Clipping the schnauzer head!

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BentleyBelly

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We have a 1 yr old standard schnauzer who is a bit of a drama queen. She is scared of hairdryers, hoovers, clippers, lawn mowers, anything that makes that kind of noise. She has been to the groomers twice, the first time she came back half clipped, the second time after just a bath, still soaking wet. I don't know what happened but we haven't taken her back to that place again.

We can bath her at home and then towel dry her but she goes mental if you turn on the hair dryer. I have bought a set of clippers and have gradually introduced them and can quite easily do her body, legs and neck now. The problem is her head! Apart from the fact I don't really know how to do it she just won't stay still for me to try and is currently sporting a very fetching black meat head with huge hairy ears, eyebrows and beard when the rest of her is clipped and silver!

Does anyone have any advice? I have looked up pictures online to try and copy but short of grabbing her beard and forcing her head to stay still how to I go about clipping? I have tried trimming her ears with scissors but it really looks a mess and I am nervous of having scissors near her ears and eyes when she is so wriggly.
 
You can trim a schnauzer head with thinning scissors/blenders.
Takes much longer than with clippers but with practice you can get a good result.

You really need to train her to hold still to be worked on. You cannot expect a groomer to be able to undo months of being allowed to move unsafely in one go. Try running the hover while she is fed. Then progress to a hairdryer at dinner time.


"she goes mental when you turn on the hairdryer"and you wonder why she came home wet? Can her breeder not help you?
 
Agree with S4sugar. My own approach to doing drama queens of any breed is to very quietly (as in NO speaking and no emotions) and calmly hold dog by collar and/beard and run clippers on low speed on body and then side of face. This will perhaps get a dramatic response but ignore the behaviour until the very split second you feel them relax. Stop, put down clipper and praise. Repeat over and over a few times til you find dog is no longer reacting. Do not speak or make a fuss until dog is doing nothing but standing calmly. Then once you've got that far, start clipping.
As for what lines to follow, most books on breeds will have pretty good grooming diagrams. Schnauzers Today is on I think?
 
Thank you...I have not had a dog before and this is a steep learning curve for me. The groomer wasn't particularly sympathetic to the dogs sensitive nature and I am trying to improve matters before we try again with another professional, I'm just trying to keep the dog looking reasonable in the meantime.

The 'breeder' is my husbands boss who lives in Ireland and he has his dogs as guard dogs so doesn't really treat them as pets as we do. The dog was a gift as part of my husbands bonus last year, but that is another story! I will ask him for advice next time I see him though.

I will try the no emotion, no talking. I do talk constantly to her so maybe this isn't helping, although a no nonsence approach does get better results than being really soft with her.
 
No nonsense & a cheap battery toothbrush. Have this in your hand when combing her beard or whenever you are fussing her (within reason)
 
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