GroomPod 490 The Science of Touch and Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide transcript
Susy the Groomer (00:16)
Hi groomers, welcome to the groom pod, episode four eighty nine. And it is all about, well not all about, my portion is about the mystery of the reactive dog, also known as the neuroscience of touch. Barbara, what are you gonna talk about?
Barbara (00:32)
I'm gonna answer the question from our Facebook group about accelerated hydrogen peroxide.
Susy the Groomer (00:41)
Cool. And I'm gonna explain right now what's going on to my face in the what's new in the what's new segment. But first we're gonna have a break and hear from our sponsors.
Susy the Groomer (02:24)
So Barbara, I had my first old lady fall.
Barbara (02:26)
tell us, tell us. Let us see it. Take it
Susy the Groomer (02:29)
Here, I'll let it I'll just I'll just there it is.
Barbara (02:32)
out. my god. my god.
Susy the Groomer (02:35)
Yeah.
Barbara (02:35)
And that's it's been days too. It's been a week.
Susy the Groomer (02:38)
It's been a week now.
Susy the Groomer (02:39)
It's been a week, week and a day. But it was minor in that
Susy the Groomer (02:45)
It looks bad, but it didn't really get very hurt, but it was a good warning. I wear muck boots that are two sizes too big and my knee hurt and I stepped up onto the paver and I just missed it and did a face plant and broke my glasses. So I've got cracks in my glasses, I have bruising all over my face, and I'm going to the theater today.
Susy the Groomer (03:11)
So you guys you're just gonna have to live with the decoration because I don't own any makeup and I'm not gonna go out and buy makeup for this to go, you know, see chorus line. So Barbara laughs because
Barbara (03:21)
It's always good
Barbara (03:22)
to have some makeup, even if it's kind of first aid or let's call it second aid.
Susy the Groomer (03:29)
Yeah, I c I could do that, but I think it'll be fine. It's dark in the theater anyway. So
Barbara (03:34)
It's all
Barbara (03:35)
up to you. I mean, you know,
Susy the Groomer (03:37)
Right.
Barbara (03:37)
like y you people are gonna be insinuating that whoever your partner was that they beat you up
Susy the Groomer (03:44)
luckily I've got some good scrapes down here. The nose, I had a big scab on my nose, but it's gone now. It
Barbara (03:49)
Yeah Yeah yeah.
Susy the Groomer (03:52)
looks fabulous. There's no almost no more scabbing. And
Barbara (03:54)
I don't I
Barbara (03:56)
don't think he can see any of mine. You know. I had that whole
Susy the Groomer (03:58)
No, here's is gone.
Barbara (04:00)
artificial eyebrow that went away for right up in
Barbara (04:05)
here it's still a dark spot. Yeah, that's what I
Susy the Groomer (04:08)
Mm-hmm.
Barbara (04:09)
get. I get a dark spot of fucking dark spot. But my
Susy the Groomer (04:11)
I might end up I thought I was gonna
Susy the Groomer (04:14)
have a cool scar, but I ended up it was just a scrape. I bled like crazy though.
Barbara (04:17)
I my my
Barbara (04:19)
temple is still kinda can be sensitive to the touch, but right at the moment it seems totally healed. Well, maybe so. It's been like four weeks. It's been that was in July.
Susy the Groomer (04:34)
Yeah, that was a while ago.
Susy the Groomer (04:36)
Well the funny thing that's happening with my face
Susy the Groomer (04:40)
is that I keep forgetting to tell the clients before I get to the house and I
Barbara (04:44)
Yeah.
Susy the Groomer (04:44)
walk up to the door and everybody's like, hi, Sue my gosh, what's wrong with your face? And I'm like, My fa all right, my face. Yeah, I forgot.
Susy the Groomer (04:57)
That's been a lot I wish I had a better story. I was trying to make up a story, but I'm afraid everyone's gonna blame the horse. It wasn't her fault. She wasn't she just stood there and watched. I had the dog too, that wasn't her fault either. She was very upset. She came running back and started licking my face. I'm like, Ew, no, don't do that. 'Cause there was blood everywhere. Yeah, you know, it had to happen eventually. So, you know what else? I got a new stool for my table.
Susy the Groomer (05:27)
It has a back. Yeah.
Barbara (05:27)
for the for the band?
Susy the Groomer (05:30)
For the van. I I can lean back on it. It's got a little backrest on it. It's red so it matches the interior of the van. And it does not have wheels. Because my other one, my pedestal one.
Susy the Groomer (05:46)
is round everywhere so I can't lay it over 'cause it just rolls back and forth. So I had kind of crammed it in the corner but it fell down and it hit my divider door. So I had to fix my divider door, which I did myself. I had to put it back together. And
Susy the Groomer (06:04)
And then but the hydraulics from my stool had died. So I threw that away and I have a saddle seat one that doesn't go up very high. I don't know who they think is gonna sit in this thing. Maybe mechanics. But it's like I say, it's not very high, but it's hydraulic works. But, you know, we're in the northwest we're a little hilly around here. Some hills.
