To my knowledge, there is no requirement for a pet groomer to be licensed in the entire US. Stylists who work to make human hair looking “all pretty and to look like its natural color…(ok….so I’ve had my hair dyed in different shades”), need to be licensed. Bear in mind, we are there as they cut, trim, color and style our hair.
Does having a licensed groomer change anything?
When you drop off your dog/cat to be groomed, do you know what happens behind closed doors? Why do you entrust your pet to someone who is alone with your beloved companion? Do you trust your groomer? Why?
I’ve asked myself this many times over the years since I must have my dogs groomed. Their breed, poodle/poodle mix, dictates the necessity for this action. For the record, I never get the standard poodle cut. Yes, I must be different. I choose to have my dogs hair groomed with a puppy-look:cute, furry face with an overall shorter cut on the body. That’s why people ask the breed of my dogs. No puffed-out balls of hair on my dog’s head, feet or tail. Sorry, it’s just not me. Not a girlie, girl, you could say. Besides, I’ve had manly-man dogs for the last 11 years. 🙂 Ok…so my Jazz isn’t quite a manly-man but he’s a lean, mean barking machine!
One of the first times I had my dog, Buddy, groomed, I was asked if I wanted his face clean. First, I was brand new to grooming. Never had to do this with my previous dogs. So I thought it was an odd question. Of course, I wanted Buddy’s face clean, particularly since I wanted him looking good for my wedding that weekend. Obviously I was a novice at this “grooming thing.” A clean face means shaving the face. Shockwaves ran through me when I saw Buddy’s bare-skinned face looking like a poodle with a ball on his tail as well. I shrieked and said, “What did you do?” Hated it! Lesson learned: ask your groomer questions! But I digress.
On a more serious note, we, who have dogs who require grooming, need to be careful when choosing our groomers. Case in point. A dog was strangled to death while in the care of a groomer earlier this year.
This four-month old English Bulldog, Rita, was coughing up blood two hours after she had been dropped off. Her owners were called to pick up their puppy and told to take her to their veterinarian immediately. She died within 45 minutes. A necropsy found the cause of death to be strangulation.
When your dog is placed on a groomer’s table, a cable noose is placed around your pet’s neck to keep him stable so the groomer can cut and style your pet’s fur. No one knows for certain what happened to this cute puppy to have been strangled. To me, it makes sense that someone wasn’t watching Rita and the dog took a step off of the table and hung herself.
Necropsy results also showed that someone tried to administer CPR. Her lungs were filled with blood and wasn’t able to breathe. Her trachea was pushed up four or six inches, possibly from trying to revive her.
We are putting our pets’ lives in our groomers hands.We drop them off and we don’t know what they can possibly do.
Over the years, I’ve had a few groomers. When I was a novice, I naturally trusted groomers. I had no experience and thought all were good and trustworthy. All are not good nor trustworthy.
When I changed groomers quite a few years ago for my dog, Shadow, I literally waited outside of the groomer’s house. I was so scared he would get loose and run away. The groomer had her business in the downstairs of her home. The door leading to the grooming area was in her garage with that door wide open. If that inner door was open and Shadow saw a chance to escape, he would since he was scared to death.
Shadow also had a collapsing trachea and that noose was not good for him. Whenever it was placed around his neck, he would cough for a long time, sometimes for days. I told the groomer all of this information and she was accomadating. Shadow was always so happy after leaving there and that was important to me and a sign to look for when choosing a groomer. It was quite sad to hear this particular groomer decided to end her life. It had taken years to find the right groomer and now I had to look again.
Prior to that groomer, I used a groomer for another dog of mine, Lady. My dog Buddy had just died and it was time for Lady’s haircut. I was apprehensive, for some reason. My instincts proved to be right. My husband and I waited for the groomer to call and let us know when she was finished. Three hours had gone by. I’ve never had to wait three hours for a dog’s haircut. So, we stopped in unannouced. As we walked down the steps, we heard Lady screaming. We wasted no time and ran over to her. She was in a tub full of water. We grabbed her soaking wet and left immediately! When we searched her body, we found the groomer had cut too close to the skin. She had brush burns on her belly and the water only made it more painful. The groomer showed no concern over Lady’s screams.
I was so angry and upset. Lady was going to be okay but I wasn’t. From that point on, I had a mistrust of groomers.
So how do we trust groomers? How do we know bad groomers from the rest that are good and caring. I had a groomer who was extremely nice and permitted us to be with our dogs when grooming. A good sign! Ask your groomer if it’s ok to do so. If they don’t allow it, this is most certainly a red flag. Unfortunately, I stopped using this groomer not because of her but because of Shadow. His collapsing trachea became too bad. I learned to groom my dogs myself. Eventually I had a mobile groomer come to my house which was better for my dogs and me.
I don’t feel a license makes a difference concerning dog groomers. A licensed groomer can still be negligent or hurt your dog. I feel it boils down to trust. You need to ask you friends, colleagues, relatives, etc. for references. Then you need to ask questions. Any good groomer will welcome any questions and allow you to be present during a grooming session.
We are placing our pets’ lives in the hands of unknown people. Learn from others’ very unfortunate and sad mistakes. I’ve been lucky that the majority of the groomers I’ve had were very good and so nice and I’m sure some will be reading this. Thank you for your kindness. Circumstances changed in my life and I had to adjust the grooming process accordingly.
Do you think a license would make a difference for a pet groomer? Share your thoughts.