# I was horrified on how my malt was treated at the groomers



## poochie2 (Jan 14, 2010)

Today I took my malt to get groomed. I have two groomers which I switch from time to time. In December when I took her to get a full groom they accidently mixed up the files with another dog and they turned her into a poodle. Shaved her nose area just like a poodle. They called me at home to warn me that there was a mix up. That ended up being free of charge.
Well today I took her to the other grooming studio and they told me to leave her for 3 hours. Well I returned after 2 hours and they had her muzzled. She was going crazy. She was clearly in distress. I do not think she was able to breathe properly. The lady told me she muzzled her cause she was moving her face to much. When I took her in the car she was making really funny breathing sounds. I think I need to find another groomer. I talked to Petsmart grooming and the lady told me they don't even muzzle maltese dogs cause they have short traceheas and are prone to breathing problems. They use an elizabethian collar. I am not sure if I should just stick with the second groomer and just tell her not to muzzle my dog. Confused? Yes.


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## cleooscar (May 28, 2008)

That sounds awful! I've never had any of my groomers used a muzzle and I've had Malts for 20 years. It's stressful enough for them to be at the groomer's, the last thing they need is to be muzzled. I'd check around for groomers that specialize in small breeds--they should know what a Malt looks and not mistaken it for a poodle regardless of what the file said. I used to go to Petsmart and this lady was wonderful. Now I go to this lady who's a Malt show breeder and she's a lot closer to me. I'm in Markham. If you're in the Greater Toronto Area, PM me and I can provide you with information on the groomer.


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## nekkidfish (Aug 25, 2009)

Yikes! I would be so angry. :angry:

Can you try and find a groomer that will let you stay? I found a place right near me where they let the owners stay, and help if they want. They do not crate the dogs, and if you do make an appointment to drop off, you have to pick up your baby within 30 minutes of the end of the appointment or they charge you.

My gal Yvonne spent so much time with Poppy since it was his first time getting groomed. She was so patient and just as sweet as could be with him. We were there over two hours and it cost $25. I couldn't believe it.

I asked Yvonne where she worked prior, and she told me that she worked under a lady for 8 years ... and that once she realized how much she loved grooming, she realized she did not like how the lady operated or treated the animals. She said the lady would NEVER groom in front of the owners, and it was because she treated the dogs so bad. Yvonne said she then left there, and looked for a place that had open grooming.

HUGz and good luck! Jules


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## elly (Sep 11, 2006)

Have you looked for a mobile groomer? Mine is wonderful, the boy's love her.


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## The A Team (Dec 1, 2005)

Yep, I'd say a totally new groomer is in order. I worry about Petsmart groomers....but I guess it's all in the individual people they hire, so you could get lucky.


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## theboyz (Jan 10, 2007)

I would be steaming!!!!!:angry: 
Our groomer comes to the house...Mobile Groomer. Takes one out at a time and never uses a cage dryer. She knows I will check in from time to time.

You need to change asap!!!!!


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## drclee (Jul 16, 2008)

I would change groomer's immediately. If you could tell your baby was in distress, then the groomer should have known as well. Either find a mobile groomer or a place that lets you stay and watch the entire process. Or learn to groom yourself. I've found that even though the costs add up initially to buy all the supplies, it is definitely cost effective after just a couple of months. Good luck!


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## EmmasMommy (Jun 2, 2008)

:exploding:OMG I would be H-O-T ! :exploding: I have tried a few groomers. Some were good, some were no so great. 

I found that mostly I was disappointed.

So I now I do it myself. 

I am so sorry you have had this happen to your poor little babe. Geez a muzzle? on a Malt? what the heck ?????

Don't you wish that dogs could talk sometimes?


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## CeeCee's Mom (Sep 14, 2006)

:heart:Oh, I would be livid!! If I had seen that, I would have taken my dog immediatley!!! Poor baby, they do have trouble breathing and to muzzle a little one like that is uncalled for.......I am so sorry!!!


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## sassy's mommy (Aug 29, 2005)

Oh goodness.........I would have been furious. People like this particular groomer should find another profession. I hope your little one was not injured. I would change groomers immediately. Sassy's groomer comes to our home and does her inside. She actually works for one of the upscale grooming shops, but I asked her to come to my house and she was happy to do that. I pay her the same as I would at the shop.


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## poochie2 (Jan 14, 2010)

When I saw that she was muzzled (The closed door had a window) I was fuming. I immediately told her to hurry her up cause I wanted to get the heck out of there. She even had the nerve to tell me she's muzzled her in the past. 
I had no idea. No wonder she starts to shake as soon as we enter the grooming studio.
My fluff will not stop drinking water and I have no idea why. She's calmed down now and seems happy again. I wish I knew how to groom her on my own.


