First Trip to the Groomer!

[Star and Goldie]

First trip to the Groomer's... quite the adventure!

It was off to a rocky start right from the get go...

• Call to the Groomer to talk about pricing, what I wanted etc... I didn't get good vibes on the phone. The woman was not friendly- never even told me her name. When I asked her how often she would need a full groom once she's ready for it she responded so RUDELY with "well that's up to you and how much maintenance you want to do" followed by a lecture on how important maintenance is.
• Arrive at the Groomers and am taken back by DISGUST for the place. It smelled like urine and 100 wet dogs in there. It's a tiny shop and yes of course there are wet dogs in there all day but should it smell like that first thing in the morning? Light a candle... create a nice atmosphere, something! I fought my gut instinct which was to turn around and walk out and I went ahead and checked Goldie in
• Go to pick Goldie up and I try to hand the woman my card. She says "Um, we don't take cards. Cash or check only".  She said it in a tone like DUH you should have known this.  Payment methods are not posted anywhere in the shop and she didn't mention this on the phone so I had to get back in my car and go to the nearest ATM- UGH...
• Come back to pay. She takes the cash and instead of a 'thank you' or' sorry about the inconvenience' she says "Do you own a comb? I thought you said you comb her. Do you know what you're doing?" OMG OK LADY!!! Cue the lecture about how I'm not combing her properly
• Resist the urge to jump over the counter in a fit of rage
• Smile and nod while thinking bad thoughts
• Finally, she brings Goldie out and alas, my blood boiling starts to calm when I see my sweet baby's face. She was so excited to see me and she looked so....so... DOODLY!

So this was not what I expected our first trip to the Groomer to be like. I still don't even know the woman's name. She is NOT friendly to humans but she talks to the animals in her shop in a super sweet voice. Goldie seemed to love her and she did a good job.

So my question, would you look past the look (and smell) of the shop and put your personal feelings for her aside and continue using her based on her skills or would you look elsewhere?  Finding a reasonably priced decent Groomer in this area has proven to be a challenge.

Todays bill was $20.  Petsmart quoted me $65 to have the same thing done.

[Star and Goldie]

I've never heard of such a thing either but no, she definitely doesn't use one of those. I saw her equipment.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

They are good, but you just cant leave them in there ....until they need poked with a fork and called done.

[Cindy Bowles]

Sorry, Just one more thing, I found my groomer thru my vet, you may want to ask your vet whom they recommend.  Okay, I promise I am done now.......

[F, Calla & Luca]

I am super leery of groomers right now after Luca's tail disaster. I am, for now at least,  planning to doing it myself again. It's very hard work with two, at my life stage, but at least I know the doodles are safe.

[Donna K & Quincy]

Goldie looks adorable and it was a bargain but doesn't sound like a very pleasant experience for you. 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Okay, the smell was bad.  That's bad.   100 dogs in a small area to be groomed-Negligent.  Last year in Cleveland, a dog died in the hair dryer because the groomer had to much going on ( too many dogs to groom ). She forgot him in the the dryer and never went back.  " Too busy", was her excuse.

I believe there is a safe limit. Two dogs at a time would be maximum for me.  I know it costs more, but the safety of my dog depends on a safe environment.

I would not send my child to a room full of 100, Three year-old children, and one person to monitor. There are laws  for adult-child ratio for day cares.  Same should apply somewhat to the occupancy with dogs.    It just does not sound like a good environment, no matter what the outcome.

[Donna K & Quincy]

Joanne, she didn't say there were 100 dogs just that it smelled like 100 wet dogs. :>)

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Oh, I need to read a little better. I should have learned. Earlier this week.. I made a HUGE mistake.  

Thanks for the clarification

[Star and Goldie]

Haha that's ok. Yeah, definitely not 100 dogs in there. She doesn't have more than 3 at a time. Actually she only had one other dog being groomed this morning along with Goldie and then she has her English Setter in there hanging out all day.

[F, Calla & Luca]

But too many dogs and that is a relative thing, with too much going on, ends in problems.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Amen Joanne. I think Luca got injured because the place was too chaotic.

[Bonnie and Kona]

:(   sooo sad.