We’ve all heard of emotional support dogs and cats, but have you heard about emotional support rats? What’s even more entertaining is that this rat supports a dog.
This story was shared on a pet groomer’s Youtube account under the handle Girl With The Dogs.
It all started when a client asked her if they could bring their dog’s emotional support rat.
The groomer happily agreed.
Sully, a 10-month-old Australian Shepherd/Border Collie, has a rat named Benny. And just like Sully, Benny was getting his well-deserved bath as well.
The owners of the dog were worried about taking Sully in for some grooming because she’s a “very nervous puppy.”
They figured that having a stranger groom her might make her anxious.
He tried to escape early on.
So what they did is they kept Benny close to Sully because the rat has an interesting way to keep the dog as calm as possible.
Eventually, Sully stopped trying to escape and found himself still and relaxed during the bath. The video shows the good boy behaving all throughout.
Benny would come and comfort him.
“When introducing a dog to grooming for the first time, I take certain steps to make it as less scary as possible,” the groomer shared. “Today, I didn’t bathe Sully’s face or ears. That way, I wouldn’t have to blow dry that area.”
She continued to share that dogs who are scared of the water will also be scared of the dryer most of the time.
What made bathing Sully challenging was that she wouldn’t accept treats, instead, the groomer either gave her praises or allowed Benny to visit the scared dog.
Her strategies worked magnificently.
To keep the ears from all the noise and air, a “happy hoodie” was used to cover Sully’s ears. Additionally, the “pressure also acts like a hug” which helps a lot of dogs be calmer.
“The owners warned me that he had a bad experience having his nails clipped when he was younger and that’s something I might not be able to do today,” she said. “Fortunately, I was able to clip every nail although I had to give him plenty of breaks and praise.”
Sully behaved better than expected.
Benny’s turn for a bath.
As per the groomer, rats are the “most friendly, most intelligent, and least likely to bite” among all rodents. She also said that rats are actually great pets.
Benny was then placed in a tub where he was rubbed and washed until he was clean.
He kept moving all over the place but overall, the groomer didn’t have a hard time bathing him.
“Despite the theory that rats are dirty and carry diseases, pet rats are quite the opposite and are often overlooked as family pets for this reason,” she cleared out.
And just like that, Benny and Sully were successfully groomed without any issues.
Great job to Sully for keeping her composure and Benny for keeping her best friend company.
See Benny help Sully through his grooming in the video below!
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