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## Nikki's Mom (Feb 13, 2008)

Your baby will be fine, she is just in distress. Poor thing! I don't trust many groomers. I've had too many horrors happen over the years.

I have had a mobile groomer for Nikki since her first groom. I really think that mobile groomers are the best. They don't work under a lot of stress, because they do one dog at a time and it is not too stressful for the dog, either. No waiting no cages, no other dogs, etc. It is more money, but it is well worth it. You can ask to stay with your dog the first time it is groomed. If you can't find a mobile groomer, maybe you can find one who will come to your house.


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## malts4me (Mar 19, 2010)

I have had my share of bad groomers but that takes the cake! I would be furious. I have been blessed the past few years with the worlds best groomer, when Gracie was sick they even came to my house as not to stress her out. On top of that, they offered to do it free of charge since my vet bills were so high!


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## pinkpixie1588 (Oct 12, 2009)

OMG. What a nightmare. The more groomer horror stories I hear, the more I KNOW I will not use a groomer that does not let me stay. It makes me too nervous to leave her helpless in the arms of a stranger. Yikes!


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## myfairlacy (Dec 28, 2007)

Was your dog trying to bite the groomer or was she muzzled just because she was moving too much? There is no reason to muzzle a dog unless they are trying to bite..so if she was muzzled for moving her head then that was uncalled for. However, if you have a dog that bites then you should not be upset that your dog is muzzled...it hurts really bad to get bitten by a dog, little or not....and a bite can cause a lot of damage and infection. I got bit badly on the finger by a shih tzu last week, and my finger is just now healing and not as sore. I wouldn't hesistate to use a safe, soft muzzle on a dog that is trying to bite me. It's best for the dog and the person trying to handle it. No one needs to get bitten. But like I said, if the groomer muzzled her just because she was moving & was treating her badly, then that is a whole other story.


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## silverhaven (Sep 6, 2009)

Wow! your groomers both sound totally clueless. Only once was Lola groomed by someone other than me. I was away for a couple of weeks and my husband was under strict instructions to take her in and have them bathe her, dry her and put a topknot in. Nothing else, no scissors, no clippers, no nail care nothing. They were ready for my wrath because when I took her in to help me with her feet when she was smaller, the woman started hacking the hair off her feet, not just her pads and I had a mini fit on her. Lol. 

I hope you find someone good soon. Or maybe see if you can get a groomer show you how to do it. I am going to do that when I decide to cut down Lola's body down. I have the equipment all ready.


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)

I hear these horror stories and it makes me so mad. :angry::angry::angry:

When I first got Toby, I took him to a groomers and I didn't care for the place. Toby was my first dog that I ever had that needed to be groomed--all my other dogs had been short coated and I could bath them at home. 

So I decided to find a new place. I'm not sure if that place was any better. The woman did it out of her home but there were a few things I was not pleased with. Her daughter, who was about 5, kept pestering Toby. I didn't think it was professional to have her child in there and I didn't appreciate what she was doing to Toby (no telling what happened while I wasn't there). Also, I had him clipped very short and when I picked him up (I had on a black shirt) his white hairs were all over me. She didn't bother to blow all that off of him.

So after having been to two groomers, neither of which satisfied me, I decided to start grooming Toby myself. It had never really dawned on me before to do so. 

I am certainly not a professional at it, but I have gotten better and faster over the years. I know Toby is in a clean environment and safe. My husband usually holds Toby and I use the clippers on him. If I am in a hurry and do a substandard job blush, it takes about 35 minutes. If I want him to have a nice and even clip, it takes about an hour. Also, if I do mess up, it is only hair and it grows back. Plus Toby wears clothes all the time, so no one really sees it. (And not going to the groomers means more money for clothes for Toby!!! LOL)

It's just something to think about, but you may want to give it a try.


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## nekkidfish (Aug 25, 2009)

I'm taking Poppy to Yvonne on Wednesday to get his first body cut. I'm going to find out what kind of clippers she uses, because they are almost silent. I'll post the name here when I find out. We have clippers here, but they are 10 times louder than the ones she uses.

HUGz! Jules


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## heartmadeforyou (May 16, 2009)

Wow. That sounds like it was a bad experience for your baby!

Bogie was groomed by Petsmart once and he is still afraid of the salon there. Even if the groomers treated him perfectly, the noise and activity is not at all soothing. I started to do his grooming myself with bathing, drying and scissoring first. Then I got a clipper and learned how to do his nails, too. Finally, I took him back to Petsmart to have his ears done while I watched so I would know how to do it. It isn't something I do often. I am getting better and he doesn't get mad at me if his hair isn't perfect. I've worked with him (with treats) so he is pretty good for everything but fights me a bit with toenail trimming.

I'm telling you all this because you should know that grooming isn't an impossible thing to learn and you and your malt would be happier without the stress of repeated bad grooming experiences. Good luck!


