Why oh why can't groomers follow directions?
 

Ok, so we had only had Preston groomed once since we got him. The groomer practically shaved the top of his nose, and cut really short eyebrows. I wanted him to have a top not, so have not had him back to a groomer since then. I have been trimming his belly feet, ears and bottom myself. I couldn't seem to get the hair out of his ears, and when I trimmed his outer ear it didn't look as good as I thought a groomer would do, so a freind (who was a vet tech, who is BIG in dogs around our area, president of bark in the park and arffest) highly recommended a groomer. I called and talked to her for 30 min about what I wanted. Took Preston in this morning and again went on and on about, I want a top not, only want ears belly bottom and feet. Was assured this is what they would do. Go to pick him up belly isn't done, bottom isn't done, feet are done, ears are full of hair, and he now has bangs and NO TOP NOT:mad: I am just beside myself. They acted really blase about it, didn't even apologize, just said they didn't know what happened, and maybe the groomer just did it because BOYS don't usually have top nots.:rolleyes: Last I knew he was MY dog, and I don't care what they feel like doing, all they have to do is FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.
I attached a couple of pics
1) a couple of days ago
2) today

well the boy is so cute he could pull of bald but i can totally understand being upset for paying and not receiving what you SPECIFICALLY asked for.

invest your grooming dollars in a pair of scissors and a wahl shaver.. watch the instructional video and learn to do it yourself.. its not that hard.:)
dont forget earth bath shampoo available at petsmart... comb and groom daily.. touch their feet every day so when you clip the nails, they will cooperate.. i have some tools ( a growing supply) that help with grooming
:aimeeyork

I firmly believe they are just like hairdressers. It doesn't matter what you tell them they are going to do what they like and what they think is best. I put together 2 sheets with pictures and instructions for Teddi and the groomers still did what they wanted. I really want to start grooming her by myself. I really wanted a person to speak in KC about grooming so they could show me what to do. I guess I will keep looking at pictures of dogs here and asking questions. Good luck!!

Thanks for saying he is cute! I think he still is, but I was so happy about the fact that his nose hair was almost to the point of staying in his top not. Oh well, it is just hair, I guess it will grow.

I WILL NOT be taking him back to a groomer though! The only way he will go is if we deciede to cut him down to a puppy cut, otherwise I will just keep doing it myself. I don't even cae if I do cut his ears a little crooked!

That would make me very upset. He is still cute, but they did not do as you said. I don't understand why so many groomers don't listen to their customer. I groom minethe best I can, they are far from perfect but they are groomed the way I want.

Oh, I feel your pain, this happens so much. It's just you have to go through this awkward growing out period, and that's what were doing now, with the nose hairs. Like the others have said, he's a cutie, but I just can't understand why they do this. Do they all think they know what best for your dog? I'd get my money back. Maybe if more people did that, the groomers would start listening to the customers.

there is a great video in the groomer section :animal-pa free:thumbup:

I thought the second picture of him was really cute though. He is a handsome little guy, even if they messed it up and didd not follow directions. I would not go back there if you are not 100% satisfied. He's your dog, and what you say goes! :aimeeyork

Thing is, Preston's hair seems to grow REALLY slowly.

Here is a pic from when we first got him in Nov., if you compare that with the pic from a few dayys ago and factor in the idea that he was only groomed once, and they never cut any hair on the top of his head, just ears the shaving of the bridge of his nose and the sanitary, it hasn't grown a ton in the last 8 months.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with your groomer. He is super cute before and after his cut! I always ask new customers to bring a picture (or 2 or 3) of exactly what they want. Then we discuss it and I try to get all of the specifics. If you are at a new groomer or want to try a different cut always make sure that you talk directly with the groomer..not the person at the counter. Sometimes things aren't always relayed as they should be. In my salon I talk to every customer. It takes a little longer, but I know things are done the way the customer wanted!

You were lucky in your bad luck . The first time Zsa Zsa went to the groomer , I came home with a Chinese Crested Dog . After that , I bought grooming equipment and learned how to groom .

groomer
 

Always leave a list of how you want the grooming done..and write.."I will not pay if these directions are not followed"....I was a groomer and there is no excuse to cut off a top knot if the owner does want it done...of course, I have had to clip more hair off then the owner wanted if it was matted etc...

