Cody got shaved all over by the stupid groomer!

[nowwown]

ARRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!

 

Time to vent. I brought Cody to a groomer for a "freshening trim". This groomer was recommended by a friend. The groomer and I talked about keeping his hair long, that I wanted it long since he was outdoors a lot, and we agreed he looked a little "unkempt" and she would trim him. We discussed his long feathered tail and said his hair on his tail should be slightly shorter, and to shorten the hair around his private parts. Note that Cody had NO mats, no burrs, no knots anywhere.

 

When I came to pick him up four hours later, he was shaved. All over. Everywhere. Except for the last two inches of his tail. The hair is no longer than 1/2" anywhere. He looked awful. No ruff. No feathers. Just short hair everywhere. I nearly burst out crying.

 

What did the groomer say? After his bath, when she started to cut, he looked "choppy" so she decided to use the razor.

 

Unfortunately, I had already paid when they brought him out. I called to complain the next day but they basically said they did the best they could, that they had given him a bath, trimmed his nails, cleaned his ears, etc.

 

I will post before and after shots so you can see. I need to get the photos uploaded.

 

But here's a question, how long do you think it will take for his beautiful long coat to grow back? A year?

 

I am so upset.

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

OMG. That is horrible!

I gave Daisy a hair cut her first summer. It can get quite hot here and that was before I understood about the undercoat and how all that worked. It doesn't sound as short as Cody's but it took her I think about 8 months to grow back to a "normal" length....

[Laurena]

That is horrible , I would be SO angry . Poor Cody .

[Shetlander]

I'd be ticked off. If that was the best they could do, they're not very skilled at their work, are they? Obviously they don't know how to scissor.

[nancy in AZ]

The exact same thing happened to Kit when I brought her to the groomer's (for the last time!) for a "trim" about 3 years ago. I was really pissed off. I don't understand why some groomers do this??? It was NOT what we had discussed. I think it took approx 7-8 months for her to completely regrow her coat. I remember keeping her sun exposure pretty minimal that summer, fearing she'd by susceptible to sunburn.

 

 

[Lewie'sMom]

Aw, shucks! That's a shame but it will grow back in time.

 

How does Cody seem to feel? Is he bothered by his new "do" or just takin' it in stride?

 

My first BC mix had a serious allergy to fleas and just one bite would make him scratch like a mad-dog. This was many years ago, before the effective flea treatment/preventative we have now. Heck, it was even before anybody in my neck of the woods ever heard the term "heartworm". My vet gave me a flea spray, which stunk to blue blazes and Willie hated being sprayed so I didn't use it much. But, I digress.

 

Anyway, one summer was particularly bad for fleas and I just couldn't figure out what to do for the poor guy, so I decided to shave him making it easier to find any fleas that had the audacity to trespass on him. Well, let me tell you, he pranced like he was the hottest thing on 4 legs! He seemed to feel 100x better. Granted, he looked different for a while but it was worth it to have him feel so much better.

 

Not trying to make light of your frustration but every cloud has a silver lining, no?

[nowwown]

The exact same thing happened to Kit when I brought her to the groomer's (for the last time!) for a "trim" about 3 years ago. I was really pissed off. I don't understand why some groomers do this??? It was NOT what we had discussed. I think it took approx 7-8 months for her to completely regrow her coat. I remember keeping her sun exposure pretty minimal that summer, fearing she'd by susceptible to sunburn.

 

Ha! Cody looks so much like Kit right now, just in Black and White! And he feels bristly, not silky/soft any more.

 

However, on the bright side, he seems happy-go-lucky, not-a-problem-Mom, so I don't think he realizes all his gorgeous coat is gone.

[aBC4me]

OMG I would go on a rampage, but that is my personality. I am of the mind that if you didn't understand what I said then you should have called me with questions.

[diane allen]

Of course, every dog is different - but I get my older BC mix trimmed at the beginning of summer. She just gets SO hot (she has the other breed's undercoat....). Last year, the groomer got way carried away and most of her hair was no more than about 1/4" long! Gads she was ugly there for awhile. But by September, she was pretty much fully haired again - and it didn't grow back any different than it was to start with. Patience, patience....

 

diane

[SincereArtisan]

My dogs will get their belly shaved this year, to help them keep cool during the summer months. But that is the limit to my trimming.

 

I would call the groomer, threaten to boycott their service and threaten to post a personal review of their services in the local paper...then see what their attitude is towards refunding your groom. I would be infuriated, to say the very least. I love my dog's long coats, and shaved coats never seem to grow back the same.

[bc friend]

Sorry to hear about the groomer shave - I can't believe they used a razor on him!

