Great Difficulty
Dear Barb, I’m a junior groomer and feel like I’m always being given the difficult dogs. I know I’m still learning, but it’s starting to feel a bit unfair and honestly… exhausting. Is this normal or am I just being thrown in the deep end?
Dear Junior Burger,
Ah yes, the junior groomer’s diary. While everyone else has their lovely six-week regulars, somehow yours is full of the matted, the wriggly and the ominous “can be a bit funny.”
Funny how, Susan? Knock-knock jokes? Celebrity impressions? Or are you about to hand me the lead and become extremely interested in urgently reorganising the shampoo cupboard?
It’s tempting to think learning to groom means learning how to deal with difficult dogs. For a long time, that’s exactly what we did. Hold on, get it done, develop lightning reflexes and eventually become capable of catching a flying schnauzer with one hand while finishing a coffee with the other. We called this experience. Our physiotherapists called it a business model.
But we know more now. Dogs aren’t being difficult for the sheer joy of ruining your Tuesday. Behaviour is communication, and the clever bit is learning to hear the whisper before you get the megaphone.
And frankly, you’re lucky to be a junior groomer in 2026. You can learn this stuff from the beginning, before the “this is how we’ve always done it” choir gets stuck on repeat in your head. Some of us are trying to unlearn 20 years at the same time, and apparently there’s no trade-in scheme.
So yes, you should be learning with dogs who struggle, but with support. “Watch what happens when you pick up this foot and let me show you another way” is teaching. “Good luck, he bites” while disappearing into the tearoom is not. That’s not professional development, Susan. That’s outsourcing.
And conveniently, there’s now a whole course for exactly this. Modern Principles of Behaviour-Informed Dog Grooming at igroomschool teaches groomers how to read what dogs are telling us and work with them instead of turning every disagreement into Friday Night Smackdown.
Perhaps it’s time we stopped getting better at handling “difficult dogs” and got better at helping dogs who are having difficulty.
I’d send the juniors.
I’d send Susan first.
Barb-bye!