Well he still looks adorable regardless!

I understand what you mean though. I used a groomer that I LOVED! He shut his business down due to poor health (and actually passed a few weeks ago :(). Before he shut the doors, he showed me a few tricks. I tried one other groomer and my girls ended up with 'bangs' like you decsribed. So using what he and a few breeders taught me, I just started doing it myself! (Now I only have myself to blame if I don't like the end result.) Once I got the hang of it, I wondered, "why have I not been doing this all along?"

He is adorable. His eyes are such a pretty color and so expressive.
I hate when the groomer doesnt listen. To me it says I dont have time to listent to you and will just do whatI want:rolleyes:

I think he is still adorable, and I'm sorry you had to go through this again. I know I would be IRATE spending all that time on the phone and then again when I dropped my baby off telling her EXACTLY what I wanted and they still don't follow dirrections!!!!!

I am so affraid of the groomers that I think I am going to atempt to do my Essie myself.

My mom took her morkie in to Petsmart grooming to get help with some matting. They shaved her bald in places where the mats were and left the hair long in other places. She looked horrible. On top of that, she had a scratch on her back thigh from the clippers cutting her. The store manager gave her the money back and said that person wont be cutting hair anymore.

Im not saying your groomer didnt follow your instructions because sometimes they dont.

i had a new client the other day who gave her dog a home haircut and then brought him to me to "fix" it. The kid dropped of (she wasnt really a child but the daughter) Ok so what am I doing to your dog today.. I dont know... Do you want a hair cut.. I dont know... Do you just want me to trim it and fix this haircut... I guess. At that point I had no clue and just attempted to do something to the dog. He looked horrible the owner botched the haircut that much there was no fixing it and I know how some people get about having their dogs shaved down so I didnt do that. Ok its gonna be about 2-3 hours and I will give you a call. She gives me the dog and stands outside the salon for a few minutes and then comes back in.. Can I use your phone.. Ok.. she puts her mom on the phone and shes yelling at me because I crated her dog how dare I do such a thing.. I explained all dogs are crated while waiting, (yorkies are never dried in a cage only hand dried and even the dogs who are cage dried are NOT dried with hot air). I was finishing up a dog when they showed up. I dont want my dog in a crate so I offered her whats called an express grooming. the dog is done start to finish and we gaurentee the dog is done in 90 minutes. I tried to get some instuctions out of her but all she wanted was she said a proper hair cut and her dog not crated. At this point again I knew I wasnt getting more info out of her and again did what I tried to do to fix him. I even told the manager I have a feeling this woman is going to complain and it was my first ever yorkie complaint since I have been grooming for 12 years. She calls and is furious and I am not allowed to fix the haircut because she claims I might harm her dog (actually she used something harsher then that) because she complained. So now I have to be gone while someone else fixes her dog. Im beyond insulted and hurt because she claimed I might hurt her dog :( I would NEVER do such a thing to any animal. At that point I seriously wouldnt be comfortable to have this dog back in the shop because she made such a statement that I will harm her dog. I would of refunded her money and asked her to go elsewhere but its not my store and I cant make those decisions. Ok venting done.. Im just so insulted by this not even the fact that I had a complaint about my grooming at the fact she claimed im going to hurt her dog

put your groomin money into the tools you need and do it yourself.. i would never trust a groomer and leave dogs alone during grooming.. it is not that hard to do:)

Its comments like this that drive me crazy.. DONT SPECULATE ALL GROOMERS ARE BAD!!!! I have been doing this 12 years and its comments like this that make the industry look bad. Until you can physically go to every grooming shop and experience all groomers.. Get over it
Can u proove all groomers are bad.. Probably not!!

good groomers
 

at least petsmart has windows where the animals can be seen..
too many horror stories about blow dryers
im sure you are a good groomer :animal36
but, personally i would not drop off my dogs for 5 hours... i would take one at a time and stay
but i cant afford theses services anyway
that is why i was forced to do it myself
but if i was rich, i would stay at the groomers and watch and assist with holding.. i am entitled to my opinion.
:aimeeyork

