I have 2 puppies, now about 14 months old.

My little Maltese learned from an early age to let me groom her, because even though she fought me in the beginning, I eventually won her over. I basically forced her, since I needed to clean her ears and eyes very often, bathe her and cut her hair once a week ... plus she was very sick early on, so she had to learn to let me put medicine in her mouth. Now basically she lets me do whatever I need to do.

My little Chihuahua is another story. He basically only needed minimal grooming with a bath, and now will not allow anything else. I have had MAJOR battles over cutting his nails, to the point where it takes me an hour to do one nail. He gets more and more frightened, panting and all. Now unfortunately I realized his ears are very dirty, but there is no way he will let me near it. i tried all the tricks I used on the Maltese initially, but nothing works. he is getting more and more frightened, and I have gotten to the point of getting angry over it and screaming at him while he is panting (bad idea, I know)

So now I basically punished him, and put him in his playpen without dinner. I know it's wrong, I just can't deal with him right now.

So my question is, is it the right approach to keep forcing him to let me clean his ear, and cut his nails, or will his fear build and build, and I won't accomplish anything? My Maltese was terrified initially also, but got over it and now is fine.

And treats and praise don't work on him. I tried that one night with his nails. I held him, praised him, let him smell the nailclipper. I even held it against his nail without trying to cut it, gave him treats. Nothing. Still out of control crying and panting. working himself into a frenzy.

When you are holding your chi do you play with the ears and rub on them and hold and rub the nails and say good boy or girl? This is what I Did and it worked for me. She finally got used to my touch and let me do what ever. When I take her to vet some of the tech are so rough with her really holding her down good and it scares her because she is used to me being easy with her, when she gets a softer tech she does great. I hope it works. Something is really upsetting your baby, i would still give the dinner, i know it is frustrating for you maybe you should just let the techs do it till you both are ready. Good luck and i hoped i help you a little.

He doesn't mind me touching his paws and ears usually. It's just a no go with putting ear cleaner in his ear, or cutting his nail.

I can hold the nail cutter against his nail without him having heart failure, but when I attempt to cut, all hell breaks loose.

Same with the ear cleaner. He tolerates me running the nozzle on his face, or outer ear. But when I get to the ear canal he freaks out. It looks like he's in pain, but I know he isn't since I'm not doing anything to hurt him. It seems to all be fear.

I have a Chihuahua and a Rat Terrier as well as my Bullmastiffs. I use a Dremel with a sandpaper band to do everyone's nails. The Dremel I use is rechargeable and much quieter than the electric model.The sandpaper band doesn't get hot like a grinding stone and it is much easier to tell when you get close to the quick. I don't use clippers as it is too easy to cut more than you intended because the dog moved. I hold the little dog in my lap in such a way as to make them feel secure and talk to it in my "you are such a good dog and I love you sooo much" voice the whole time I am doing the nails. Lots of praise for being such a brave dog and cuddles seems to work well.

While you are batheing him, try making him swim around until he's tired.. If he's not comfortable in a tub of water, place his bottom half in first and let him down. Repeat until he's comfortable with the water. If you don't want to use much water you can always just lift him by placing your hand under the stomach and move him around while he paddles. Then introduce the nail clipper. Let him see, hear, and touch it. Try placing it on his nail and see how he feels. If he isn't comfortable, make him swim more. Keep introducing the nail clipper until he's comfortable and try to clip a nail to see if he's comfortable with it.

Using swimming to tire him out is good, because you're softening the nails at the same time. Hope this works for you!

Unfortunately the worst possible thing happened this weekend:

I decided to "call in the experts" and have his ears and nails done (the pet store owes me free grooming anyway).

When the groomer tried to clean his ears in front of me, the pup got upset, so they whisked him away downstairs. When they brought him back up, he was beside himself with fear, panting uncontrollably :``(

They told me 2 people held him down *mad*

Now I feel AWFUL, I should have never trusted these strangers to him. Plus, his nails look way too short, I'm afraid they cut the blood vessel, and when I looked in to his ears, the canal was just as dirty as when I brought him in, so they didn't end up cleaning it, it seems.

So now I'm back to square one, and realize the "professionals" are not any better at calming him down. And if anything, they made it worse.

What I'll try to do is just file his nails, and maybe try to get more of his ears clean when I bathe him.

We have a big boxer who is not crazy about the ear wash stuff. I put two cotton balls in a bowl and I wet them with the solution. Then I have two dry cotton balls with me. With the big dog I stand above him, one leg on each side of his body, I hold his chin up, because I dont want the stuff to run in his eyes. I grab a wet cotton ball and kind of rub and squeeze in his ear at the same time. Then I quick get a dry cotton ball and rub rub rub in his ear, he enjoys that part. Maybe you could be sitting on the couch relaxing with him in your lap and do the cotton ball trick. If you have the time hold it in your hand for awhile to warm the cotton ball up, I hate cold stuff running into my ear. Good luck.....