Has anyone ever heard of getting your dog sedated to calm him before getting his fur cut? What do you think about it??

Yes i have heard of it but i totally dont agree with it!

Firstly the drug most often used is ACP. This is a prescription only drug so therefore should only be given from a vet. A dog groomer certainly cannot prescribe it.

ACP also has a cummulative effect so given too often is not ideal either.

As a groomer i find a sedative is actualy more dangerous than not having it. If the dog is doped it no longer had any conception of what is right or wrong, and is more likely to just bite anyway!

A Groomer that needs to sedate dogs in my opinion is not worth their salt. I have only ever refused to groom dogs. One was a GSD and the owner had turned the dog in to an aggressive mess. The other a STD poodle who liked me too much and i couldnt groom a dog that kept shooting his load at me ;-)

Hannah

ACP can make a dog aggressive and I except I do not know the circumstances because you have not said, but if the dogs coat is so bad that a groomer who knows their job can't groom him, it is a job for the vet.

ACP can KILL a dog with a heart problem, it lowers blood pressure and therefore puts the dog in great danger.  I think that ACP can also have a severe effect on VWD affected dogs such as Dobermanns.  be careful using the drug, very careful.
Dawn.

ACP is often used when clipping horses; you need to be aware that ACP can have differing effects (sometimes the complete opposite) to that which is intended!  Some animals do not tolerate ACP well or at all.

You might be better using a combination of other things such as rescue remedy (spray and drops), scullcap and valerian tablets, and Ttouch.

"If the dog is doped it no longer had any conception of what is right or wrong,"

hmm not sure that dogs do concepts, let alone right/wrong!

Think dogs are aware what will be tolerated and what will not, but not if sedated. Sedatives are dangerous, they can't be reversed and as I said in my first post if sedation is needed the vets is the place for it to be done. They may well decide to use a GA that is safer.

Thome wrote: hmm not sure that dogs do concepts, let alone right/wrong!

So your dogs do not know/understand that crapping on the floor is not accepted or that biting somebody is infact unnaceptable behaviour??

Perhaps my dogs are just extreme then? They know what is acceptable and what is not, i just presumed everybody elses dogs were the same!

Hannah

Think that was Thome's point, no doubt she will let us know - there is a difference between concept and knowing that a particular behaviour will not go down too well. Dogs learn by experience what actions will cause them problems and those that will not but I would not call that being aware of the concept of right and wrong.

Perhaps we should have started a new thread - perhaps I will.