Saturday Bite Fever
Dear Barb, I got bitten on the weekend at work. It wasn’t terrible, but it shook me. I keep replaying it in my head and now I feel nervous with dogs I was previously fine handling. How do I move past this without losing my confidence?
Dear Bitey-Frighty,
Well. First of all, congratulations. You’ve just joined one of dog grooming’s least glamorous clubs.
If you groom long enough, eventually one of them will bite you. Anyone who says it’s never happened to them is either extraordinarily lucky, working exclusively on Cavaliers called Flopsy, or simply not telling the whole story.
Before you spiral into rewriting your entire career in dramatic slow motion, let’s establish something important. A bite does not automatically mean you did something wrong. It often just means you were doing a job where your hands spend a suspicious amount of time near teeth.
Dogs bite for all sorts of reasons. Fear. Pain. Panic. Confusion. Existential dread about the bath. Occasionally they just decide they’ve had quite enough of the entire situation and file a very strong objection.
It’s rarely personal. But it does feel personal when it happens.
Which brings us to the replay.
Your brain will run the footage over and over like a terrible highlight reel:
Did I miss a signal?
Was I holding them wrong?
Should I have stopped sooner?
A little reflection is sensible. Endless courtroom cross-examination is not. This is dog grooming, not an episode of Law & Order: Grooming Unit.
Instead, do this.
First, review it calmly once, like a professional with a cup of tea and a functioning nervous system. What signs were there? What might you do differently next time? Then write the lesson down mentally and stop interrogating yourself like (queen) Olivia Benson.
Second, get back on the horse. Or more accurately, back on the slightly damp schnauzer. Don’t avoid every dog with eyebrows and opinions, but perhaps don’t stack your next day with four spicy terriers and a shepherd who hates dryers.
Confidence comes back the same way it left. One normal dog at a time.
Third, use your tools without apology.
Better positioning. Breaks before escalation. Muzzles when necessary. Asking for help sooner. These are not signs of defeat. They are signs you enjoy having fingers.
And don’t forget - a bite is an incident. It is not a reputation. You are not suddenly “the groomer who got bitten.” You are a professional who had a moment in a job that occasionally includes moments like that.
The groomers who lose sleep over it tend to be the ones who actually deeply care. The reckless ones simply shrug and blame the dog, which is a spectacular way to learn absolutely nothing.
So clean it properly, apply antiseptic, pop to the doc if it’s particularly bad, then glare at the bandage for dramatic effect, and carry on.
The dogs certainly will.
Barb-bye!