If you are nervous about groomers, see if they will let you watch first. My groomer let me watch her groom another dog, then my puppy. My puppy was nervous of course, but I was impressed at how her and her assistant handled the dogs. I even asked her to do some specific things like trim around the eyes and her bottom and she did a great job. She let my puppy see and feel the buzz of the clippers before she actually put the clipper on her. I will definately take her back.

your story is shocking and sad.. i am sorry for your bad experience.. life is not fair sometimes.. there are a few crazy peoploe out there..
i dont mind crating.. i use my crate to blow dry.. groomers usually have great equipment..
not everyone can do their own grooming. and you sound like a wonderful
groomer... i would let you do my dog.. but i want to watch..:aimeeyork:aimeeyork

I'm going to have to check those out! I groom Mr. Biggs myself inbetween grooms, but I always get stuck when it comes to doing his ears and legs....somehow I can never get them right....they always come out choppy looking. lol

I don't think she really meant that all groomers are bad... I think she was referring to the recently publicized deaths of dogs at groomers. I myself have been to a varity of different groomers....so far I have only found 1 that grooms my dog to my specifications (which aren't unreasonable...I just tell them how longi want the har and that i don't want their face to look like a round circle, which is what i usually get when i mention a puppy cut...and also that i don't want the hair above his nose to be shaved).. I have been to many groomers that do the same "puppy cut" for all breeds of dogs....but just like with humans, a bob looks different on people w/ different types of hair. lol. I've also been to groomers that want me to drop my dog off for an appointment at 8am and then call me at 5:30 to tell me that he is ready. That's over 5 hours and completely unacceptable in my opinion. I don't mind leaving him for up to 3 hours, but over that is just unreasonable, because it shouldn't take more than 3 hours to groom a dog. I've also been to groomers that leave the dog unattended on the table to go and check out another customer.. all it takes is a second for that dog to jump off the table and hang itself.

I don't think she was direction her comment at you, but I for one do not trust MOST groomers. It's like when you bring your child to daycare or get it a babysitter...you don't know what someone is going to do to them when you are not there.

again, myproblem was that it was almost like they did the EXACT opposite of what I said. I took him for;
1) EARS Specifically mentioned that I could not bring myself to pull the hair out of them and they were pretty bad, so make sure they got that. His ears were still full of hair. Isn't this a standard part of ANY grooming?

2) BUTT - they didn't touch it

3) BELLY - they didn't touch

4) Paws - they kind of did that

Specifically said we were trying to grow him out, so didn't want any body fur cut, THey cut him all over

Specifically talked about the last groomer shaving the bridge of his nose, and we had been growing it for six months to get it where we could almost get it into his topnot, DO NOT CUT IT, repeated over and over,
It is all gone now and we are back to square one six months ago.

Biggest issue was that they never even said sorry until I said you know if you had apologized right off the bat, it wouldn't be as bad. Then they said, Oh well we are sorry. Yeah right, that is convincing.

When I told her I wanted my money back, she gave me $10 back. That's fine I said, I will not ever come again, and will NOT refer you since you can't take direction. For some reason, then she got all defensive. HA Like she had a reason to be mad.

Oh NO WAY would I have paid! I would have asked to talk to the manager and explained exactly how you did in this post. I haven't had a professional grooming with my almost 1 year old yet, and the only way I will do it is if I can watch.

That's true I know there are good ones out there...I just don't quite know where to find them yet. I may have to do the mobile kind where I can hang around.

What deaths of dogs at groomers?? OMG I have seen them just leave dogs on the table, that is scary as my Yorkie may try to jump, where as my Pom seems to know that isn't a good idea. They need a better restraint system.

I was just posting about this in another thread and I highly recommend to everyone... ALWAYS WATCH ON YOUR FIRST DOG GROOMING. Its a must! ;) You just cant trust that someone else will know exactly what you want or how you want it... Think of the outcome if you would have been able to watch :thumbup: You could have told them what you didnt like as they were doing it and saved yourself a lot of irritation... Im very sorry that you had yet another bad grooming experience... I guess, if you want something done, you gotta do it yourself :)

And he's still cutie either way :p