Dog grooming involves potentially stressful procedures that, when conducted carelessly, cause fear and pain, making welfare-aware grooming practices essential for companion dog quality of life.
Grooming welfare is challenging because it involves handling that many dogs find aversive combined with necessary maintenance that cannot simply be avoided. Poor grooming welfare manifests as fear responses, aggression, and long-term anxiety about handling. Low-stress grooming approaches - allowing dogs to move freely during procedures, using positive reinforcement, breaking procedures into shorter sessions for anxious dogs - significantly reduce the welfare cost of necessary maintenance grooming. Puppy familiarisation with handling from an early age is highly effective prevention that avoids welfare problems in adult dogs requiring regular professional grooming.