We rescued a senior poodle mix from a hoarding case in february and her first real groom was last week

Sharing this because we couldnt find much real information when we googled. Daisy is a 10 year old toy poodle mix, 9 lbs when we got her. She came out of a hoarding case where 47 dogs were pulled from a single home outside Phoenix. The shelter shaved her down at intake to get the worst mats off, but she had been completely matted to the skin for what the vet thought was years. The buzz they did at intake was triage, not grooming.

We waited 3 months to take her to a real groomer because every shelter person we talked to said the same thing: she has never been handled gently and a normal groomer is going to flood her, you need someone who works specifically with rescues. We finally found a woman an hour from our house who only takes 2 dogs per day on purpose. The first appointment was a meet and greet only. The second was 30 minutes of just letting Daisy stand on the table while she pet her and gave her freeze dried liver. The third appointment, four weeks in, was the actual groom and it took 4 and a half hours. I sat in my car and cried twice.

What i learned that i wish someone had told us. First, anyone who books a senior trauma dog into a normal 90 minute slot is going to traumatize the dog all over again. Second, you might think you cant afford a groomer who charges 3x normal rates and then you do the math on a sedated vet groom and you realize the boutique price is the deal. Third, my regular vet had a really negative reaction to us delaying the groom 3 months and at this point i would just not bring it up to a regular vet again, the rescue community knows what they are doing here and the average vet really does not.

She is now soft and clean and she brushes herself against my leg when i stop petting her. She didnt know how to do that 3 months ago. If you are bringing home a dog like this, take your time, dont rush the grooming, find your weirdo specialist groomer, and trust the rescue people who say wait.