It Was My Fault....

....apparently.

 It is a little late in the game now, but I wish that I had started keeping a notebook with things that customers have said to me over the years.

If I had, I most likely would not believe half of the things that I wrote down.

Today was a first.

My daughter went up front to take in a customer whose dog I have groomed twice before.

The owner knew that her dog was in bad shape, but it was our fault that her dog was matted.

It wasn't because she had to wait a long time for an appointment.

It wasn't because we had left her dog too long last time.

It wasn't because the dog got caught in the rain.

It wasn't because the kids hadn't brushed the dog.

It wasn't because the dog was sick.

It wasn't any of the normal reasons that I hear all of the time.

Why did she think her dog was in bad shape?

Because.......................we aren't open at night to answer her phone call to make an appointment for her.

Oooookaaaaay. :/

Here he is.

He is a sweet dog.

I like him.  :)

For the last two groomings, he has been getting a full hand scissor cut.

I have been scissoring a an inch off all over.

Today he is too matted.

My fault.....apparently.

We bathed him, and HVed the mats away from his skin.

 The mats came away from the skin, but they were still pretty tight.

His hair is not the type of hair that lets go of the mat easily.

 On top of that, this dog does not care for the mats being brushed out at all.

So the owner was told that I would have to use whatever blade would go between the mats and the skin safely.

I tried the 5/8HT blade first.

The blade was going under the mats, but it was also pulling at the mats, causing the hair to be clipped too close in some places and leaving holes in the coat.

Now I would have to repair these holes in the dogs coat.

So I stopped and switched to a #3F blade.

The #3F blade glided very nicely between the mats and the skin, and left a nicer finish that would require less scissoring.

With a little scissoring and blending in the holes that the 5/8HT blade caused, the clip didn't look too bad.

Even though it was apparently my fault that this dog became matted, I think that he looks nice with the shorter cut.

This owner did have one other comment to add to my imaginary notebook.

This was the end of the conversation that my daughter had with the owner when she dropped off her dog.

My daughter:  "Would you like us to call when he is done?"
Owner:  "No. I have a lot to do today. I will be back at 3:30. (9 am appointment) What time do you close?"
My daughter:  "We close at 4pm today."
Owner:  "So that means I have to pick him up by 4:00 ?"
My daughter:  ........................."Yep."

She picked her dog up a 4:10.

Oh, and she made her next appointment before she left, for 9 weeks.

Happy Grooming, MFF