Susy the Groomer (06:26)
So I'd sit down at the chair and I'd start rolling away from my table. Ended up having to wrap my feet around the base of the table to stay close enough to work on the dog. So so this one doesn't have wheels, it just has feet. And I like it a lot and I'm very happy with it. And it's interesting to be able to sit back.
Susy the Groomer (06:46)
and and relax on the stool instead of being perched always up on on the edge, which I'm usually on the edge of the stool. So it's nice. It was a good upgrade. About a hundred bucks. yeah. That's all that's kinda
Barbara (06:59)
Yeah.
Susy the Groomer (06:59)
gone on with my life this week. I fell down last
Barbara (07:02)
Ha ha ha
Susy the Groomer (07:03)
week and yeah.
Barbara (07:05)
I'm still dealing with yeasty skin Maltese. It's been a year and a
Susy the Groomer (07:12)
yes.
Barbara (07:12)
half or so now. And my latest thing this week I sprung for almost eighty bucks to get them each aptivet collars. They're called
Susy the Groomer (07:27)
What are those?
Barbara (07:29)
Aptivet
Barbara (07:30)
Collars are lipid releaser collars for skin relief and rebuilding and hopefully strengthening of the barrier function because I have to have to.
Barbara (07:55)
realize or appreciate after repeated flare-ups, fixing it and flaring up again, that we got leaky skin barrier going. And it's probably just related to their age and the giant move in environmental humidity to D
Susy the Groomer (08:21)
Mm.
Barbara (08:21)
from Tucson, arid, to South Carolina, muggy. So I you know, I tried doing diet and I did I've done so much over the last year and a half. I've done a lot of things and not much difference. these are collars that were developed by a veterinary company.
Barbara (08:48)
they are slow release. The lipids are skin friendly, so they're a actually spinagoids or whatever those things are that
Barbara (09:05)
You can tell I don't have I don't have my
Susy the Groomer (09:06)
And I was worried about my big words.
Barbara (09:08)
big words in front of me. So you know, like that's been one I haven't exactly mastered yet. But I think it's sphenagoids. Anyway, they become ceramides. And so they're ceramide precursors and and I think probably some kind of humectant.
Barbara (09:32)
today I did it so I put on on Tuesday. They last for two months, so eight weeks, so we're hardly into the first of it. I rejected them in the beginning because they are also have lavender oil and they have a strong
Susy the Groomer (09:54)
Why?
Barbara (09:57)
lavender fragrance that are is it's putting off a a lot of people remove their collars because either they or their dogs can't stand the smell. So I
Susy the Groomer (10:08)
It turns them into
Susy the Groomer (10:09)
a walking air freshener, just like I've always wanted. Except for I don't like lavender.
Barbara (10:12)
Yeah, well I I don't like
Barbara (10:16)
lavender and I I have problems with lavender since I know that it's been identified as a major allergen by the UK allergy scientists. I mean it's established not only does it have one or two components that are
Barbara (10:42)
likely to trigger allergy reactions. But lavender oil as a whole is been identified as an allergen. So I kind of disregarded them, but then I got to this point where I was getting some good results
Barbara (11:02)
of the infections themselves, the inflammation areas, the scabby areas, by using the
Barbara (11:12)
the ozonated oils there we go, ozonated
Barbara (11:17)
I got to
Susy the Groomer (11:17)
Good.
Barbara (11:17)
the point where I I saw good progress with the ozonated oils. And so then the challenge is to strengthen the barrier. And I have different sprays and lotions that I've tried, but none of them are really great working with
Barbara (11:42)
hairy dog like my Maltese. And I just don't want to shave them down because then all of the polls everything go directly to the skin and that'll go right on through to you know become a allergic reaction. So I just have this kind of ingrained belief that
Barbara (12:09)
Maybe shaving allergic dogs is not a really good idea. You know, like although you have better access to the skin, it's also that the skin loses that natural protection that it has. and the depth of the hair kind of keeps the the pollen and stuff from getting to this actual skin.
Barbara (12:39)
But mine are just like partially grown out, but I didn't think it was a good idea. I questioned myself. So
Susy the Groomer (12:48)
That makes sense.
Barbara (12:49)
I tried these lotions and potions, but they just didn't work very well with the hair, so I thought, let's go back and take another look at the Atopivet collars. And I found
Barbara (13:06)
their original study that kind of gave them a green light to manufacture. it was under fifty animals, but it was still very demonstratively positive results. And so
Barbara (13:24)
they they're on the market and I thought, well, let's try it. So I put on Tuesday. First of all, I opened the envelopes and let them air out for twenty-four hours. and the odor wasn't that strong. I mean people so a few people say, my God, that's so horrible. Smell so strong. I couldn't put it on my
Susy the Groomer (13:46)
You're gonna have it on for two months
Susy the Groomer (13:47)
though.
