DO'S and DON'TS of grooming

Working at a groomers I see a lot of nut ball owners and a lot of untrained and down right dangerous dogs. After a few incidents from a few weeks ago it ticked me off enough to blog about it.

Incident #1
Man was there with his older Shih Tzu. Dog was badly matted, and disgustingly filthy, hadn’t been groomed in months. It was a shave down and bath job. The groomer managed to shave the dog down told me she would bath the dog and not to worry about it so I continued bathing my current dog. She brings the dog bath and starts to hose the dog down at the other end of the tub. Out of no where the dog starts having a seizure, groomer quickly takes the dog out of the tub and yells to the owner “Why didn’t you tell me your dog has seizures?!” Owner comes to the back and mumbles something along the lines of did you use cold water or warm water? So he was aware this wasn’t a first time deal. The dog is still having a seizure and has now stopped breathing. Groomer wraps the dog up in a towel as it is soaking wet and hands it to the owner and asks “Who’s your vet?” Owner says he doesn’t know, in other words he doesn’t have one. So groomer tells him there is a vet up the street take him there ASAP! Don’t bothering paying, he can come back and pay if he feels like it just get that dog to a vet now!

So off he goes. We don’t expect him to come back but he does and pays for the shave. Says he didn’t have a car so he had to flag someone down on the street to take him to the vet, the vet gave him some drugs to help him calm down and what not. Groomer asks him why he didn’t mention that as she would have driven him to the vet. –sigh- Well at least the dog got medical attention we didn’t think he’d actually take the dog to the vet, but he did.

Incident #2
A woman calls in as a last minute thing. Wants her American Eskimo bath and shaved down. Boss tells her to call a bit later in the day so that she’d have a better idea on if they could do her or not. Lady calls back and Boss tells her to come on it. Women comes in, Boss does a rough shave. We ask if the dog bites as Eskies are known to be biters. Women says she hasn’t bitten anyone in 9 years, her whole life. So Boss asks me to take dog to the back and bathe her. I ask the women if she wants to bring the dog back herself as some owners (let me rephrase all the owners that I have asked to come back have come back and were more then willing to get wet and hairy) like to come back to be with their dogs. She brings the dog back I put the dog in the tub and start to bathe her, women starts to bath her as well. I think to myself maybe I should tell her to stop and let me do it but figure what does it hurt? Boss comes back to go to the bathroom sees, gives me a look and offers the women some advice on how to wash the dog, use the tips of your fingers. So dog is done, move on to the blow dry. Boss wants dog bone dry so she can shave her without having to dilly dally around. Well dog is freaking out and trying to jump in the women’s arms. Women all too gladly takes her into her arms and is more in the way then ever. Finally she tells me to turn it off she’s had enough and brings the dog to the Boss to finish, dog is still wet. Boss asks if the dog was freaking out said kind of, women barks at me that her dog was fine and that she was just holding her up. OK… so back we go. After a while women barks at me to stop, thrusts the dog in my arms and says to hold her while she goes to get her wallet.

I walk up front with a confused look on my face as she leaves. Boss asks what happened, and I tell her. None of us really understand what her issue is and now our first thoughts that the women is a nutter are confirmed. Women comes back says she’s not paying x amount of money to wash and dry her own dog, to get covered in hair and get soaking wet. No one said how pretty her dog was, spoke to the dog or told her dog she was a good girl, that we have accused her dog of being a biter and we shouldn’t be afraid of being bit since we are groomers and its part of our job if we’re afraid of it then we shouldn’t do this line of work. Boss talks to her, saying the price wouldn’t be that much, that no one was making her do her own dog and that being here and being back at the washing area you were pretty much guaranteed to get wet and hairy. We’re not afraid of her dog, we just don’t want the dog to bite us as the laws are any dog that bites gets put in quarantine and has a very strong chance of being PTS and nobody wants that to happen. Women barks back that we should just muzzle her then, Boss explains that we don’t use muzzles here just like we don’t tie the dogs here and that even though she hasn’t bitten anyone in her life the possibility of her biting is still there, she’s a dog, she’s an animal and no amount of training is going to change that.

Finally women says finish her and leaves again. I bring the dog back to the blow dryer and the dog acts PERFECT. No jumping around, no fighting, no being a pain in the ass. Goes to show the dog was only acting up because “mommy” was there, like usual. I bring the dog to my table to hand dry her and again acts perfect then starts to act up, the women has returned and is coming back. Great. Once again women is in the way, being a pest and letting the dog act up so I have enough, Boss takes the dog and starts to finish the shave. Women gets fed up again after awhile though the shave is mostly done. Pays her and leaves. Thank god! The dog did attempt to bite the Boss while she was doing the final shave.

So now the DO’S and DON’TS in regard to dog grooming no matter what the situation is.

DO’S
DO tell the groomer if your dog has seizures.
DO get your dog groomed more often.
DO book appointments in advance not the day of
DO train your dog to accept grooming
DO respect your groomer’s opinion
DO brush your dog daily to avoid matts

DON’TS
DON’T let your dog get so matted that his paws are rotting!
DON’T not tell the groomer that you don’t have a car to take the dog to the vet after he starts having seizures and stops breathing and flag some stranger down on the street to take you to the vet! The groomer (if they have a heart) will drive you to the vet!
DON’T ask the groomer to dematt your dog if it is severally matted. Do this is cruel to the dog, as it is very painful and trying on both the groomers nerves and the dogs. If you want your dog to have long hair and keep that long hair BRUSH IT DAILY!
DON’T complain about the price when you only get the dog shaved down once a year.
DON’T pressure the groomer to have the dog done in an unreasonable amount of time. It takes more than an hour to properly groom a dog and to stay on track with all the other appointments. You are not the only person getting your dog groomed that day.
DON’T get in the way if you are staying, simple sit back and don’t interfere the more you interfere the more your dog will act up as it knows you’ll “save it” from the big bad groomer. The groomer is willing to let you stay and watch that is a privilege not a right.
DON’T stay and then kick up a fit because you got wet, hairy or they didn’t coo the whole time at your dog, which was your choice. Its common sense to know that if you stay there is a strong chance you’ll get wet or hairy, maybe both. We also don’t have to coo over every dog that comes in the door.