Stress-Free Doodle Grooming: Making Brushing and Handling Positive (Part 2)

Does grooming turn into stress, resistance, or shutdown for your Doodle? Stress-free Doodle grooming is possible — and it starts with how brushing, handling, and consent are taught.

In this episode of The Doodle Pro® Podcast, join me, Corinne Gearhart of The Doodle Pro®, for the second half of my conversation with Laura Monaco Torelli — one of the nation’s leading positive-reinforcement experts in humane handling and cooperative care.

Laura’s work is also featured in Your Doodle’s Daily Schedule Blueprint™, where her insights support humane, consent-based handling and care for Doodles.

Since 2004, Laura has helped transform the lives of pets and their people in Chicago, bringing science-based, compassionate techniques from her early work with marine mammals and exotic animals into the world of companion dogs.

In Part 1 (Episode 47) — our most-downloaded episode ever — we explored how empathy and reinforcement-based training can make grooming and handling less stressful. In this follow-up conversation, we go deeper into practical, real-life strategies Doodle parents can start using right away.

💡 In this episode, you’ll learn:
✔️ How to help your Doodle feel more comfortable with brushing and grooming tools
✔️ Step-by-step ways to build positive associations with clippers and handling
✔️ Why giving dogs choice and consent reduces anxiety and builds trust
✔️ How to pace grooming sessions to protect your Doodle’s coat and emotional safety
✔️ How Laura’s cross-species training experience informs humane grooming practices

👉 Next listen: Start with Episode 47: Stress-Free Vet Visits & Grooming for Doodles, where Laura and I lay the foundation for cooperative care and positive handling.

🌿 Supportive tools for calm grooming experiences

My favorite calming tools for sensitive Doodles
👉 https://thedoodlepro.com/shopcalm

🔗 Links mentioned

• Episode 47: Stress-Free Vet Visits & Grooming for Doodles
• Laura’s website: https://lauramonacotorelli.com
  
  
• Follow Laura on Instagram: @LauraMonacoTorelli

🎧 Hit play to make grooming feel safer, calmer, and more cooperative for your Doodle — without force, fear, or pressure.

🌟 Want Ongoing Support With Your Doodle?

Love your Doodle and want ongoing, science-based support? The Doodle Pro® Honor Society offers live Q&As with me, expert guest sessions, a resource library, and a private Doodle parent community. 

👉 Learn more at https://thedoodlepro.com/honorsociety

Transcript

**Corinne Gearhart:** I've been impressed with today's guest since I first saw her onstage at a dog training conference, and apparently, I'm not alone. The first half of my interview with today's guest became the most popular episode so far out of all of *The Doodle Pro® Podcast's* internationally chart-topping episodes.

If you work at zoos, you probably already know today's guest. I have admired how she starts from a place of empathy and compassion when working with husbandry and care for the pets and animals in our midst.

Enjoy the second half of my interview today with Laura Monaco Torelli. And if you want to catch the first half, grab that on Episode 47 of The Doodle Pro® Podcast.
We can all benefit from her skillful and empathetic approach to husbandry and caring for the animals in our midst. Here is the second half of my interview with the talented trainer, Laura Monaco Torelli.

During the first half of our interview, we talked about how many Doodles can be uncomfortable with the necessary brushing and grooming, like nail trims, needed to keep their skin, paws, and coats healthy. What do you say to a client who says, "Well, my Doodle will let me do those things if I restrain them"?

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**Laura Monaco Torelli:** That's a great question! I would ask them, again, hopefully not punishing them for speaking freely to me. I don’t want to sound condescending or be like, "Oh, what you're doing is so simple. Let me show you." If it were simple, they wouldn’t be asking for help! So, I would say, "What about getting them used to it?"

Can we break it down a little bit more? And what can we change in the environment that makes it, after you're done with it, really reinforcing? So, have you tried a shorter duration brushing session? Maybe 15 seconds—then put the brush away, and you go and run with your dog in your safe, fenced-in backyard, or you pop a leash on with your dog. 

Yes, you go take a hike while you offer treats. I'll offer out things they can give their dog after, as my initial way in. I’ll ask, "What have you been doing afterward?" And they’re like, "Nothing, I just put the brush down," and I'll just say, "See? It wasn’t a big deal." 

**Corinne:** Yeah, and I walk away from my dog. 

**Laura:** Let’s talk about how we can maximize on the effectiveness of consequences that we can use in the environment. I’ll talk about the use of food. I’ll talk about the use of playtime if the dog likes it. If you can just have a little jar of food right there, that’s an easy grab-and-give so you can brush, stop, food, brush, stop, food, and then remind them that this is a process that, over time, we’re hoping will have less intensity and duration of avoidance behavior. 