Barbara (13:49)
Yeah, it has to last for two months. So I just gave it twenty four hours for the the essential oil to sort of evaporate off. And then I put the collars on on Tuesday and today, this morning, I went through their coats.
Barbara (14:07)
with my jarpet dryer
Susy the Groomer (14:13)
Right.
Barbara (14:13)
and the trick with making the jira pet dryer work for showing what's gone the skin is to use the light
Susy the Groomer (14:25)
Okay.
Barbara (14:26)
and the light just illuminates every piece of dander dandruff or of debris on the skin.
Barbara (14:37)
Well it was discouraging. It doesn't
Susy the Groomer (14:41)
darn.
Barbara (14:42)
seem to be a big change yet.
Barbara (14:49)
I admit that I kind of forgot excuse me, eighty six year old brain, forgot that you need to use the light.
Barbara (14:59)
Because with just the air the skin looked fine before
Barbara (15:05)
I even put the collars on. So the experiment is botched because I don't
Susy the Groomer (15:11)
well.
Barbara (15:12)
really have a good idea of what the skin looks like under the light of
Susy the Groomer (15:18)
Right.
Barbara (15:18)
the jarpet dryer. And it's the light that seems to show.
Barbara (15:23)
The action. I mean it show I I get a clear view of any yeasty spots. And the two dogs both still have some yeasty action happening. and I'm now using the jojoba
Barbara (15:40)
so it's a reminder that the jojoba oils are not nearly the same thing as the fatty acids because jojoba isn't really an oil, it's a wax. And but this makes it actually more easily applied than runny oil.
Barbara (16:07)
And I mean which it's thickened by the r the ozonation process, but not solidified like this is. This really I had to dig in it with my fingernails because I refrigerated it. So
Susy the Groomer (16:23)
Did I did
Susy the Groomer (16:24)
I tell you that one of my skin dogs actually had mites? And for years for years
Barbara (16:30)
Mm.
Susy the Groomer (16:33)
the dog had no hair. Years. Went to the vet.
Susy the Groomer (16:37)
was treated with all kinds of stuff for allergies and she went to a new vet and they did a tape scrape, you know, where they take the tape and they just stick it they found mites all over the dot. They treated for the mites no skin problem anymore. This dog has been miserable for the majority of its life. Nobody ever did a tape scrape or even a skin scrape or anything. What the heck? I mean that's horrible. So now I'm wondering about my other dog.
Susy the Groomer (17:07)
The dog I did yesterday morning is the dog that is only growing guard hair and it's a Havanese, and I don't think it has SA because it doesn't have the rest of the symptoms for that. and it has hair on its legs and not on its back where it rubs its back and it's lost hair all around its eyes. I'm wondering if it has mites and nobody's ever checked it. But I couldn't figure out how to really get a good tape reading on it around the eyes, so I think I'm gonna send it back.
Susy the Groomer (17:36)
to the vet and have it checked again, or They can buy a flea medication that'll kill the mites. That's another thing they can do. That's what they did with this other dog. They just put it on a flea med that killed mites and probably I don't know which one, one of big ones and dog has hair now. It never had hair. It was a Yorkie with no hair.
Susy the Groomer (17:57)
I mean, I'm stunned. So now I'm questioning are the vets just skipping over that basic step with some of these skin dogs? Because that should be your first test.
Barbara (18:08)
Well, you know, like the vet that I saw that charged me like seven hundred dollars for the two dogs, he didn't she she didn't do any skin testing.
Susy the Groomer (18:21)
There you go.
Barbara (18:22)
you know, she just came up with the allergy thing f from her mind because it
Susy the Groomer (18:26)
Exactly.
Barbara (18:27)
was it was the season. And
Susy the Groomer (18:29)
And I'm wondering
Susy the Groomer (18:30)
if that is not more common than we think and that these things are getting
Barbara (18:33)
I think it does.
Susy the Groomer (18:34)
overlooked. Because those poor dogs suffered for so long. So long and completely cleared up, like a Yorkie that had hair its whole life. Like the skin damage was even gone.
Barbara (18:48)
Yeah.
Barbara (18:49)
you know, I didn't get to see the examination, which also is what pissed me off.
Susy the Groomer (18:53)
Right. Right.
Barbara (18:56)
so I don't know i i what they what they did. They probably
Susy the Groomer (19:01)
Right.
Barbara (19:02)
looked at it, but I don't know that they looked at it the way I look at it with this dryer and and neon light.
