Bad groomer tales...

I've been taking Myndi and Sparky to Petsmart for grooming the past several years, but I'll be looking for a new groomer before they need to go again. They do a decent job and there's never a long wait for an appointment, but they are getting rather expensive IMO.

But that's not the reason I won't take them there again. Yesterday I dropped just Sparky off in the a.m., and then headed out for my own "grooming" appointment. My ex DIL Tammi is a beautician and she always does my hair, and when I got to her shop yesterday, I mentioned that I had dropped Sparky off to have his hair done too. She asked where I was taking him now, and when I told her, she just kind of groaned. She used to take her dog there too, but no more.

She had taken Lilly in to be groomed, and when she went in to pick her up, there was only one groomer, and she had a dog on the table, and left it to go to the desk to wait on Tammi. To Tammi's horror, the dog jumped off the table and was hanging by it's neck!!! Tammi actually screamed at the groomer, who then slowly walked back to the table, picked the dog up and put it back on the table, and then smacked it on the ass and said "Now stay there!" If I had heard this story from someone I didn't know, then I probably would never have believed it. I would hope that it was an isolated incident, but the thought of it upset me so much, that I'll never be able to take my precious furkids back there again.

Before I started taking them there, I used to use a local groomer who had a farm and bred Puli dogs and horses. She sold the farm for big bucks to a developer, and then just did boarding at her home, and rented a shop for the grooming and doggie day care. I started going there over 20 years ago when I had my Lhasas, but when she moved, she had new groomers that I really didn't care for. Why I quit going there, is that the last time I took Myndi and Sparky in, I swear that they had sedated them. They acted weird when I picked them up, and I thought they were just giving me attitude., but they were lethargic for a whole day afterwards, and didn't eat for 2 days. I also noticed Sparky was favoring his back leg, and when I tried to check it, he yipped in pain. I ended up having to take him to his vet, and she found a luxated patella. He was fine before the groomer, and my vet said it could have been twisted in the grooming process. That had been my suspicion too. Either she had been too rough with him and twisted it, or maybe he tried to get away from her and she grabbed him by the leg???? Anyway - those were just suspicions - but I never took either dog back there again - and that's how I started going to Petsmart.

So now I need to find someone else. There is a fairly new one in town that I'm going to check out, and I'll ask my vet too for any recommendations. If necessary, I'll do it myself :eek: , but those other two places definitely won't be getting any more of my business. :mad: My babies don't deserve that kind of treatment, nor does any other dog.

It is scary, selecting a groomer and leaving our pups off.

There are 2 groomers in my area who are not responsible. One has had 2 dogs die from hanging, in similar circs to those you described, in one year! :( The other guy has a drinking problem which means sometimes he doesn't show up for work and his non licensed techs work on the dogs. Unfortuantely, I was using this guy and found out the hard way, when I picked up my dogs one day and found they had all 4 been shaved down as the unlicensed guys didn't know how else to cope with these coats. :rolleyes:

Check out the postings on craigslist in your area, as both the "bad" groomers in this area are regularly posted about on there. Here, they show up under "pets," even though that is not supposed to be a discussion area. you don't have to join to look. Just scan through them daily for a while.

If there is a dog obedience place near you, or an Agility training center, go hang out there and speak to some folks who come in with coated dogs. See where they go for grooming. (My obedience class place does offer grooming, I just don't like their prices!)


Have to admit, when I saw your title, I thought you were going to talk about bad hair cuts, lol. Aside from the fiasco I mentioned above, I do the weirdest things to my 4 as I try to groom them myself! Fortunately, "it is only hair, it will grow out," ha haa.

Sandie - I changed the wording - from bad grooming, to bad groomer. That better defines it. :eek:

We have had similar problems when finding good groomers around here, too.

A few years back we had a petstore in town with a grooming department attached. They did not last long due to a scandal. Apparently they over-sedated a dog resulting in the dog's death. Instead of telling the owner about it, they put the dog in with the trash out back. When the owner came to pick up her dog the groomers insisted that she had never brought the dog to them in the first place. The authorities got involved and shut the grooming department down right after that.


There was another groomer in town that opened up shop a few years ago. I think she only lasted a year. She had a terrible attitude. We took Ethan there to get his nails clipped and he pooped in the waiting room. I immediately apologized and offered to clean it up, but she insisted on doing it and made a comment about me needing to train my dog. I just smiled and politely told her that she needs to find another profession if she doesn't want scared dogs messing in her waiting room.


