipperwork Course Trailer

https://youtu.be/MJF8ZiV7hdA

Maintenance Clipperwork Course Registration:

https://leslie-s-school-4e6d.thinkific.com/courses/maintenance-schnauzer-clipperwork

Grooming the Schnauzer Head & Face Course Trailer:

https://youtu.be/pVZBpYBJVP4

Head & Face Course Registration:

https://leslie-s-school-4e6d.thinkific.com/courses/grooming-the-schnauzer-head-face

YouTube (Schnauzer grooming videos): Dogs and Dharma. Please “Like and Subscribe” to get notifications whenever I put out a new grooming video!

https://youtube.com/@dogsanddharma219