Saffy has never, to my knowledge, been clipped and has definitely not been clipped since she was 4.
Because she's now 'bald marked' and she's a woolly mammoth in the winter I have to clip her freezemark so that it's visible.
I did my shaping plan, sorted it out in my head, got my clippers, my treats, my high value treats and my patience and took her into one of the schools. I'd planned on doing it over a few sessions depending on how she reacted to each stage.
First of all let her have a look at the clippers (she targeted them). Ok, that was easy
Next move away from her and turn them on so that she can hear them without them being too close. Not a flicker, in fact she came towards me and tried to target them
Ok, now the easy stuff is out of the way so onwards and upwards.
It was all going well so I turned them off and used them against her hair like I would if I was clipping 'properly'. Totally unconcerned.
I'd planned for the next step to be the last of the session, I didn't want to stress her out after all, so I put my hand on her shoulder, turned the clippers on and put the back of the clippers on my hand so that she could feel the vibrations by proxy. Erm, nothing, not a flicker. Surely it couldn't be that easy?
Ok, so I hadn't planned on it but why not try the back of the clippers directly onto her? No response, zilch, zero, nada.
Was I being stupid to carry onto clip the freezemark? A step too soon too far? At liberty?
As she had not been in the least bit worried so far I decided to give it a go. I set it for a 'long' clip rather than scalping her as if she was going to get worried now would be the time. I'd stop if she started to get worried as I didn't want to spoil things. Of course, she was totally unfazed by it all and I clipped the whole of the freezemark without a flicker
I'm not saying that she wouldn't react if I tried to do the more ticklish bits but I was very pleased with her for a first go
At liberty as well, she could have left at any time and she didn't
I have to admit that I was a bit deflated in a way, it took less than 15 minutes in all and I'd set out my plan so beautifully
Clicker training can be so boring
but I love it