Barbara (19:12)
I've gotta
Susy the Groomer (19:12)
Yep.
Barbara (19:13)
ask I I what that light is
Susy the Groomer (19:16)
It's a black light.
Barbara (19:18)
It's a black light.
Susy the Groomer (19:19)
Yeah. And I've got one on a pen light that I use. And it shows ringworm,
Barbara (19:24)
And a pen knife.
Susy the Groomer (19:25)
but it shows everything that's lightly colored. It shows it all, illuminates it all, makes it glow. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah, it's probably just
Barbara (19:29)
Yeah. It yeah, this makes it close, so yeah.
Susy the Groomer (19:34)
a black light.
Susy the Groomer (19:36)
All right. Well, we're gonna hear from our sponsors and we're gonna go on into our first appointment, which is the mystery of reactive dogs.
Susy the Groomer (21:15)
This is my first extremely sciencey topic. I mean I've done topics that like skirt the s edge of sciencey, but this one was really science-y. It was so sciencey.
Susy the Groomer (21:28)
That I'm gonna read my notes because it was big words and big concepts and we're gonna go over it.
Susy the Groomer (21:35)
and if I don't have my notes, I probably will mispronounce the words, and I may mispronounce the words anyway. But we're talking about the neuroscience of touch. And does it ever feel like there you have a dog on your table that's fighting you and reacting for nothing? Like other dogs wouldn't react to this stuff, and this dog is just like really jumpy. Well, before you blame temperament or a bad past experience, let's talk about what their brain is actually feeling. So for our first appointment, we're gonna open the sensory source.
Susy the Groomer (22:05)
Switchboard and we're talking so much sabato sensority. See, there we go.
Susy the Groomer (22:11)
Somatosensory processing and the physics of clipper vibration and why flooding a nervous dog backfires on a cellular level. So get ready to upgrade your handling with real neuroscience that you can put to work tomorrow. So the skin is packed with mechanoreceptors. Mechanoreceptors or specialized nerve endings that detect pressure, stretch, vibration, and pain. Hello, that's pretty much most of grooming right there. You're pulling, you're stretching.
Susy the Groomer (22:40)
You're
Susy the Groomer (22:41)
stretching, you're poking, you're touching. Things like HV dryers and vibrating clippers and restraint trigger neurological signals to the brain, which then trigger an involuntary nervous system response.
Barbara (22:55)
Who knew?
Susy the Groomer (22:57)
I know. I was fascinated. I spent a we didn't record last week because I was deep into this and I thought, well, I can't really talk very smartly about it unless I read my own notes like 20 times. So what's actually happening when the clipper touches the dog
Susy the Groomer (23:13)
High frequency vibration and deep pressure, so in other words, if you're pushing on your clippers and it's vibrating against the dog, activates a Pissinian corpuscle that lies deep in the dermis and adapts quickly to steady and heavy pressure. See why I needed my notes? Those are big words. The words I haven't even heard
Barbara (23:32)
Yeah, yeah.
Susy the Groomer (23:34)
of. low frequency vibration, roughly 10 hertz to 50 hertz, specifically triggers methane.
Susy the Groomer (23:41)
Nerves, corpuscles, and hair follicle receptors that sit on the surface of the skin. Because the low frequency rumblings oscillate at the exact window of these superficial receptors, the nerve endings are rapidly and continuously firing. In other words, the dog has gone on extra high sensory alert. And it's mostly the low vibration, low vibration. The higher vibration, like for instance, the Andes V.
Susy the Groomer (24:10)
Speed vibrates at a much higher hertz vibration level. That doesn't bother the dogs nearly as much as, for instance, a misaligned or mistensioned clipper blade on a slower clipper. That vibrates really low, and that's going to get the dog's little neurotransmitters firing off like crazy. Rather than being a relaxing pressure.
Susy the Groomer (24:37)
It feels like an intense, erratic, nonstop buzzing and tickling across their sensory cortex. The sensory
Barbara (24:45)
Ooh.
Susy the Groomer (24:45)
cortex, yeah. Yeah, who knew? I didn't realize that. And and it gets even better as we go along here.
Susy the Groomer (24:51)
The sensory cortex is part of the outer region of the brain that's responsible for processing and interpreting signals sent from the sensory organs like your skin and your eyes and your ears and all of that, your senses. It includes the visual cortex and the auditory cortex,
Susy the Groomer (25:06)
As well as the one we are concerned with, which is the somatosensory cortex that deals with physical touch like grooming and handling.
Susy the Groomer (25:15)
When something touches a dog's skin, a sound hits their ears, or a light enters their eyes, nerve cells send electrical signals through the spinal cord to the sensory cortex, which acts as the brain's central processing hub. It translates raw electrical impulses into conscious perception, answering the questions: what am I feeling? Where is it in on my body? And how intense is it? So it's identifying and processing
Susy the Groomer (25:43)
the nerve signals that are being sent through your spinal cord. Which is yeah, I mean, just it's amazing.
