Grooming nightmare shown on TV news

[MaxJack'sMom]

Last night on the 10 o'clock news they had a segment on dog grooming gone bad. It was a real eye opener.
One woman had taken her puppy, a Wheaton terrier, to the groomer. It fell off the grooming table and broke it's neck. It died at the groomers.
Another lady picked up her shih tzu from the groomer and when she got home part of it's ear fell off!!!! They had cut part of it off and tried to super glue it back on!!!
The newscaster said there aren't any federal guide lines for certified groomers.

Tomorrow Jack goes to the groomer. I'm checking this place out when we drop him off. It's his second time going there.
I want to tour the place, check the table area, the back room for clean holding crates, and make sure they don't use hot blow dryer heat. They said you should also make sure the place has a pleasant smell to it, not urine.
You should also ask if the dogs are always attended too while on the table and not left alone.

[Yankeegirl]

OMG Cheryl that is horrible. :mad: That is so sad. I feel I have a good groomer but I've decided that I am going to try to groom my boys myself. Henry my rescue flipped out when I took him to the groomer 2 months ago. He had spent most of his life in a cage. So when she went to put him in a holding cage, he cried so bad and fought her. She called me and I went and got him. I was so mad at myself that I hadn't thought about this before dropping him off. Henry will be groomed by Mama and I really think I'm going to start doing the others myself too. We shall see!:D

[Kanga]

Cheryl articles like that is enough to give me phobias let alone my dog being scared of groomers.

Robin I have always groomed Scrappy myself... it is truly a wonderful bonding moment let alone some of the wonderful :wink5: :lol2: hair styles he has been given :lol2: But, it is only hair and it does grow back :)

[MaxJack'sMom]

Well, Jack came home from the groomer all in one piece and as cute as a bug. I talked to the groomer before she took him and she was very nice.

[Miss Melanie]

Stories like that many me even more thankful for our groomer. I KNOW accidents happen but I think with a groomer like we have accidents happen a LOT less.

Thank God for Kristy!
Melanie

[Morkie4]

Terrible tragedies!!!! And accidents happen that is true but some are avoidable and the attempted "cover up" is unforgiveable!!! JMO

It takes awhile, but I have been grooming all three of mine. Toby went to the groomer once for the ears to be shaved and I HATED the way he looked so now I do it myself with scissors. He is a good boy with grooming!:) Kallie is the best to groom but Brandy is still learning that it has become a part of her daily life with us! I am sure with time she will stop telling me off when I get done! She is such a vocal one!:lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

[LittleDogLVR]

Last night on the 10 o'clock news they had a segment on dog grooming gone bad. It was a real eye opener.
One woman had taken her puppy, a Wheaton terrier, to the groomer. It fell off the grooming table and broke it's neck. It died at the groomers.
Another lady picked up her shih tzu from the groomer and when she got home part of it's ear fell off!!!! They had cut part of it off and tried to super glue it back on!!!
The newscaster said there aren't any federal guide lines for certified groomers.

Tomorrow Jack goes to the groomer. I'm checking this place out when we drop him off. It's his second time going there.
I want to tour the place, check the table area, the back room for clean holding crates, and make sure they don't use hot blow dryer heat. They said you should also make sure the place has a pleasant smell to it, not urine.
You should also ask if the dogs are always attended too while on the table and not left alone.


Very scary story, It's just amazing that people can get away with this.

Carol I cant believe you groom all 3 of your dogs....Kudo's to you they all look great !

Our Groomer has been great, she is really attentive to Lizzie.
They let us stay with her the first few times and the owners daughter
Does Lizzie and she LOVES Maltese.

I wish we had time to do it......

John

[maltchimom]

I had a really bad experience with a groomer at petsmart. We ended up with Chipper at the emergency vet that night. It took me forever to get him comfortable going to the groomers again. The last time she said he was only uncomfortable when she did his paws. She suggested I brush his pads with a soft brush once in a while. She said it serves no purpose but will get him used to someone touching them without hurting him. I am too chicken to try to groom him myself.

[I Found Nemo]

:( thats terrible!

[Morkie4]

I had a really bad experience with a groomer at petsmart. We ended up with Chipper at the emergency vet that night. It took me forever to get him comfortable going to the groomers again. The last time she said he was only uncomfortable when she did his paws. She suggested I brush his pads with a soft brush once in a while. She said it serves no purpose but will get him used to someone touching them without hurting him. I am too chicken to try to groom him myself.

Sooooooo sorry to hear your Chipper had such a bad experience with a groomer............what exactly happened at the groomers that you had to take him to the emergency vet that night? Just curious but if you would rather not say, it's ok.

