Pixie's 1st Groom wasn't an enjoyable experience..

[kezza]

I booked Pixie's 1st haircut with a Mobile dog groomer who lives just down the road from me, she does all the dog grooming in the back of a large pink van and uses the power from your home for hot water and the hairdryer. She seemed like a nice enough lady. She started off by washing her, pixie was pretty good about this, i noticed she didn't use conditioner, Pixie needs ALOT of this when being bathed as her hair matts terrible ( i use Pantene) then she towel dried her then put her under a large dryer which Pixie was NOT happy about! lots of wriggling and screeching, the groomer asks me if she's like this when I am drying her and I say No, I sit her on my lap and gently rub her down while using my hairdryer and she makes no fuss at all. She then gets a metal toothed brush and starts trying to brush pixie's hair...well....as soon as she snagged her hair that was it! she was screeching and jumping about all over the place! I explained that i Have to be VERY careful when grooming her to not pull on her hair and now i can do it in the evening while she's on my lap and she falls asleep!
She slipped a lead attached to a rail above her head to keep her on the table, it was too big for Pixie obviously (she's 7 months and 2lbs 11oz!) Pixie got her head out of it so she had to make do with holding her on the work surface, the whole time she is trying to escape. She couldn't manage to comb her all the way through. I asked for a scissor cut, Thankgod I did! she starts hacking away with these scissors, trimmed her legs, feet, underside and a little bit on her back and round her face, she didn't touch her topknot or ears. Pixie hated the scissors and made a fuss and this woman looked like she was losing her patience and was struggling. In the end she more or less gave up. I paid her (yeah i know! i'm stupid and far too polite!) and said goodbye, it wasn't until i got her in the house and put her down on the floor that i could see what a mess this woman had made! It could have been far far worse if she had cut it shorter or used clippers! There were long tufts on her legs and underside which i managed to trim myself with NO FUSS from Pixie! I don't think i'm ever going to go to a groomer again after this experience! The funny thing is, when my son (aged 13) was at school today, he told his friend about Pixie being groomed by the lady with the Pink van and this boy told my son that his dog (a westie) had been groomed by this woman and his mother was very unhappy with it and that she could have done a better job herself! which is the exact thing i said when i got a good look at Pixie in the house! I was sooo looking forward to Pixie's 1st haircut and it has been ruined by this idiot who calls herself a professional and had the cheek to tell me that she is a Perfectionist!!!
I will Post some pictures of the haircut as soon as i can, thankfully it's not TOO short, otherwise i would be crying right now! the worst bit about the cut is her back legs and round her back end. I feel so stupid for letting this woman do this to my baby, stress her out when i wanted her 1st groom to be a good experience not a bad one! my hubby is LIVID and i had to stop him from ringing this woman up! It was just so stressful to see Pixie unhappy that i was too busy trying to keep her calm and soothe her while this woman hacked away at her fur! I just wanted to get her back into the safety of her own home!

[yorkieusa]

I'm sorry it didn't work out. Get a table and a loop and you'll do fine by yourself.

[littlewhip]

Originally Posted by yorkieusa

I'm sorry it didn't work out. Get a table and a loop and you'll do fine by yourself.

Thats sounds like a great idea sorry things didnt go well

[chachi]

Sorry you had a bad grooming experience. Our first one was a bad one also

[kezza]

You know, you are both right on that one! I could have done it better i swear! she didn't ask me if i wanted her ears trimmed, and to be honest I don't think Pixie would have let her near them anyway!

[kezza]

Originally Posted by chachi

Sorry you had a bad grooming experience. Our first one was a bad one also

You live and learn I suppose, I going to have to chat to anyone i see who has a breed that needs clipping and see if they reccommend anyone...i suppose its the only way of finding a good groomer.

