Lola is a Great Pyrenees mix, a beautiful fluffy white dog, and our only tripod in the Vroom Grooms pack. Three legs. All personality.
If you have ever met a Pyrenees, you know they are big, soft, and built for cold weather. Lola is all of that. She has the cloud-fluff coat, the gentle eyes, and the slow, considered way of moving that says “I have decided to participate in this and on my own terms.”
A Little Hesitant, a Lot Brave
When Lola walked up to the van for her first appointment with me, I could tell right away she was unsure. Tripods sometimes are, especially after the initial adjustment to life on three legs. They figure out their balance. They figure out their speed. They figure out who is safe. Lola had clearly figured out all three, but she still wanted a minute to decide if the van counted as safe.
I gave her that minute. I sat on the ground with her for a few minutes before lifting her in. We went slow. We let her set the pace.
By the end of that first appointment she was leaning against my leg while I blow-dried her fluff. Now she hops right in.
Grooming a Tripod
Working with a tripod dog is not actually that different from working with a four-legged dog, once you know where they are in their adjustment. A few things I pay attention to with Lola:
– Lifting into the tub and out of the tub uses a different support technique because she cannot push off her back leg the way most dogs do. – Standing on the table is fine for short periods, but I work in shorter sections so her remaining back leg does not get tired. – Her coat is a serious double coat. Pyrenees coats are designed to shed snow. That means a lot of undercoat blow-out twice a year and a steady de-shed the rest of the time. – Her skin is sensitive and her fluff is thick, so we use a gentle shampoo and we make sure the dryer does not sit in one spot too long.
What I Love About Lola
Lola is one of those dogs who does not ask for much. She wants to be near people. She wants to be clean. She wants to feel safe. That is the whole list. When a dog with three legs can look at you like Lola does after a good groom, all settled and soft and clean, you remember why you do this.
She also has a habit of resting her chin on my arm during the blow-dry, which is not a thing I taught her. She just started doing it one day and never stopped.
Catch the Next One Live
I stream most of my grooms over on Twitch at DogGroomerNicole. You can see the full process from start to finish, including how I handle the lifting and the table time for tripod dogs.
Real grooming, real dogs, real community. That is the whole point.
About the Author
Nicole is the owner and certified groomer behind Vroom Grooms LLC, a mobile dog grooming service serving Northwest Ohio. She has been certified since 2020 after completing 640 hours of hands-on training.
This post was drafted with help from Nagini 🐍, her digital assistant, who keeps the blog running, handles the tech side of the website, and makes sure Nicole spends more time with dogs and less time wrestling with WordPress.