Dogs Behaving Very Badly viewers appalled as ‘forceful’ groomer leaves dog ‘terrified’ with controversial technique
DOGS Behaving (Very) Badly viewers were left feeling appalled after witnessing “forceful” grooming scenes on a terrified dog.
In Tuesday’s episode of the Channel 5 dog training show, star Graeme Hall met with Dawn and her Schnoodle (a cross between a Schnauzer and a Poodle) Winnie, who had an usual phobia. She was terrified of the groomers.
Upon meeting the professional dog trainer, Dawn explained that Winnie had not been to a grooming salon for years after fainting during her last visit.
Since then, her phobia has only got worse.
Dawn explained: “She won’t be groomed at all. She’s vicious … I’ve had quite a few bites. I even had to go to the hospital after she went straight through my finger.”
“Wow, pretty extreme isn’t it,” Graeme, 55, replied.
“Yes, and groomers won’t touch her,” Dawn added, explaining that Winnie is blacklisted from salons in the area.
She continued: “The last time she was groomed properly, Winnie collapsed on the table and they had to resuscitate her.”
Although he only fainted, it was a terrifying experience for professional hairdresser Dawn, who now has no other choice but to try to groom Winnie at home.
She enlists family members to help her when Winnie needs a haircut, but because of her breed, Winnie needs her fur brushed every day and Dawn is struggling to do this.
After Graeme meets Winnie, the episode cuts to scenes of Dawn and a family member stringing Winnie up in a full body harness while they try to groom her. Winnie is forced to wear a muzzle and is held off the floor, so she is more submissive.
But viewers at home were appalled by the scenes which they believed were too “forceful.”
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, one viewer voiced their criticism, saying: “If I went to the barbers, and they strung me up like that, I’d go fucking mental too!”
“It’s cruel holding her up like that!” commented another.
“Why is she telling the dog to ‘stop it’ when the dog is clearly terrified?” a third viewer said.
While a fourth added: “Forcing the dog to go through it by hanging her up isn’t helping.”
They continued: Surely trying to create a hairbrush equals positive experience association is the commonsense thing to do.”
This is exactly what Graeme did, and his methods began to work.
After working with her at home to remove her fear of the brush and hair trimmer, Graeme took Winnie to see Sarah, a specialist groomer for nervous dogs.
However, the experience was touch and go.
“I’m not counting any chickens here because taking her to a different environment, a salon, the whole thing could be a bit much,” he said.
Sarah was able to get Winnie situated in only a collar, but immediately picked up on how nervous she was.
But with a lot of positive reinforcement and Dawn and Graeme on hand, Sarah was successfully able to give Winnie a much-needed trim.
“She’s just completely different. She looks happy,” gushed Dawn, who was thrilled with Winnie’s new look.
Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly airs on Tuesdays on Channel 5 at 8pm.