Need to vent, pardon me.

[Erin]

So I've posted before about grooming questions. Hershey now gets a bath at home, with minimal trouble. She's a shedder so she doesn't need regular all-over hair cuts. However, in the winter time I like to keep her leg-fur a little shorter so that the snow and ice doesn't create huge snowballs in her fur! However, her nails are a different problem. I'm so nervous about hurting her that I would rather just have a professional do it.

I saw an ad in the paper for a $20 basic bath, with nails, ears, and a sanitary trim. Great. Had never seen this place before, and eventually found it back a long country road... kinda creepy. A shack behind someone's house. I CANNOT believe I left my dog there. As soon as I went in, I had red flags, the place was filthy, the cages were all rusty, the dogs in there were going NUTS. But, I thought I was just being ridiculous and snooty...

An hour later I went to pick her up. Hershey was very excited to see me and we got in the car. As I drove away I notice that they hacked up the fur on her face! Around and between her eyes, where the hair is nice and floppy on her forehead, totally uneven. That evening we were hanging out, and I noticed she was chewing on one of her paws and it sounded crunchy. When I looked I was surprised to see a piece of her toenail on the floor, just looked like it cracked off! She's real bad with letting me look at her paws - but it seems that all of her toenails look uneven and cracked off! Is that just the result of a bad trim? What can I do? It doesn't seem like she's in pain, but I'm just frustrated and I blame myself for not just learning to do it myself...

[Brenda Hetzel]

I'm no expert and I myself let my groomer handle the nail trimming on Lucky,( his toenails are so dark and hard to see his vein that I too I am so nervous I'm going to cut that thing), but I'd be reassurred that at least her nails are not bleeding or show no evidence of having bled. What else is going on there, I don't know. But I definitely would never go back there and I would always trust your instincts from now on, especially on a new place that is not recommended by anyone. Now hopefully others will chime in about the nail situation and if possibly you should request your money back or stop your check....

[Joy Originator of GiantSchnoodles]

Nail clipping
Look at the nail from the bottom. You will see a wall around what looks like a soft center. Kind of like a rolled cake wi a soft, sweet center. The center is the quick. That’s the part you don’t want to cut. The quick is the part that bleeds and hurts when you cut it. Cut the wall around the quick. Rather than cut across, cut from the bottom, going up the nail, almost parralel to the nail. This is counter intuitive. At first the nail may seem rather long, but over time, if you cut the way I’m describing, you will see that the quick recedes. Ideally you want your dog’s nails quite short. Especially if you are doing agility, canine freestyle or any other sport or have floors you don’t want scratched. The more the quick recedes, the shorter you can get the nails. It is especially difficult to miss the quick on black nails. But I find that my white poodle bleeds more if I happen to hit the quick.
I use a nail clipper that has an indentation for the nail. I like this method for me. However, A Dremel with sand paper is great. It just takes longer. You would use the same technique with the dremel. Just work on the wall around the quick with the dremel. You will get the same result with recession of the quick. You can keep sanding the wall over time and the nails will be nice and short. Please give me feedback if you try this. Let me know how it goes
Copyright Joy de la Ren 2/09

[Joy Originator of GiantSchnoodles]

I suggest for everyone: Do not leave your dog at the groomers. Take a book to read & stay there. I've worked at too many groomer shops. Unless you know the groomer really well, stay with your dog at all times. Puppy love from Joy & furry folk

[Keera's Mom]

Hey Erin,
Read what happen to one of my dogs two weeks ago.. it is called "what would you do" posted on 2/14..