Barbara (25:49)
no wonder my
Barbara (25:51)
dogs don't like grooming anymore.
Susy the Groomer (25:54)
Right.
Susy the Groomer (25:55)
The somatosensory
Barbara (25:55)
Yeah.
Susy the Groomer (25:56)
cortex contains an internal map of the dog's entire body. So, like subconsciously, it's aware of every single part of the body. I always think it's really funny when they talk about horses being able to sense your touch when you just touch them, you know, with one finger somewhere. Well, of course they can sense your touch. You can feel when somebody rubs against you. They say, that's so amazing. No, it's not. We all do that. We all have this little sensory cortex that.
Susy the Groomer (26:23)
processes all this stuff. Every body part corresponds to a specific location on the brain's surface. Like they can map this stuff now. They map it. It's really cool. That's how you can tell what happens when you touch something that the brain digests it and then they can look at it on these little electrocardiograms and things like that, see what it says. Not all the body parts are equal though. Highly sensitive areas that require fine detail like pads of the paws, muzzle, lips and tailbase have
Susy the Groomer (26:53)
A disproportionately large area of sensory cortex dedicated to them. So think about that. Paws,
Barbara (27:02)
Okay, say it again.
Susy the Groomer (27:03)
pads of the paws, the muzzle, the lips, and the tailbase.
Susy the Groomer (27:13)
And that tailbase is something we manipulate around quite a bit when we're grooming. I don't know if you do, but I'll move it to the side and move it around. I'm moving that extra sensitive place all over the place. Same with when we're shaving muzzles or holding muzzles or doing the the in-between the eye stuff. Those are all areas that have huge areas in the cortex that are dedicated to feeling the senses of those things.
Susy the Groomer (27:38)
especially compared to the lower sensation areas like the shoulders or the rib cage or the general body, that kind of thing. So much less area is devoted to that. And why does this matter for grooming? Because when clipping your feet or around the face, the dog's brain is receiving a massive spike of neural data, like a huge amount, way more than if you're doing the leg or the body. So you're when you're running the clippers down their back, making those high density areas.
Susy the Groomer (28:08)
Is far easier to overload these sensitive dogs. The sensory cortex is continuously evaluating whether a stimulus is safe, novel, or new, or dangerous. If a stimulus is predictable and non-threatening, like a steady, firm hand on their back, the sensory cortex gradually reduces its response to that signal, allowing the dog to relax. Catch that?
Susy the Groomer (28:37)
Put your hand on the dog's back in a steady manner, which I don't know about you guys. I keep a hand on the dog almost all the time. One hand on the dog. So the dog knows I'm not done with it. And because I like the way they feel, what can I say? But I've always done that. I've always had like when I turn away to get a tool, I always am petting the dog. I always got my hand on the dog. I take that moment to give him a little reassurance. So that is actually a really good calming signal.
Susy the Groomer (29:07)
If a stimulus is erratic, sharp, or rapid, like the light touch tickling or low frequency clattering of the clippers, the sensory cortex stays on high alert. Hypervigilance, it's called hypervigilance. It signals neighboring brain regions like the amygdala to trigger an involuntary fight or flight or freeze response. So
Susy the Groomer (29:29)
The freeze response is the shutting down of the dog on your table. And sometimes it seems like they are willingly let you letting you do what you need to do, but in fact they have shut down their whole nervous system and they're checked out. And that is that's not I don't know, I don't want that with my dogs. I want my dogs to be present and to be engaging and actively helping me with the grooming process.
Susy the Groomer (29:52)
There's an old term in training that's called flooding. And flooding is something that they used to do a lot with horses where they would tie a sack to a line and then wrap it around the horn and then the sack would follow the horse around and it would scare until they weren't scared anymore. That's called flooding. You have to be really careful with flooding because these dogs that are hypersensitive, that's gonna really backfire in in the long term.
Susy the Groomer (30:18)
of your grooming, like in the journey of your dog's grooming, the flooding can really, really cause problems neurologically, like hyper firing of everything. So when a groomer picks up a tool
Susy the Groomer (30:32)
The dog isn't just reacting to what they see. Their sensory cortex is taking in a flood of incoming data. How the groomer applies the pressure, or adjusts the vibration changes the exact signals that are arriving at that switchboard that are determining whether the brain registers the experience as a safe, neutral touch or as an urgent threat.
