(that is what it says on the papers, dont know if it the english translation is the same)
I recently took in a beautiful white B.M who we have called Lucifer (after cinderella's cat). He was in a very bad state and little by little I have been cutting all the "dreads" out and brushing him everyday. He did not seem to like the "glove" rubber brush he had, nor the steel combed brush, so I gave him my daughter's brush which is way softer.....now every time I go to brush him he growls and barks and me and frightens the life outta me cause I am so concentrated on not hurting him......any ideas on how to get the hair on his legs nice too? and on his belly?

we have a pekenese and he gets extremely matted and he won't let us brush him, so we have to take him to the groomers or we would lose a hand.

I will do that after Semana Sanata....tis not warm enough yet...

oh yeah, over here, those place are really expensive so how often do you have to do it? I really am looking for an alternative!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Zena:
(that is what it says on the papers, dont know if it the english translation is the same)

Almost! There were several kinds of dog called 'bichon'. What you have is what, internationally, is called 'the Maltese'. In Britain we used to call it 'the Maltese terrier' until somebody decided it was not a terrier at all and the terrier part of the name was omitted.It has straight hair.

The other 'bichons' are the bichon frise (with an acute accent on the E )with a curly coat;the Bolognese, also rather curly, and the Havanese.

And your dog? Does he know who is the boss yet? It sounds as though he thinks he is You are not going to hurt him but what you are going to do is 'growl' at him, very firmly, sharply, in a rather angry tone.Use his name too.

Remember what his own mother would do to him as a pup.He didn't try to bite her, that's for sure ! She was the boss. A bitch disciplines her youngsters. What she does first is give a deep short growl. She may give the pup a very light sharp tap with her paw whilst growling. If it continues to misbehave then she holds the pup down by the neck . It goes submissive. She keeps grumbling at it.She still holds it down. It goes quiet. Then she releases it and wags her tail, though still murmuring. She may lick it's eyes too but anyway she shows some affection. All is forgotten: until next time.

So you don't let the youngster win. Copy the bitch, his mother ( You don't have to lick his face or wag your tail though, but you get the idea?)If he misbehaves you grumble and'growl' at him. You may give him a very light sharp tap when grumbling. If he tries to bite or fight you what you do is hold his neck downwards and grumble at him deeply.If he realy tries to bite you hold him down quickly and firmly like that and make a really loud grumble at him. He will become submissive. Then let him go .Then you try again to stroke him lightly with the brush. If he tries to boss you, struggling, fighting, you repeat the grumbling noise and hold him down again. But every time you start to use the brush or comb you give great encouragement really warmly and tell him what a good boy he is !

And you do try not to hurt him, but believe me he'll try to make a lot of a little ! He'll try to make you abandon the idea and if that means a lot of 'acting' he'll try that !If unhappily you do pull too much , by accident, then you give him lots of praise and are soothing, but you don't stop the grooming. You must, of course, be as gentle as you can to start but don't be afraid to progress to harder handling as necessary. Just make sure that you constantly encourage and sooth while he is not being naughty but firm when he is.

Take the grooming in stages, a little at a time. He'll soon get used to it.

This firmness, accepting no nonsense, with a lot of warmth and encouragement is important. The youngster must learn that you are the boss. A confused dog or one that thinks that it is boss is a very unhappy dog.

By the way, I've assumed he is a youngster. But if he isn't the exact same rules apply. It just takes a little more time sometimes to get the result then but it will happen

Good luck!

it really depends on how fast the hair grows. we take the pekenese 2-3 times a year, but it only cost 20.00 where we take him. our dog isn't a youngster, so slapping him on the nose will quarantee we will lose a hand.

quote:

Originally posted by misty45:
our dog isn't a youngster, so slapping him on the nose will quarantee we will lose a hand.

Of course it will if you slap him on the nose. Try grabbing him by the throat next time and telling him off!

thanks a million for all the help, will be brushing him a little later in the day and will let ye know how I got on.
zena

Zena, please do that.

And, by the way, anyone who owns a dog and gets bitten by it is doing something wrong. It doesn't matter whether the dog is a male or a bitch, old or young, big or small. I've had dogs, bred dogs, was raised with dogs around in the home and on the farm, surrounded by all kinds,met all types from yard dogs to chihuahuas, for over fifty years.Never once have I been bitten by a dog in anger in all that time. Not that sometimes they haven't thought about it or even started . Let's face it the average human is a lot bigger than any dog and certainly stands taller. The idea that anyone could 'lose a hand', figuratively or otherwise, to a Peke, however ill-tempered it was, suggests a certain lack of dog-thinking or technique And yes, I would grab it by the throat if needed ! It wouldn't try its luck with a bigger or tougher dominant dog or its pack leader for long would it? The other dog would get it down by the neck until it submitted. Next time it would be submissive and follow.(I would though, never hit it: a dog does not understand being hit, save for the very limited cuffs that it gets from its dam as a pup). It sounds harsh but that is how dogs are. In a pack there'll always be one dominant male and one dominant female and all dogs are 'wired' to live in a pack with one boss and are happiest like that.There are twelve dogs here, of different breeds, but among them there is just that: one 'boss female' and one 'boss dog'. These brook no argument but they never do more than occasionally show their rank, just to make sure. The owner's job is to be their 'boss dog' .

A young dog should never get the chance, or the experience, to think of himself as superior to the owner or any differently than that the owner is the lovable 'pack leader' above all.