 

In answer to your question about how long it takes for the hair to grow back, I'd think every dog is a little different but Sara was shaved from her "armpits" all the way to her tail for her liver surgery in early July and she now has fully grown back her coat - however, the hair on her belly has a slightly different texture than the rest of her coat.

[Guest SweetJordan]

That's terrible, I would have been very upset. I can tell you that when I adopted Riley last spring her previous owners trimmed(but didn't shave) all of her tail feathers. It's still growing back. Even the parts that I thought were done growing are still growing(they didn't cut it evenly). It looks so much better and is getting long and thick but I think it's still going to be a while at least, and will probably still be growing into the fall. Though her tail feathers are the longest on her body. We didn't even realize that her butt hairs had been cut at first. Then we started to notice how long and thick that hair was becoming. Though some of the thickness probably has to do w/ winter.

[Debbie Crowder-BaaramuLuke]

How sad, but it should grow back in 6-8months, might take the tail longer to look natural. At least it's just hair.

 

If someone comes to me with such a request (I'm a "stupid" groomer of 29 years, but leaving the profession real soon), I tell them straight up it's likely to look choppy and cosmetically unattractive. Not many pet groomers can produce a smoothly scissored coat to the terms of what you sound like you wanted. And I have to ask why they want it "neat"? Certainly you can try it, as you did, and they produced you a neat smooth clip (with clipper blades--likely not "razors") with comb attachments to get it to 1/2 inch, maybe they used a #4. I just flat out try to talk people out of it. If they want to go ahead, they've been warned, and they aren't so devastated.

 

I'm telling you, grooming is one thick-skinned job, and taking out personal reviews, boycotts, all that telling of how they've wronged you is only going to make you look nutty. I know it hurts that your dog is now unattractive, but it will grow back. As was said, patience...

 

Now go tell Cody how beautiful he is and how much you love him.

[kate40541]

I'm so sorry about Cody! It sounded to me that what you wanted for him was to have the uneven, split ends of the feathering on his tail and his "kilt" (as my sister calls it) trimmed. Like the people I know with shelties do with their dogs. I trim all the feathering, the hocks, and the snowshoe feet on mine only using scissors and never have any problem doing it. It can certainly be done while leaving them looking normal.

 

There are groomers who know what they're doing but an awful lot of them either don't listen to what you say or don't have the skill to do anything but the usual cookie cutter thing to all dogs that come in.

 

Suzanne

[BustopherJones]

Missy is a Border Collie/Belgian Sheepdog mix. Before her cancer, she had the most beautiful long coat, and a tail that looked like a flag (see the picture below). But the coat was too heavy for the summer months, so we decided to have her groomed and trimmed. The groomer did a nice job of cutting back her coat; but she shaved the tail, making it look like a rat's tail! I made my feelings unequivocally known about the subject, and 6 months later (after the fur on the tail had grown back) I was careful to be aboslutely explicit about how I wanted her fur done for that and all future trims. With Annie, I take no chances; while she is (obviously) not a conformance dog, I tell the groomer to give her a "show trim" on the rare occasions during the fall and winter when she goes for a bath and grooming.

 

The_Girls__Croppped_.BMP

[Shetlander]

It sounded to me that what you wanted for him was to have the uneven, split ends of the feathering on his tail and his "kilt" (as my sister calls it) trimmed. Like the people I know with shelties do with their dogs. I trim all the feathering, the hocks, and the snowshoe feet on mine only using scissors and never have any problem doing it. It can certainly be done while leaving them looking normal.

 

Exactly. I used to have my shelties professionally groomed and they came out looking gorgeous. Now I trim up my Sheltie myself as well as Quinn to a lesser extent. The Sheltie starts to look straggly otherwise. I also do the feathering, hocks, feet. Plus I trim around their ears and sometimes neaten up the tail. Just recently, I had to do some serious trimming of the sheltie's ruff on her chest to get it looking even again. It's not a professional job, but they still look well groomed and like the breeds they are.

 

I've been very fortunate in the groomers I've used over the years. But as with any profession, some are much better than others.

[nowwown]

I'm so sorry about Cody! It sounded to me that what you wanted for him was to have the uneven, split ends of the feathering on his tail and his "kilt" (as my sister calls it) trimmed. Like the people I know with shelties do with their dogs. I trim all the feathering, the hocks, and the snowshoe feet on mine only using scissors and never have any problem doing it. It can certainly be done while leaving them looking normal.

 

There are groomers who know what they're doing but an awful lot of them either don't listen to what you say or don't have the skill to do anything but the usual cookie cutter thing to all dogs that come in.

 

Suzanne

 

Exactly!