Susy the Groomer (30:53)
Evolutionary wise, high frequency buzzing, like a stateelectric hum, doesn't really exist in nature. It's kind of a human thing that we've put out there. However, low frequency, rapid surface vibration mimics the exact sensation of a creeping insect. Parasite, fleas, ticks, unfamiliar threat brushing against the guard hairs. I never thought of that. Like
Susy the Groomer (31:22)
When a fly gets on my horse and and that leg twitches, that's what exact that's exactly what they're talking about here. When groomers hold the clippers hesitantly or lightly hover near the skin, it exacerbates the low frequency buzz. Light vibrating touch keeps the nervous system in a state of high alert and arousal because the brain is constantly trying to process the ticklish, unpredictable stimulus.
Susy the Groomer (31:49)
Firm confident pressure engages deeper mechanoreceptors, Raffini endings and piscini corpuscles.
Susy the Groomer (31:58)
Deep pressure activates the parasymthetic nervous system, which slows the heart rate, helps gait or block the superficial tickle signals from reaching the brain as intensely. So I thought that was interesting. So I I have been known to use a little bit heavier pressure. Apparently that
Susy the Groomer (32:17)
That's okay for the dogs. The lighter pressure gets more ticklish and that's where they might have a lesser problem. But you use a light touch without any problem at all. So I think it just depends on the groomer and how they apply their techniques and stuff.
Barbara (32:33)
Yeah, I use a light touch, but it's not tentative. Y you know
Susy the Groomer (32:36)
Good. I know, because I've never
Susy the Groomer (32:39)
seen the dog react to anything but positively to you. Which had me
Barbara (32:42)
Yeah.
Susy the Groomer (32:43)
questioning this science. But you've just explained it. Not tentative. Confident, light touch. That makes sense.
Susy the Groomer (32:52)
When the clippers run over bony pro prominences or protuberances, I like that word. Like the elbows and the the top of the wrist and areas like the skull, especially where the jawline is, low frequency vibration doesn't just stay in the skin, it actually travels and conducts through the bone directly into the inner ear via bone conduction. This causes an unsettling internal hum or rattling sensation
Barbara (33:20)
You know?
Susy the Groomer (33:20)
that the dog can't escape.
Susy the Groomer (33:22)
the vibration quality matters. That's what I want you to take away from this is the quality of your touch and the quality of the vibration of your clippers.
Susy the Groomer (33:32)
it really matters.
Susy the Groomer (33:33)
Cheaper or unmaintained rotary motors tend to wobble and produce lower frequency mechanical feedback, whereas high-speed, five-speed, or brushless clippers produce a tighter, higher frequency hum that is less jarring to the superficial skin receptors. Firm touch calms nerves. A weak, hesitant touch makes low frequency vibration feel like bugs crawling across the skin. I could so relate to that. A firm hand grounds the
Susy the Groomer (34:03)
tissue and activates deep pressure receptors that override the tickle response. Keeping a firm hand on the dog's shoulder or hip while clipping creates a sensory anchor, helping their brain process where their body is in space or proprioception.
Barbara (34:20)
Whoosh.
Susy the Groomer (34:21)
That yeah. Alright. That was good. That was that was it. Sorry I had to read so much, but it was fun.
Barbara (34:27)
Great.
Susy the Groomer (34:29)
I didn't know that
Barbara (34:32)
No.
Susy the Groomer (34:33)
The frequency of the vibration sends actually activates the different things underneath the skin that then sends a different message, which is why some of these dogs are so sensitive. I had one that I got from Sharon, my friend. That dog was so sensitive to pressure of water on the body.
Susy the Groomer (34:52)
Not the clippers, but the pressure of water. It took me a while to figure out that I really needed to drizzle that water over her because that's apparently what Sharon did. Now at the end of her life, she was fine with the the a little bit more pressure, but you gotta figure this stuff out. It's fun. Anyway, let's take a break.
Barbara (35:10)
Good job.
Susy the Groomer (35:12)
All right. And then we're gonna be back with B Bird's classroom.
Susy the Groomer (35:59)
All right, Barbara. I did not write you an introduction, so introduce yourself. Sorry.
Barbara (36:06)
Well, here I am
Barbara (36:09)
again, still standing after all these years. Yeah.
Susy the Groomer (36:14)
Ha ha ha.
Barbara (36:15)
we did a groom pod episode covering hydrogen accelerated hydrogen peroxide several many years ago.
Susy the Groomer (36:29)
Many.
Barbara (36:29)
So many,
Barbara (36:31)
many ten years ago maybe, Susie. Yeah.
Susy the Groomer (36:34)
Yeah, yep.
Barbara (36:36)
And you know what? I I I'm gonna shock you, but I listened to that old episode.
Susy the Groomer (36:42)
WHAT?
Susy the Groomer (36:47)
Okay.
Barbara (36:48)
see I can't see people. I can't stand watching or listening to myself.
