Standard poodle afraid of head drying

[splinter215]

Hey all

My Standard poodle is 8mo and he is terrified of having his head and ears blow dried. I home groom him because he wasn't behaviourally acceptable at the grooming salon so I wanted to take things very slow and get him used to the processes bit by bit, and he has come so far - from snapping and biting and leaping in the air to tolerating everything perfectly apart from this one remaining issue!

I use a portable drier - the pink cylindrical one. I use a snood and get the ends of his ears dry with that on, then I turn onto low velocity and no heat and occasionally he will allow his topknot to be dried, but most times he will buck in the air and hand on to the tables H bar for dear life, and buck his head away. He's very dramatic

Any tips to help get him even a bit more tolerant?

Thanks

 

[notmyrealname]

@splinter215 Hair dryer brushes are super for nervous dogs. I find even the most nervous dogs tolerate it better than using a stand dryer. Brand doesn’t really matter, just something like this

https://www.amazon.com/KUUBIA-Pet-H...ZdkmicI7Mqxiznk5kYNZAuSnXUHZLJnBoCbkAQAvD_BwE

 

[splinter215]

@notmyrealname Oooh thanks so much this looks really promising

 

[mutambo]

@splinter215 You can try putting the dryer hose under your armpit with the nozzle facing out towards the dog. Use a low-medium setting, and brush their head with a slicker brush while the air blows. This tends to be less stressful for some dogs, and you will get a nice fluffed finish. Brushing helps break up the curl clumps, and that allows the hair to dry faster.