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## bellasmummy (Apr 8, 2009)

omg i would have been furious!!! im so sorry that your baby has had yet another bad grooming experience


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## notori (Mar 21, 2005)

poochie2 said:


> Today I took my malt to get groomed. I have two groomers which I switch from time to time. In December when I took her to get a full groom they accidently mixed up the files with another dog and they turned her into a poodle. Shaved her nose area just like a poodle. They called me at home to warn me that there was a mix up. That ended up being free of charge.
> Well today I took her to the other grooming studio and they told me to leave her for 3 hours. Well I returned after 2 hours and they had her muzzled. She was going crazy. She was clearly in distress. I do not think she was able to breathe properly. The lady told me she muzzled her cause she was moving her face to much. When I took her in the car she was making really funny breathing sounds. I think I need to find another groomer. I talked to Petsmart grooming and the lady told me they don't even muzzle maltese dogs cause they have short traceheas and are prone to breathing problems. They use an elizabethian collar. I am not sure if I should just stick with the second groomer and just tell her not to muzzle my dog. Confused? Yes.


It's best to learn to groom your little one's yourself. If not, make sure you know about the groomer and never let them cage dry your Malt. I lost my first Malt year's ago because the dryer was too hot.
Char


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## fach (Jun 27, 2005)

In my area there is a mobile groomer with a very bad rep. Any groomer needs to be checked out. How upsetting this story is. I am so sorry and hope you find someone you can trust with your sweet babies.


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## poochie2 (Jan 14, 2010)

notori said:


> It's best to learn to groom your little one's yourself. If not, make sure you know about the groomer and never let them cage dry your Malt. I lost my first Malt year's ago because the dryer was too hot.
> Char


Oh my! I am so sorry that you lost your malt...so sad.
They do not cage dry my malt.. I've seen them dry her. I am still finding it difficult to find a groomer. I have called a dozen and all of them "muzzle" if they see a need to. I wish I knew how to groom...I think I should learn to do it on my own.


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## myfairlacy (Dec 28, 2007)

notori said:


> It's best to learn to groom your little one's yourself. If not, make sure you know about the groomer and never let them cage dry your Malt. I lost my first Malt year's ago because the dryer was too hot.
> Char


I'm so sorry about your maltese 

not all cage dryers blow hot air. The dog boutique/grooming salon that I work at only uses cage dryers that blow room temp air so it does not get hot. Cage dryers that blow hot air are very dangerous, but not all cage dryers blow hot air. So just check with the groomer you are using to make sure their dryers don't blow hot air. The place I work at will put some dogs back in their kennels to cage dry for a little while and then get them out and finish drying by hand after..and then several get dried completely after their bath without cage drying too.

I'm not defending the groomer in this situation because I don't honestly know how the OPs maltese was treated or if she was muzzled because she was biting or just moving a lot....but I have seen a lot of dogs that act very different for a groomer than they would at home...it is stressful for them at a groomers because of the other dogs there and everything going on (bathing, drying, grooming etc). There are a lot of dogs that have never bitten anyone at home that decide they want to bite at the groomers..and like I said before, a bite hurts no matter what size the dog is. Muzzles are not a bad thing for the dog if used correctly...it does not hurt the dog and it keeps people from getting bitten. Think about it...would you really want to spend an hour bathing, drying, brushing and grooming a dog that tries to bite you multiple times? Moving around a lot is one thing but biting is a whole other issue


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## mamapajamas (Apr 12, 2009)

OMG!!! I have NEVER heard of a groomer muzzling a dog! The master groomer in the shop where I worked long ago would have had our hides if we'd even suggested it! The view in the shop was that we could handle dogs... and if we could NOT handle dogs, we should not be grooming! 

I would definitely change groomers! No question there!


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## nic05 (Jun 11, 2009)

yikes!! that sounds awful!!! i once took my dog to a groomers called pet cuts (inside pet valu) and when i picked up toby, he seemed soo traumatized... he was all shaky and so quite, i felt so sad for him. anywho... if anyone is in the toronto area... theres this fab doggy spa called pamper me please! i just took toby there a few days ago and he seemed really pleased with it. it truly is a doggy spa, he was so relaxed and happy when i came to pick him up.. and i asked the lady if he was being difficult and she said he just sat there like a little angel. plus they dont cage dogs which im super happy about. the atmopshere is really nice, makes u feel like ur furbaby is really getting pampered! 

pmpdogs.com <--check it out!!!


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## resQme (Jan 28, 2010)

*Petsmart groomers*

I took my puppy there for a bath, he was okay but then when it came time for a full groom, they completely chopped him and he looked like a poodle with a landing strip on his butt...i was livid and will never go back....my dog by the way completely freaks out in the petsmart if we go anywhere near the grooming room. I found a groomer through my vet, but she is expensive....just curious if anyone else is in San Antonio and has found a good groomer....


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