Barbara (36:56)
after the green pot. I just do it and I send it off. But I wanted to hear what we said about it and I got very immersed in our podcast. I thought we did we did
Susy the Groomer (37:10)
We're good.
Barbara (37:12)
we were good. We did a hell of a good job. And I'm glad you found that so we we people could review it. But I did take the question
Barbara (37:26)
to chat GPT and I have an infographic an
Susy the Groomer (37:35)
Yo, how cool.
Barbara (37:36)
infographic that n not only that explains or contrasts so three disinfecting chemistries
Barbara (37:51)
that we're probably all familiar with including bleach, quats, and accelerated hydrogen peroxide.
Susy the Groomer (37:59)
Nice.
Barbara (38:00)
So
Barbara (38:01)
So I just wanted to have this graphic up while I talk about some of the high points of my chat with GPT.
Barbara (38:14)
What is accelerated hydrogen peroxide? It's hydrogen peroxide redesigned as a disinfectant solution. And one of the key points is that actually
Barbara (38:33)
Accelerated hydrogen peroxide is a category, not a specific formulation. So products can vary from one to another depending on the formulation. It's just got got the key element is hydrogen peroxide, but it can be treated in different manners. So you need to get your ingredients
Barbara (39:03)
kinda squared away.
Susy the Groomer (39:06)
Is
Susy the Groomer (39:06)
this a oxy clean like that?
Barbara (39:08)
Well the product that I examined fairly closely was called rescue.
Barbara (39:17)
it's a redesigned cleaning situation. It's
Susy the Groomer (39:21)
Okay.
Barbara (39:22)
not really a disinfectant, but hydrogen peroxide can be a part of a cleaning situation, or it can be a in the case of this brand called Rescue.
Barbara (39:36)
that's available on Amazon, it's a one-step cleaning solution. The second step is usually the first step, which is to clean first, almost all disinfectants scientifically require you to clean the
Barbara (40:01)
Surface first before applying
Susy the Groomer (40:03)
Okay.
Barbara (40:04)
the disinfectant and then leaving it on for a certain amount of time. So in addition to how your hydrogen peroxide has been
Barbara (40:19)
manipulated to be a disinfectant, you need to know what the duration, contact duration time is. In the case of rescue, it's five minutes. So that means the surface has to stay wet with the disinfectant on it for five minutes. It's not a spray wipe and done
Barbara (40:48)
kind of thing, although it does have wipes.
Barbara (40:54)
That
Barbara (40:54)
You know, but if there so what's with the rescue is that it is
Barbara (41:02)
Almo well, like I say, almost all disinfectants require cleansing and the American
Barbara (41:07)
Animal Hospital Association, AAHA,
Barbara (41:12)
insists that you need to clean with almost everything and the most but the most important aspect of disinfecting with anything is contact time. And you know like this is the thing that we most lose track of in our real life cleaning
Barbara (41:42)
up after the day kind of situations because we want to get the heck out of there. So
Susy the Groomer (41:48)
Yeah.
Barbara (41:49)
very often we don't wet the surface, leave it wet for five to ten minutes, and then pat it up and dry it. we just don't do it that way, do we?
Susy the Groomer (42:10)
No, definitely not. We're in a hurry to go home.
Barbara (42:12)
No, it's not the groom.
Barbara (42:15)
We have to go home or we gotta get to the next dog. I think that that accelerated hydrogen peroxide is a great choice for a grooming environment. And I like this rescue stuff that's available.
Barbara (42:35)
on Amazon and it is formulated so that you just need to remove visible contamination and debris. So wads of hair, pieces of poop, you know, the obvious. You need to get rid of the obvious first. And then you can
Barbara (43:03)
Clean the invisible or less visible debris and soil with a solution of disinfectant. And it will be effective. but what this water
Susy the Groomer (43:19)
That's helpful.
Barbara (43:21)
Yeah, and so I think and if you look at the comparisons
Barbara (43:27)
you can see all the green lights in the bleach. You can tell why bleach has been such a popular
Barbara (43:34)
cleansing and disinfecting chemical in the salon. But you know, I h hate bleach. It me uncomfortable.
Susy the Groomer (43:44)
Yeah, and it does decay stuff.
Barbara (43:47)
it makes my mucous membranes tingle inside my lips. It makes I have a headache.
Barbara (43:58)
almost immediately.
Susy the Groomer (43:58)
Makes me cough.
Barbara (44:01)
And I just can't and won't use it or have it used in my home or my shop when I had one. and the other real downside of bleach is that it will rust and
Barbara (44:17)
disintegrate metal like
Susy the Groomer (44:21)
Plastics and rubber.
Barbara (44:22)
plastics and rubber accelerated hydrogen peroxide is probably
Susy the Groomer (44:29)
It has a lot more green dots than quartz does.
Barbara (44:31)
Yeah,
Barbara (44:32)
it has a lot more green dots. it has no red dots. Like everything else has red dots.