Thankfully one of the vet clinics in town has started offering grooming services. I love it! They actually remember all of the dogs names and talk to the dogs just like we do. :)

Ellie I am shuddering just reading what you wrote. How awful!!!! :mad::eek: I started out 30+ years ago with two toy poodles and hubby and myself began grooming them ourselves just to see if we could do it and also to save some money. We have just kept at it. When I got Bella I was older and thought that it might be nice to see what a groomer could do since grooming a standard poodle is a big job. I started grooming her initially but began using a groomer maybe when she was six months old. Almost from the first visit she developed a yeast infection in her ear. Her ear canal on the left side is smaller and consequently when she shakes her head the water doesn't all come out and that bred the yeast. I was careful with her when I bathed her, not to get water in her ears, but apparently the groomer wasn't. It was quite a job to get it under control and she even had to be put under at the vet's for an ear flushing procedure. Needless to say, I have been grooming her myself since then.

Regarding the job that the groomer did......well let's just say I can see where they cut corners (taking a dog too close) rather than take the time to work with a mat, of which Bella seldom ever had one. I was one of those people who thoroughly brushed her BEFORE her visit. :p I also hated the way they did her tail pom. It was never round and they only did the very tip rather than using 2/3 of the tail for the pom. I always thought...."oh well, it will grow and maybe next time they will do better." Then one day I ran into the breeder of my third poodle who looked at Bella with horror :p and said to me "who did her pom?" :o:o I quickly said "not me!" LOL! I am a firm believer in doing my own grooming. It is a great bonding experience with your dog and you know what has gone on. It saves money too! If I make a mistake, it grows out! :)

The very first time we took Zoee to the groomers she had diarrhea for 5 days after. She went back to this groomer a few more times because I liked how she cut it very short without shaving. Then I began taking her to PetSmart. I took her there a few times and they could never get it short enough. I'd take her home and cut it shorter (mainly her rear area). So since I purchased the clippers I just do it myself. I take her every great once in a while to the groomers. The last time she was groomed, my 15 year old niece did it. It didn't look the best but it was her first time and she did an okay job. :)

Thank goodness Taggart doesn't need clipping on his coat. Whew!

This is so scary, Ellie. I guess I was lucky when I had my peke-a-poos, Charmin and Daisy and my border collie, Heidi. I went to the same groomer always and she was wonderful w/them. She even had a senior day when she worked only on senior dogs because she said that she needs to take more time w/them because she has to be more careful. When I called to tell her that I would only be bringing one dog in for grooming next time, she cried. I wish you success in finding a good groomer that you can trust w/your furbabies.

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Originally Posted by Medusa

When I called to tell her that I would only be bringing one dog in for grooming next time, she cried.

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Wow! That's the kind of person anyone would want working on their dog. What a gentle soul and true dog lover. When I was selecting Bella at the breeder's she was asking me about my former poodles. When I told her how Whitney died her eyes filled up and she never even met her. Yep, there are some people who really love dogs and some who use dogs to make a buck. Sad. :(

I really wish I could find a one person operation, like someone that works out of their home, rather than a multiple groomer shop. There is a girl here locally that has a mobile grooming operation - she has a van equipped with self contained water, water heater, hydrobath, etc, etc, etc, and she comes to the house and just works right in the driveway. I sent her an email with info on both my furkids, requesting rates, but I'm sure it will be more than I can afford - but nothing ventured/nothing gained I suppose. All I know for sure at this point, is that they will not go back to the 2 previous groomers.

I would like to be able to do them myself, but unfortunately I don't think I could handle the clippers with the lack of sensation in my hands. Just combing them is an effort. I can't imagine what they would look like after I was done trying to use clippers on them. :eek: :D :p

I can recall when I first got my dog Charmin and I was researching groomers. I went to one place and the man seemed nice enough and I was seriously considering him when one of the little dogs in a cage, a cute little peke-a-poo or lhasa, not sure which, barked and the guy whipped around and slapped that cage really hard and yelled "Shut up!" My husband and I turned on our heels and walked out. I'd thought about calling the police but there was no evidence that he hurt the dogs but I'm sure he scared them to death. My Charmy was such a little luvvie. There's no way that I would've subjected her to that treatment.

I suggest learning to do it yourself. Its really easy to get the basic shave down and the combs help so you don't cut it too short. I started with helping my mom when I was about 7 and have about 17 years experience with just shaving, nothing too fancy, but its a lifesaver on money and worry. I still end up getting stripes on Autumn when I do her hair really short, but it grows back quickly.

