Bad groomer tales...

[pomtzu]

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 , but those other two places definitely won't be getting any more of my business. My babies don't deserve that kind of treatment, nor does any other dog.