My neighber has a shihtzu and since he had his first grooming and trim from a profesioal groomer he will no longer tolerate having his face brushed or being touched there, what the groomer did was switched on the trimers and rested them on his head for a while claiming this would get him used to the trimmers , im not a pro but this seems wrong to me, the dog has bitten her twice today but she dosent want to give up.

If the dog has bitten her -- MAKE HER STOP!!!! Something is very wrong!

Well, not only about her odd practice of putting clippers on top of head stuff.

Telephone some other groomers and get second and third opinions on what she should be doing. Don't worry about hurting feelings... this is for the welfare of the pet. Grooming shouldn't hurt and it should not be too much of a stressful process..

BTW, why is the Shitzu being clipped? Their hair is supposed to be long -- or scissor trimmed -- not shaved.
Shih Tzu Grooming
hth.
toodles

Hi Sara,
clipping does not necessarily mean shaving. Clippers are very effective in taking the weight off long coats. But I agree,they certainly shouldn't be rested on top of the dog's head

Joyce

poor dog! :(

Julieann

Sorry Joyce, just confused on clippers being used .... But I"m not a groomer, only a regular client for an easy-to-do and easy going terrier mix ;) :)

Hi Shihtzumad

Sorry but have you ever had a vibration on your head not very nice it's like having a root filling at the dentist poor little sausage ,No I would change my trimmer really .

Pat x

your best plan of action now will be to regain the dogs confidence in you to groom her face , where you present when the groomer clipped the shih tzus? as it may be best to have a groomer that does home visits. it may take time to regain this dog confidence in you to groom his face but if you take it slowly you can do it, you may find you may have a long term problem now, it annoys me that to many groomers and some are my friends are to eager to take clippers to a dogs face , i know it is easier and quicker to do this is if a dog will tolerate this , but as you have found not all dogs will , anyway there is no need to use clippers on a shih tzus's face i have lhasa apso's and yes some of them are clipped i know they are meant to have a coat but it all comes down to personal choice . it takes alot of time and effort to keep a shih tzus and lhasa's coat in tip top condition ie knots , and just because you find it more convinient to clip your dog does not mean you should not own this breed , i have 2 dogs in coat which i show and the other 3 are clipped .
going back to clipping i clip the dog from the top of the neck behind the head and use scissors for the face ,if the dog will allow you clip underneath the chin clip here as well, i have one dog that will not tolerate the clippers anyway near his face , but not a problem i just use the scisssors. i would find a new groomer and make her aware of what has happened to her on her first clipping experience, joanne

Hi thanks for the tips, The groomer that did groom him did actualy clip him did so on a home visit,my neighber has been in touch with her vet to get advice as well and things are starting to look a little more positive for her.
I own five shihtzus and have never encountered any problems with them and any grooming or clipping they need to have done i do my self and the dogs love it , infact they only have to see me with a brush and they get up on the table ready.