And if, over time, your dog runs up to you and looks at the treat jar, I know you’ve been doing some great counter-conditioning and desensitization.

**Corinne:** That just feels so far away—that my dog would ever be excited to see the brush, or the nail trimmer, or the ear swab.

**Laura:** But you can get there. And I think my appreciation comes from working with exotics, where we did what’s called “protected contact training.” There was no free contact for safety. These are wild animals, and some of them were rescued from the wild, either taken from sustenance counts or injured and deemed unreleasable. But still, going in with them is a safety risk, so we had to get creative by having a barrier in between us but still saying, "I need to trim your nails," or "We need to get a voluntary weight." 

We didn’t have the ability to just grab 'em and get it done. But I’m also, hopefully, increasingly empathetic to the real-world challenges of everyday folks that have dogs or cats—where it’s like there is free contact, and it’s easy for a human to get frustrated and just grab the dog, no matter the breed.

**Corinne:** Right! And sometimes if it’s a smaller breed, it’s just picking them up so they can’t move at all.

**Laura:** Exactly. Just trying to find some strategies where I don’t want the dog owner to feel overwhelmed by my recommendations. I’ll say, "Let’s try this initial step." Have you ever brought food into some of the grooming or the ear care games at home? And I’ll just put that out there, and get a yes or no, and then I’ll say, "Are you willing to change some habits for the next couple of weeks? Can we try this instead?"

Can we change this in the environment, and then change what you’re going to offer your dog afterward, maybe just for a smaller duration of time? And let’s just keep a basic journal. Rate it zero to three, zero being worst attempt ever of checking their nail to three, being the ending of a happy Disney movie.

And if you can rate it for the next two weeks, really putting in the effort to change some of your habits, let’s look at the ratings to get a little bit more objective. We’re in the weeds; we’re feeling subjective about this. And then I’ll craft a plan from there.

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**Corinne:** To me, the crux of misunderstanding here is that with fear and anxiety with animals, they don’t just “get used to it” if we just keep putting them in that situation, restraining them, or doing whatever they’re fearful of. That can actually grow.

**Laura:** Yes, absolutely. And that leads to a point where you and I recognize “learned helplessness,” versus the dog owner saying, “See, they’re getting used to it. They let me do it.” We just see a shut-down dog, as still as possible, because it’s learned helplessness. It’s not opting in, saying, "This is something I enjoy." 

And when I see that very still dog, again, I lean on the client conversation part of it, because some people are just like, “I don’t care. My dog is fine. They’ll just get used to it.” If that dog owner is inviting me to give feedback, then I will. Yes.

**Corinne:** If I’m sitting at a table like this with you at a conference, and you sit down next to me and say, “I just do this with my dog because they just have to get used to it,” and you didn’t ask me a question, then I don’t feel like I need to jump in and give my thoughts. 

**Laura:** Yes. Exactly, because sometimes you don’t have to share every thought in your head with everyone all the time. I’ll just sit there, sip my Coke, and think, "They didn’t ask me." But when I’m asked, I’m here to contribute and be supportive. And it’s none of my business if someone doesn’t want my feedback; I’m going to focus on those who do.

**Corinne:** That’s such a good boundary to keep for your own sanity. 

**Laura:** Yes, absolutely.

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**Corinne:** For those moments when the dog allows us to do something like touch their ear in a low-pressure way—just observing, we might even touch a little and then go back to belly rubs. And they’re relaxed and not worried about it.  

**Laura:** Exactly! We can use everyday moments like that, which removes the urgency of "this has to get done," and lets us turn it into little, reinforcing moments.

**Corinne:** A lot of pet parents are surprised at the idea of letting their dogs say "no" and give them that option.

**Laura:** Yes. Letting dogs opt out can really build trust. For instance, if a dog lifts their head during a chin rest exercise, you can still click and treat, pairing it with a positive outcome. Over time, this gives dogs more reason to trust you and engage in the activity.

**Corinne:** And this makes the process less intense for everyone.  

**Laura:** It does! This is why I created programs like *Ready Set for Groomer and Vet*, to help pet parents approach these activities in small, positive steps.

**Corinne:** Thank you so much, Laura. I know our listeners will benefit from your insights.

**Laura:** Thank you, Corinne! It’s been a pleasure.

**Corinne:** Doodle Parents, if you’re ready to dive deeper and help your Doodle feel calm and motivated, don’t miss my *FREE Doodle Parent Motivation Challenge*! Last time, we had over 500 Doodle parents join, and this time we’re offering $500+ in giveaways. [Click here to join!](https://thedoodlepro.com/challenge)