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Originally Posted by IRescue452

I suggest learning to do it yourself. Its really easy to get the basic shave down and the combs help so you don't cut it too short. I started with helping my mom when I was about 7 and have about 17 years experience with just shaving, nothing too fancy, but its a lifesaver on money and worry. I still end up getting stripes on Autumn when I do her hair really short, but it grows back quickly.

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I'd love to but the hands won't cooperate - too much nerve damage. :(

A groomer right around the corner from me once called, Just Grooming, was sued several times in the past. One time the lady left a plug in the cage with a dog, a maltese, the dog chewed on it and was electrucuted/killed. One time she ripped part of a dogs lip off, and another time the dog nearly bled to death because his nail was ripped out while she was grooming him. Needless to say after the first incident we stopped going to her and found great groomers. My parents even became friends with them.

Wow - that's a lot of horror stories - and from just a few people. It's really frightening to think about how much really goes on that we never hear about. How sad, that in an effort to give our dogs the best care, that they are being mistreated and even seriously abused, by some of those that we trust to care for them. :mad:
My heart breaks for people that have had pets maimed or killed by these people that are in business only for the almighty dollar, and not for the love of the pet. How sad indeed. :(

While it is terrible what goes on in the "bad" shops, and what we never hear about, I am confident that for every bad groomer there is a great one. It may take you more then one try to find the groomer you feel comfortable with, and it might be a little more money then usual, but if it's for the comfort and safety of our fur pups I think it's for the best. I would rather pay more for a safe, reliable groomer then a horrible, uncaring one that charges much less. The lady we first went to with Sas was pretty rude, and after hearing the incident in which a maltese was killed we stopped going there. This is a true story, and I know that for sure, it was in the newspaper the day after it happened. I believe the owner contacted the newspaper in order to advertise how bad that groomer was and I am sure she lost business for it. After that we found a place a little bit out of the way that doubled as a dog kennel, and they were more expensive yes, but they were the most caring, dog-loving people I've ever met. There were many times when you would see a bunch of rescue dogs in the kennels that they could have used up with clients. Sassy went there for the rest of her life, she went there for 8 years and the people loved her. One of the girls who groomed her cried whenever Sassy squeaked in the slightest, if she hurt her by accident or scared her. When we told them she died, the entire office was in tears because Sassy was such a character with them. She didn't love many people but she did love the kennel workers, especially the owner.


My point is, just with everything else, there are terrible groomers and there are caring ones who are not in it for the money aspect. While it may take you awhile to find that one groomer, it will happen eventually. If you have to go a bit farther and pay a little more, well it just might be worth it. You won't have the fear in the back of your mind that something has happened to your pet, you won't worry as much. We never worried about Sassy while she was at the kennel getting groomed or if we went on vacation. It takes a little effort but it's worth it in the end. Not all groomer's are uncaring and in it for the money, is my main point. :o

Alysser - of course there are plenty of good groomers out there and I'm sure that they far outnumber the bad. Right now - it's just finding one that I feel comfortable with after the other 2 incidents that I mentioned. I never had a problem with my old groomer until she took on new people and then I had the incident of the probable sedation and leg injury there, so that ended it for me. And altho I never personally had a problem at Petsmart, just knowing what my DIL witnessed there, was enough for me to not go back there again.
I have found a very promising possibility tho. There is a girl locally that has a mobile grooming service - she has a van fully equipped as a grooming salon - self contained water, water heater, hydrobath, etc, etc. and she comes to the house and works right in the driveway. I thought she must be pretty expensive, so I emailed her with all pertinent info about my poochies and requested a rate quote. She emailed me back, and I was rather surprised that she's not all that expensive, considering all that she does, which is more than just the cut, bath and dry. If the shops did what she does, then they would add extra for every extra thing that they do, and it would jack the price way up anyway. Plus she gives a 2 dog discount. Myndi is getting older and kind of stresses when she goes to the shops, so this might work out - plus I don't have to take them there, go to pick them up, and they don't have to be caged. It's not a definite, but I've read good reviews about her, and will meet with her beforehand before I make any decision. There is still a shop in town I want to check out, and I'll ask my vet for any recommendations too.
I just never expected that I would have to be in a position of such caution. It's a shame that a few bad apples spoil the whole barrel! :(

I'm very skeptical when I hear horror stories. I've been grooming professionally for over 4 years now. I've been working out of my house for a couple of months now but before that I worked at the busiest grooming parlour in the valley. One year we were doing 40 dogs a day and 60 dogs a day in the winter time, and became known as the place to deal with "problem dogs." All of the vets in town recommended us for senior and difficult dogs. We had people fly in their dogs from Alberta and Washington.

