Will You Fix My Dog?

That is the question that a caller asked my husband the other day.

This owner called and said that she had a just acquired a dog, and that she had been told that I had groomed him once before.

She told my husband that she lives half an hour from our shop so she had taken the dog to another shop close to her.

She was now calling us because the grooming was so bad, and they had not even touched her dogs head.

My husband told her to bring the dog in and we would trim up the face for her.

I have had these kind of calls before.

Most of the time it is just a minor fix, and the owner over exaggerates about the bad grooming.

This woman was not over exaggerating in the least.

This is her dog.

She said that he was groomed 3 weeks ago.

She also said that there was even more hair left on the dog, but her daughter had cut some of it off.

This is one of the back legs.

He still had tight mats on his feet and between his toes.

The front feet also had tight mats all around the toes.

The face had not only been left but also had mats all around the mouth.

The groomer must have tried to groom the head, because the top of the head had several big hunks of hair missing.

I couldn't just trim this dogs head.

I had to get the mats off of the feet and neaten him up as best that I could.

There is no way that I could let that dog walk out of my shop with those mats still on him.

We were too busy to take him in for a full grooming.

I was baffled as to why this dog had not been completely groomed.

Yes, he was a nervous dog.

Yes, he was a little leg and foot shy, but nothing that bad.

 A little soft talking and petting calmed him down enough to clip off the mats.

It didn't look great, but at least the mats were off.

I also clipped his nails.

They were very long.

I could not blend all of the holes in the top of his head without taking it very short.

I wanted to give him a bath so badly.

  I couldn't help it, I had to ask her where she got the dog groomed.

It was at one of the big box stores.

There are two big box store where she lives.

I also live near this owner so I know the two stores.

The one store has some pretty good groomers.

I have watched them groom when I go there to buy my dog food.

So, I don't think that it was that store.

The other store I am not sure about.

The few times that I have been there, the groomers are all standing around watching another groomer groom.

I have always wondered if this was a teaching store, but I really don't know how they train their groomers.

I would think that if a student groomer couldn't finish the dog, a grooming teacher would.

The owner said that they didn't charge her for the groom, but they also didn't explain to her why they didn't finish the dog.

My guess would be that the groomer wasn't experienced enough to work on a very skiddish, nervous, and matted dog.

The owner made an appointment with us for 8 weeks. 

I can't wait to do a nice groom on him. :)

Happy Grooming, MFF