Another Home Grooming

Early last week I had a long time customer walk-in with a dog I did not recognize.

She was very upset...not with me. :-)

The dog was a 9 month old Shih-Tzu that belonged to her granddaughter.

This is my customers Shih-Tzu.

They groom groom him regularly.

He never has a mat in him.

Their Granddaughters Shih-Tzu was a matted mess.

He was a 9 month old matted mess that had not had his first grooming yet.

Picture a Shih-Tzu the size of two Shih-Tzu's, (because of the long matted hair) with four ears.

If you are a groomer, you know the four eared look, two long, hanging, matted ears, and the two big balls of mat over top each hanging ear.

This guys hair was so thick and matted that you could not find his skin.

Oh, and he was clean, the Granddaughter had been bathing him!

I am not sure of all of the details about the Granddaughter, but my customer took the dog away from her.

My customer was so mad that the dog was in this condition.

I had to ask my customer to wait a couple of days before I could groom the dog.

Why is it that no body cancels or No-Shows when you have a dog waiting that really needs a grooming.

My customer was very understanding, and made the appointment for a couple days later.

Because I was booked, and because of the customers schedule, the dog had to wait.

I felt terrible.

The puppy was badly matted, but not so badly as to be causing the puppy pain.

I would have taken a picture of how matted the puppy was when he came in for his grooming, but this is what walked in.

 Doesn't he look wonderful?

My customer decided to work on him herself while waiting for the appointment.

I think she did a great job.

This dogs hair was at least 6 to 7 inches long.

She managed to scissor all of the mats off without cutting the dog.

Even those extra ears, and they were big mats.

I know that I have to do a repair job on this dog, but I think it is great that this customer hacked up this puppies hair.

I would rather see more dogs come in this way.

At least it would show that the owners understood how bad it is to let your dog get so matted.

I was able to smooth his coat out with a #4F blade.

Boy, does he have a thick coat.

And, I spent half of the groom teaching him that he was not going to die.  :-)

You could most definitely tell he was not used to being groomed.

I told my customer that I was amazed she was able do what she did.

 She laughed, and said that she had her Grandson hold the puppy and let the puppy chew on a bone while she scissored him.

The puppy was a quick learner.

He was standing still on the table half way through the grooming.

The puppy will not be going back to the granddaughter.

Of course that is another thing.

Why do people get their kids dogs and expect the kid to take care of the dog?

 I guess I really should not say that.

I was a kid with dogs.

I brought every dog that I found home with me. :-/

I have also taught my kids how to be responsible for their dogs.

It's just nice to see an owner do the right thing. :)

Happy Grooming, MFF