 

Also, I didn't mean to insult ALL groomers as being stupid but this particular one is deserving of that...

 

By the way, after asking for a refund, which they said no to in their voice mail mssage to me, I disputed the Visa charge. So now it is an official charge card dispute. If that doesn't work, I will complain to the Better Business Bureau here in our city and make a formal complaint. That will get their attention if not my money back.

 

I will try to post before and after photos today or tomorrow...

 

Thanks for all the comments, I guess we will go through the summer with this growing-back thing. I still love my Cody though, ugly or beautiful.

[DixiesDad]

Right after Dixie came to live with us I had the great idea to take her for a grooming. It was a long time before she forgave me.

 

 

This was right after the cut. They even clipped her feathers. Was I mad.

 

 

This is my girl with all her charms grown back.

[aBC4me]

This was right after the cut. They even clipped her feathers. Was I mad.

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 600 ] - Click to view full image

 

 

Boy does she look angry! Yikes

[SalemsMom]

This isn't a BC, but it took about 8 months for Salem to go from this:

 

 

To this:

 

 

My poor guy! None of my pets will ever get haircuts again.

[silhouettestable]

I had the same kind of thing happen with my rough collie Noah. We don't have many choices of groomers near where I live, so even though my mom wasn't very happy with the grooming her collie got, I did take Noah to the same one. I usually just groom him myself but with my back bothering me (herniated disk) that time I opted to let somebody else bath and brush him. I had specifically said that I didn't want him cut a lot, only the long hair on his feet. I had already made sure there were no mats behind his ears of elbows or in the inner thigh area. I didn't want her to have any excuse to start doing any extra cutting. He came back with his front legs all trimmed up short, his underbelly trimmed way up and his "trousers" hacked off to about half the normal length. For months I hated the sight of him walking ahead of me, his hind view looked so ridiculous, like he was wearing shorts or something. Very upsetting, and for what? He wasn't matted or anything, he just had loose undercoat that needed to be stripped out. One of the times my mom had her dog there he didn't even feel like he'd been bathed. Last time she had him groomed she tried someone else and was much happier. It's further away but worth it.

[Bo Peep]

Never ask for "just a trim"

[ljrphoto]

I've always heard that you should never shave a double coated dog???

[bcnewe2]

So I was thinking that Mick is looking so muddy and yucky that I was going to get him professionally groomed. I've never had a dog groomed. I've done my own but that's usually just a bath with trimming the yucky feather and tail mats he gets from being so muddy and long haired. After hearing this story I know I won't ask for a trim!

 

Last summer Mick decided to lay right where my DH had put some fresh concrete caulk on a crack in our porch. I tried to wash it off with the hose, then tried to pick it off. Finally ended up shaving the whole right side of his body including his back leg. As the caulk was drying his back leg hair was sticking to his tummy hair. I didn't bother to do the other side cause I figured if standing from one side he'd look normal! It was grown back with-in a maybe a month. I couldn't believe how fast it came back. Maybe the longer hair on top covered it so it just looked like it grew back. Either way, I had just had some awful dental surgery and while healing the sutures decided to come out my cheek (on the outside) I was allergic to the material they used. So I looked just as bad as him. He told me he didn't want everybody to just stare at me so he laid in the caulk just to get his hair cut! We were quite the pair!

 

Nancy, Kit looks so cute, kinda like a terrier/whippet with her trim! But poor Dixie looks totally disgusted with her bow! I like the shave on Kit better than what they did to Dixie! I can just see Mick with a bow! Maybe some smelly good spray so he'd have to go home and roll in poo just to get back to normal!

 

I guess we've been though so much hardship with Mick's physical issues that a bad hair cut makes me laugh! He really doesn't care one way or another. But if I do have him groomed I'll just ask for a good scrubbing and mat cutting or should I leave off the mat cutting part?

 

I'm sorry that you're so unhappy with Cody, I hope you get what you want out of the complaint you filed but unfortunately you can't get his hair back till it grows out. Sometimes I think it's just better to rant on a place like this and then let it go. It makes for better stress levels.

 

I used to be a hair dresser way back when, I hated it! I think all dogs are beautiful so I'd find it hard to not like how one looks just on hair cutting, but people on the other hand always wanted someone else's hair and blamed me when all they got was shorter hair but still their own!

 

Wishing I had faster internet so I could at least post a pic once in a while! It takes way to long just to down load the pictures that do get posted.

 

Kristen

[Bo Peep]

I once had a poodle-mix that would only leave the house to pee, he was so embarrassed. Poor Miss Lacey- They even hurt her on her bum! Like the "scarf" would make a difference. I was so mad.

Before shot

Edited February 22, 2008 by Bo Peep