There are a lot of reasons why a dog may not like his face done. When we can understand why, we are better able to reteach them to allow it.

For some it’s pain related. There’s the obvious rotten teeth and infected gums. There is also a problem with many with teeth that are misaligned. When that happens, they upper and lower teeth will rub together causing wearing of the teeth, they can also cause large holes in the gums or even the roof of the mouth.

If a dog pulls away, our first reaction is to hold more firmly, which can be very uncomfortable for the dog, so they pull more, we hold firmer, and a vicious cycle starts. They dogs don’t often understand their pulling away starts the cycle, only that holding the mouth is painful.

Some dogs are inadvertently taught to hate their faces washed. If an owner, the kids in the family or even a previous groomer sprayed them directly in the face with the water, it can be horrible for them. It gets up their nose, they have a hard time breathing, and just the idea of getting blasted in the face isn’t fun.

Often it’s because the person doesn’t know how to teach them to hold still. The dog is wiggly, they turn their face into the stream of water, it gets up their nose and it proves to them that water is bad around their face. They often get more wiggly and more water up the nose and that cycle of struggle starts again.

Try to ease the dogs into the face washing. Keep the water pressure very low, let it run down gently from the top of their heads. It’s much easier to control that way. If the dog wiggles or turns their face, they don’t usually get the blast in the face and water up their nose. With the water gently running down from the top of their head, it usually runs down the sides of their nose rather than in it. A few baths like this and many of them calm down and learn that a bath doesn’t mean they’ll get blasted in the face with water.