Why is it that the only time we see anything about pet grooming in the news it is bad news.
In the last few days I have seen at least two bad grooming stories.
The first one is about a grooming shop that gave two pet owners the wrong dogs back after the grooming.
Now, I have to say, in my opinion, in this particular story I blame both the owners and the grooming shop.
It always blows my mind how some owners don't even know their own dogs.
There have been many times when I have walked out into my lobby with a dog and there are a number of customers being waited on at the same time.
I will come out of the grooming room with a dog and have at least one or two of those owners think that the dog I am holding is theirs.
I even had one customer actually get upset because I walked past her to hand another customer their dog.
That customer was so sure that I was handing her dog to someone else, she started getting angry until my daughter walked out with her dog.
Did the dogs look alike?
Well, the one I was holding was just a little larger than hers, and had white, curly hair.
Her dog had light creme color hair that was straighter, and a longer nose.
I guess they looked a little alike....not.
Now, the owners in these stories were handed the dogs and the owners walked out of the shop and took those dogs home.
Really??!!
They could not tell that they didn't have the right dog right there in the lobby as soon as the groomer brought the dog out?
Sad to say, this actually happened at the grooming school that I went to.
I had graduated from the school and was working there as a groomer that groomed the dogs that the students could not get to, or finish.
This grooming school also did boarding on the side.
The receptionist and the kennel helper were responsible for the boarding dogs.
Each morning they would bring the boarding dogs that were going home that day in the grooming room to be groomed.
One day I started to groom a little black poodle.
I took the boarding name collar off of the dog and the dogs own collar off.
I was reading the dogs I.D. tags and noticed that the name on the dogs collar did not match the name on the boarding collar.
I called the receptionist back and we started to investigate.
I don't exactly recall how we determined that two of the dogs got mixed up, it was a long time ago.
I main problem was that one of the dogs, the one that was due to be picked up that day, had gone home the day before with the owner of the dog that was still at the shop.
Got that?
The wrong dog went home with the wrong owner.
I was freaking out.
The owner of the school was not in at the time.
I called her to tell her what happened and expected her to rush over and take care of the problem.
She told me to take care of it!!!
She told me to call the owner that picked up the other dog and tell her that she had the wrong dog, and that she needed to bring that dog back and get hers.
How would you have liked making that phone call?
It was not easy...in more ways than one.
I had to convince the pet owner that she had the wrong dog.
"Are you sure? He came right home and ate and drink out of his bowl, and he has been playing with his toys and bone in the back yard."
After I convinced her that she had the wrong black dog, (her dog was a long legged, charcoal color miniature Poodle, the one she took home was a shiny, coal black wavy coated, short legged Cock-a-poo) we had another problem.
She did not drive and no one was home to bring the dog back.
I didn't drive either at the time, nether did the kennel help, and the receptionists car was bring tuned up. (someone had dropped her off at work that morning)
No one had a car!
No one could go pick the dog up.
Did I mention that I was freaking out?
On top of being pissed as sh*t at the owner of the school for putting this mistake on my shoulders.
Thankfully the pet owner was able to get her grandson to bring the dog back over.
We switched the dogs and everybody was happy, but make no mistake, that episode has stuck with me all of these years.
I must say, I have not ever mixed up a dog.
Even on days that we have four or five Bichons in in one day, we still know who is who.
Every dog has a name tag on the kennel.
Every dog is assigned a kennel and they only go in that kennel.
No kennel hoping.
I will go out of my way to make sure that this does not ever happen in my shop.
Oh, one other thing about this story and the video.
Did you notice how the pet owner that walked in the grooming shop door just dumped the wrong dog that she had on the floor instead of handing it to its rightful owner?
The article also said that one of the owners noticed that the dog was not her dog immediately when she got home.
Immediately when she got home?!
How about when the dog was handed to her?
(shaking head)
The second story in the news is much more disturbing and sad.
How in the world do you lose a dog and not know how?
How can you possibly think you are not responsible when the pet was left in your care?
How do you not call the owner right away so that everyone can be out looking for that poor dog?
I work hard everyday to get my customers to respect me and the job that I do.
Our industry does not need stories like these.
Why can't the news show all the good things that dog groomers do.
Like the groomers who volunteer to groom shelter dogs to help them get new homes.
Or the groomers that pack up everything and go to places that have been hit by disasters and help pet owners with their dogs, and dogs that have lost their homes, or been separated from their owners.
Groomers are good people.
I just wish that we would see more good grooming stories.
✂ Happy Grooming, MFF ✂
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