Well, I didn't adopt any of my kids as pups............and I am sure they have all been to the groomers and all three hate their paws touched so it is a real challenge to get them brushed and a real "experience" to clip their claws. But with patience and a gentle hand, Toby and Kallie are great and do not resist nearly as much with getting their paws brushed like at first. But Brandy is still at the "learning & acceptance" stage. But as time goes by, I am sure she will get the idea it will be done regardless if she likes it.

[Morkie4]

Very scary story, It's just amazing that people can get away with this.

Carol I cant believe you groom all 3 of your dogs....Kudo's to you they all look great !

Our Groomer has been great, she is really attentive to Lizzie.
They let us stay with her the first few times and the owners daughter
Does Lizzie and she LOVES Maltese.

I wish we had time to do it......

John

You definitely NEED "time" to do the grooming properly, which I do have and it is like therapy for me...........I love to groom them and do it daily, a factor that makes them more accepting of the whole process. I'm not going to say they are thrilled about it but I am very patient with them and do take my time to get every mat (the few that come with their rough housing) out to make the grooming time shorter.

But if you found a great groomer.................you have found a pot of gold!

[maltchimom]

"what exactly happened at the groomers that you had to take him to the emergency vet that night? Just curious but if you would rather not say, it's ok."

When I picked him up he was just not himself and was breathing different. The groomer said he was more nervous this time. At home he just lay around breathing real shallow and would run and hide from us if we came near him. He got to the point he couldn't even move. At the vet we found that his pad had been cut and was packed with something that was caked between them. Evidently to stop the bleeding. They had to soak it and take tweezers to pull it out. They said all they could figure out was he was in shock and that was causing the breathing problems. When I complained she told her manager his pad was cut when we came in and she tried to stop the bleeding. He was on my son's lap the whole way there and I carried him in and neither of us had blood on our clothes.

[Morkie4]

"what exactly happened at the groomers that you had to take him to the emergency vet that night? Just curious but if you would rather not say, it's ok."

When I picked him up he was just not himself and was breathing different. The groomer said he was more nervous this time. At home he just lay around breathing real shallow and would run and hide from us if we came near him. He got to the point he couldn't even move. At the vet we found that his pad had been cut and was packed with something that was caked between them. Evidently to stop the bleeding. They had to soak it and take tweezers to pull it out. They said all they could figure out was he was in shock and that was causing the breathing problems. When I complained she told her manager his pad was cut when we came in and she tried to stop the bleeding. He was on my son's lap the whole way there and I carried him in and neither of us had blood on our clothes.

Oh that is just totally unacceptable and then to lie about it! :mad: Oh that gets my blood boiling when they try the cover over their mistake attitude. :mad:

Poor Chipper, I hope his pad healed fine!

[MaxJack'sMom]

Thank goodness you took poor little Chipper to the vet right away.

So far Jack has not had any bad experiences at the groomers, and this new one seems very nice.

The only true bad experience we had with a groomer was with Max...our first Maltese. The groomer was only 5 blocks from our home and she did it in her own home which I liked. We had gone to her for years and never knew what exactly she did with him after he was done grooming until I got that terrifying call from her.....
She calls right before I'm to come over and get him and says there is a slight problem.....Max is missing!!!!

I start crying and yelling in the phone 'what do you mean, a slight problem. he's missing!!!' He wasn't outside where she put him.

I never knew she put them outside after grooming....why in the world would anyone do that.

We raced over there and she couldn't explain what happened. I went one direction, my husband and sons the other way and started calling for him. I saw some of my students out on bikes and the local police bike patrol and told them what had happened and they started looking too.

He didn't have his tags on. We never walked him over in that area so he had no scent to find his way home.

I went back to the groomers house and demanded to know exactly what happened. There was another customer there that said he had come in through the back gate and hadn't closed it all the way. He said he didn't see a dog back there when he came in so Max might have gotten out then. This is now almost 1 hour later.

I called the vet and the police to tell them the update on Max. He needed his 3 kinds of meds twice a day so I was very worried about him.

I went home and grabbed his old collar that had the St. Francis of Assisi medal and started rubbing it and praying.

Then there was the phone call....the police station.....they had a little white dog that a lady found walking down Division Street going east....we lived down Division Street going west....and she took him right away to the station.
We got to the station and there in a cage was this little white bundle huddling and shivering. It was Max. As soon as he saw us he jumped up and started wagging his tail. He had taken a current picture of him with us so the police could see that he was ours.

Needless to say, we never went back to the groomer and I never paid her either.

[maltchimom]

I don't blame you. Needless to say we don't go back to petsmart for grooming. I have to go there for food and grooming products because it is the only pet store in our town that carries his food.

[I Found Nemo]

:( wow what nightmares alot of you have gone through, I can't imagine going to pick your dog up and something like this happens, I think I would really flip out:( . I guess we really need to turst the person we give our dogs to.