And even with how busy we were and how many thousands of clients we had, many people still said bad things about us. Our building was torn down in May due to someone buying the land to build condos. However, many of our clients heard from other people that it was because we "had to shut down because we are too abusive." It's sad to hear things like this, because we dealt with some really difficult dogs who were kicked out of several other parlours in town, and really had to work with them to make them good.

Of course many people would walk in the door just as a dog was screaming and assume we were beating it. Unfortunatly many dogs put up a huge fuss for nail clipping, blowdrying, ear plucking, etc. We've done dogs that could only be done when they were completely put under at the vet, and we absolutely refused to sedate any of the animals, so yes, every day we dealt with dogs that screamed and bit and basically freaked out because they had a rough start somewhere else, were genetically strange dogs, or were very old and senile.

So not every groomer is bad just because of something you hear. We've heard things over the years from our clients that we just had to laugh at. Literally hundreds of times we heard how "the last groomer just shaved him off for no reason." 99% of the time, these are dogs that are consistently matted, and we absolutely tortured some poor dogs dematting them because their owners swore up and down that the dogs were not matted, and then they wonder why their dog is so afraid to come in to be groomed, so they think we must abuse it.
And, groomers make mistakes. Every groomer has cut dogs. It just happens. The dog zigs when you zag, the dog pushes itself into the blade while you are scissoring, etc. Sometimes it's the groomer's fault, sometimes it's the dog's fault. Sometimes dogs fall off tables. Sometimes they literally try to. I've had dogs fling themselves off my table while I'm working on them and I'm surprised they didn't break their neck. A dog shouldn't be left on a table unsupervised. You should always have someone there to watch if you have to leave your table. One time, I was grooming a malamute and the front legs on the table buckled and the whole table collapsed, I literally leapt forward to try to catch the dog so it wouldn't hit the ground, and instead was pushed to the ground by the dog and I landed on both of my elbows. Of course there had to be clients in when that happened. We didn't know the table was broken.
And old dog fits...basically an older dog's heart will skip a beat and it's almost like they have a seizure in their mind. They just start SCREAMING. The only way to stop it is to hold the mouth shut so it can't hear itself, and turn off all noise. This usually happens during the blowdry. It looks like we're torturing it..it sounds like it... but if you don't hold the mouth shut while it screams, the dog will literally scare itself to death.
So sometimes not everything is what it seems. When you deal with problem dogs, old dogs, and new puppies on a regular basis, it can seem very chaotic. But we loved the dogs and we did our best with them, and when people would say bad things, we knew it was because we were doing some difficult because we never hurt a dog on purpose.

On the other hand, there are bad groomers, plain and simple. I know from co-workers going to work elsewhere. One lady in town gets high on crack before she grooms. She kicked a small dog down the stairs. My co-worker saw this. Another lady lets her big dogs run loose with her client dogs, and occasionally they will attack the client dogs. She was seen kicking a chihuhua across the room. Two of my co-workers saw this.
And the rest I hear is just rumors, so not sure if it's true. I have heard that one lady leaves her dogs on the table to stand for hours at a time with no break. I know of one place that broke a dog's leg, and one place that got so much water in a dog's lungs it was in pretty bad condition for a while, coughing up blood, etc.
You'll hear horror stories about every place, you just have to make your own decisions! :)

Agreed, Wolfsoul, with everything you said. Unless you are a professional groomer with years of experience (or a professional in any other business, for that matter) you do NOT know what really goes on and what is simply not true.

Everyone repeats the one or two horror stories they hear ... about ANY business. However, I believe, that for every horror story you hear, you DON'T hear about the thousand postive experiences. Those just don't make the news.

Today we groomed a chihuahua mix. He screamed bloody murder the entire time he was there ... and of course his owner couldn't pick him up for hours and hours. Was he hurt? Mistreated? Upset? No ... he just screamed. Wagging his tail, quite happy ... but screaming like we were skinning him alive.

I appreciate the input of the groomers.

As I previously posted, I'm certain that the good, far outnumber the bad, just as I'm certain that there are many fabricated and exaggerated stories told by the naysayers. And of course, the bad, be it true or not, are always the stories you hear about, and seldom the good.

The 2 incidents I stated in my OP however, are true, and they obviously have made me gun shy. I could no longer take my dogs to either of the 2 previous groomers with any confidence that they would be treated properly. Finding a new one I can trust is going to take some work on my part, but I know that I will find someone eventually.