Susy the Groomer (44:38)
Right.
Barbara (44:39)
which is just like doesn't work with. most materials that we come in contact with are accepting of the AHP.
Barbara (44:49)
if I had a shop now I would definitely be leaning towards using these accelerated hydrogen peroxide.
Barbara (44:58)
products because they're just going to be less likely to have a a negative side to them. and
Susy the Groomer (45:13)
In these accelerated
Susy the Groomer (45:15)
hydrogen peroxide products, can you add in surfactant for cleaning or do they have to be separate?
Barbara (45:24)
No, they have to be formulated separately. It's
Susy the Groomer (45:26)
Okay, got it.
Barbara (45:27)
that's not a good idea.
Barbara (45:30)
where I went with this conversation was I went to worrying about how can we disinfect our tables? I mean, and can we even ask groomers to disinfect or sanitize their table surface in between every dog? Because
Barbara (45:54)
Suddenly I find myself in a situation where I'm concerned about that. I groomed for fifty years and never worried about wiping off my table except at like the end of the day or the end of the week.
Barbara (46:12)
I just took had this rather cavalier attitude whatever it was there we could handle it.
Susy the Groomer (46:21)
I wipe my table with a a Lysol wipe in between the dogs.
Barbara (46:26)
I know lifestyle is horrible.
Susy the Groomer (46:28)
I know, but it's a wipe. And it's in an environment that is not like I've got exit fans and stuff now. I'm not coating my table and letting it sit, but when I disinfect my table I spray it with alcohol and I let it dry.
Susy the Groomer (46:43)
That's what I consider disinfecting. The other thing I'm just kinda cleaning the table.
Barbara (46:47)
Okay, so you're disinfecting with alcohol and how long are you allowing that to be in contact wet?
Susy the Groomer (46:55)
I
Susy the Groomer (46:55)
spray it on and let it evaporate off. So as long as it takes to dry. Cause I'm driving to another appointment. So I spray my table, I get in the car and drive away. By the time I get to the next appointment, it has dried. And it has to dry. It it has to be from what I understand about alcohol.
Barbara (47:11)
Yeah. Yeah, you see in the
Barbara (47:14)
in the salon there's no driving, there's no
Susy the Groomer (47:20)
Right.
Barbara (47:21)
passage of time till the next dog. The next dog is in its kennel barking at you, waiting. Do me, do me next, do me. And then you get on
Susy the Groomer (47:27)
Probably. Yep. Well that's how that's the
Barbara (47:34)
the table and it's what the hell are you doing? To me.
Susy the Groomer (47:38)
Yes. No, you're you're absolutely
Susy the Groomer (47:40)
right. Unless you're doing one dog at a time, you don't have that wait time between your table. I'm lucky I do.
Barbara (47:45)
Yeah, yeah,
Barbara (47:48)
so I am just being with that question. I am gonna continue to pursue that and and meanwhile I'm going to say
Barbara (48:01)
that I recommend that you read your labels of whatever disinfectant you have, that even if it kind of puts you off, that you just take the time to really get familiar with your disinfectant and your cleaning products. because I know people who've worked for me that have never given it the least amount of thought. It's just robo clean.
Barbara (48:31)
You know? some of these solutions really need five minutes.
Susy the Groomer (48:38)
Yep. Five minutes you should be able to have five minutes between your dogs if that's what it needs. I mean everybody should be able to do that one. Ten minutes would be a little harder. Well you may be writing up your paperwork.
Barbara (48:49)
mean you waste that time, probably.
Susy the Groomer (48:54)
You may be entering the the dogs into the computer so that they can get charged out. Whatever. There's a way you can use five extra minutes to sanitize your table. I would think.
Barbara (49:06)
Well well let's leave
Susy the Groomer (49:08)
Make an effort.
Barbara (49:09)
let's leave that o open and
Susy the Groomer (49:13)
End your screen share.
Barbara (49:15)
and my sc end my scheme chair.
Susy the Groomer (49:18)
Yes.
Susy the Groomer (49:19)
So we can say goodbye.
Susy the Groomer (49:21)
There we go. Hopefully next time I won't have this decoration on my nog in there.
Barbara (49:27)
I think it's interesting.
Susy the Groomer (49:28)
It is. It's like I'm a I'm a bicolored dog now. All right.
Susy the Groomer (49:34)
Okay, well thank you for being here. Thanks for donating on Patreon and to our donation button on the website. Thank you for supporting our sponsors. Thank you for supporting Barbara. Barbara, thank you for being here. Have I missed anything? I think that's it.
Susy the Groomer (49:48)
Happy grooming everyone. See you next time on the groom pod. Bye now.
Barbara (49:52)
Take care 'cause we need you in a big way.