[luckylady]

I am so sorry to hear of your bad groomer experiance. I just had my two done today with our groomer and am very pleased with the cuts. We have been to this lady before and have always been pleased. Hopefully you will be able to find another groomer that will fit yours and Pixie's needs or be able to do it yourself. I try doing them on my own now and then but then once in awhile they need a professional. Good Luck for next time.

[chachi]

Originally Posted by kezza

You live and learn I suppose, I going to have to chat to anyone i see who has a breed that needs clipping and see if they reccommend anyone...i suppose its the only way of finding a good groomer.

Well just keep searching for a good one. You will fnd one that will groom her exactly how you want. I found a great groomer

[Ellie May]

Sorry about your bad experience. That is how Ellie acts at the vets. You hold her on the table and she runs in place to try and escape. Good groomers are hard to find so I just do Ellie myself. I only use scissors. She lays on my lap and sleeps for most of it.

[Go4HelloKitty]

Sorry to hear about the bad experience.

I remember taking my Kimchee for his first hair cut when he was 5 months old. He was shy (still is) and was trying run back to my arms from the cutting table the whole time. Not to mention that the cut was not good. At the end, I was forced to give $5 tip since the groomer did not have any change.

I felt so sorry to have put my Kimchee in such a bad experience. From that time on, I swear to cut his hair on my own, even though it is not the best, he will feel more comfortable for me to touch him rather than someone that he doesn't know. The more time I give him a hair cut, the better result I get. Now even people from the street ask me where I take Kimchee for hair cut!

Failure makes good experience! Try to cut the hair yourself. The first time just cut a little bit, even it was wrong, it won't be that bad. The next time you will have a better idea on how to cut. Believe me...... Now I have one more yorkie girl which I got about 1.5 weeks ago. I gave her a trial hair cut, she did not like the hair clipper and was shaking the whole time. Well, I am sure with lots of praise, treats and patience, she will one day love having mommmy as her personal groomer!

PS. Kimchee loves mommy cutting his hair; he feels so comfy that evey hair cut he falls asleep! Mommy has good laugh during every hair cut session.

[yorkieusa]

Originally Posted by kezza

You live and learn I suppose, I going to have to chat to anyone i see who has a breed that needs clipping and see if they reccommend anyone...i suppose its the only way of finding a good groomer.

What you need to look for is someone who can do yorkies. Lots of other breeds are easier than a yorkie to trim.

[kezza]

Originally Posted by yorkieusa

What you need to look for is someone who can do yorkies. Lots of other breeds are easier than a yorkie to trim.

Good advice, next time (can't believe i'm saying that now!) I will ask if they are experienced in trimming Yorkshire terriers.

[RebelBelle]

I'm so sorry you had a bad experience. I was going to get Jamie groomed the first week in January, but chickened out and cut his hair myself. It's not perfect but it's pretty good AND he didn't have to stay at the groomers all day!

[cataholic]

I groom Fritzel and Kasey(my cocker) myself. Kasey hates strangers and Fritzel is terrified of everyone he doesn't know. So My husband and I do it ourselves. It is not perfect but I think the dogs are much happier. And the groomers are probably happier because Kasey would bite them and Fritzel would jump off the table to get away. I think he would jump off a bridge to get away from someone!

[kezza]

The whole process took no more than 45 minutes! and she charged me £15, she usually charges £25 for Yorkies but because Pixie is so little she charged me less. Pixie is pretty good with letting you bathe and groom her but as soon as this woman hurt her, that was it! she was NOT going to cooperate and things went from bad to worse, you know what Yorkies are like, if you upset them, you UPSET them! at times she was literally screaming like she was being murdered! I tried to book her into the salon in my local Pets At Home Store before Christmas but they were fully booked until february! I might go back and see them in a couple of months and tell them about my bad experience and make sure i ask them LOTS of questions this time, only thing is, I don't think i will be able to stay with her while they groom her, this woman did let me sit with her the whole time, thank goodness she did! can you imagine what she might have ended up looking like! and probably would have been even more stressed out!