RSPCA / Groomer vs Dog Owner

PucciNPoni

PucciNPoni

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Here's a rather sensational story....


http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/10016778.RSPCA_investigate_over_dog_grooming_row/



The comments below the story just go to prove how ignorant some people are - the fact that the owner allowed her dog to get in that state also highly annoyed me.

If you go to FB and put the name Starz Grooming Salon, you'll see photos of how the dog came in to her!

The groomer made a couple of judgement errors - she should have discussed at length the coat's condition when the dog arrived. She should have made them sign a disclaimer and permission to shave or turned the dog away. She should have left a tuft on the end of the tail so it really DID look like Simba ;) (j/k).
 
Well judging from the before photo the dog didn't see a brush very often. And the RSPCA have never seen an "Alsatian" with such a thick coat, really, they obviously don't see many proper long coats!
 
While I wouldn't recommend shaving a double coated dog anyway, I don't see how the groomer could have done any better to be honest. It would have taken several sessions over weeks, at a much higher cost, in order to sort that coat out without clipping it off. Unless you folks with the GSDs can offer a tip or solution that would be better in that particular case?

The groomer quite rightly states the AWB being on her side as argument for what she's done.
 
I didn't read the story, the headlines said it all.

If I was the owner, I wouldn't be advertising the fact that I never had a brush to my dog :eek:

The groomer did the right thing in my eyes and hopefully the owner will think about her own grooming regime in future.
 
'The German Shepherd is 'depressed' and only walked at night because people laugh at him '

..............HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

To be fair I would be annoyed if I picked my dog up looking like that! they should have got hold of her or not done it! not sure the owner will get anywhere with the RSPCA though, hardly a cruelty case.
 
One of the reasons I eventually decided to keep Freya not her full coat sister was the thought of the mess those fluffy "knickers" would get in when playing in the mud. I actually don't groom mine that often but have a metal toothed rake which I bought in Germany years ago which is great for getting dead undercoat out. I imagine if a dog wasn't groomed properly it would get in a horrendous mess and as you say would need many long and possibly painful sessions to get all the matts out. Clipping it all off would seem the sensible solution.
 
The pics on Facebook do show what a terrible state the coat was in. Clearly the dog hadn't been touched in a long time. Stupid owner. And why is it being called alsayshuun?!
 
While I can understand both sides of the story - plus I own a White Shepherd, I can't help feeling concerned by the salon owners comment..but also her age would explain why - just 19. Good for her to have a business..but not much life experience to go with it..probably still very much jump in feet first, think later..this was confirmed when I was horrified to read this:

Georgia Barnett, 19, who runs Starz, said: “I’ve never seen a dog with such matted fur.She had no choice and back in March it was so matted then and I told her that.I don’t care what my customers think. I don’t take any notice of what the owners want, I want to do what is best for the dog and their welfare and happiness.

Fine about the welfare & happiness..but big 'fur-pas' with the other comment about not caring...BAD call -this will make her popular & business boom! Plus its not her dog.

That said, my boy is brushed very regularly, due to his daily mud baths at the stables..even in the summer tho (last year) when it was dry he never matted even tho he only had a light flick over weekly but was checked daily for unwanted evil visitors...even my late rough collie with a mega yetti style double coat NEVER had mats. She does need to step up her grooming regime..she clearly has her own for her long hair, so what loss is 5 mins even once a week or 2 mins a day?..Poor dog tho, I do feel sorry for him..he looks so sheepish..my dogs have always loved being groomed & I love grooming them..its really no more bother than brushing your own hair or keeping yourself 'groomed'...oh...and totally agree about leaving the bit at the end of his tail!:D

ets NOT seen FB yet - it keeps crashing on me, not been able to get on this morning
 
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In my opinion the groomer did a really TIDY job of stripping it off. I think the owners contacted the RSPCA thinking that they had to save face somehow. They claim that blood was coming off the back legs (though you'd have thought that they would have printed pictures of that as evidence of the horrible/negligent grooming) which is why they allegedgly contacted RSPCA.
 
SaharaS said:
While I can understand both sides of the story - plus I own a White Shepherd, I can't help feeling concerned by the salon owners comment..but also her age would explain why - just 19. Good for her to have a business..but not much life experience to go with it..probably still very much jump in feet first, think later..this was confirmed when I was horrified to read this:

Georgia Barnett, 19, who runs Starz, said: “I’ve never seen a dog with such matted fur.She had no choice and back in March it was so matted then and I told her that.I don’t care what my customers think. I don’t take any notice of what the owners want, I want to do what is best for the dog and their welfare and happiness.
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Yes, it's a horrific comment - which is the "sensational" bit IMO. I am willing to bet the groomer either didn't say it, said it perhaps in anger at being questioned, or it was taken out of context. My bristles went up too when I read that, but having been interviewed for articles in the past and knowing how they can be taken out of context or twisted, even by GOOD reputed rags - can only imagine that the senstationalism is what makes the article more exciting for some.

But the dog has been neglected - not the WORST case I've seen BY FAR, but sure enough it's simple neglect.
 
PucciNPoni said:
In my opinion the groomer did a really TIDY job of stripping it off. I think the owners contacted the RSPCA thinking that they had to save face somehow. They claim that blood was coming off the back legs (though you'd have thought that they would have printed pictures of that as evidence of the horrible/negligent grooming) which is why they allegedgly contacted RSPCA.
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Just seen fb pics..yes i do agree, lovely neat job..and the fleece she took off it was actually more like the shearings i get off my sheep..regarding the blood..if she had nicked him using shears/clippers, as with horses or sheep, you would definitley be able to see scars so as its only 3 days ago...surely she sould still prove this...totally disgusting state, but it would not have taken much on a daily or even weekly basis to sort that & keep it under control before it got to that stage, esp as georgina says she told her in March..little and often...he looked sheepish in the echo pic, but grinning from ear to ear in the fb pic!
 
Yep, it was like shearing a sheep. Generally speaking, when a coat comes off in one piece, its generally deemed un-brushable! Experienced groomers know how to spot these without having to brush thru it to discover that.

I felt bad too about the comments that people made about the groomer being young and therefore inexperienced. Heck, I know one groomer who is training her daughter who is 13. By the time she's 19 she'll have at least six years experience - who's to say that this girl isn't the same?
 
Having double coated dogs, I'm always really strict with regular grooming, right down to the skin. I don't recommend shaving them at all, as it interferes with their internal temperature control.

However, that coat looked terrible, and it looked like the groomer did the best she could under the circumstances. To have got into that matted state, it must have been left for a long time, and the dog been really uncomfortable.
 
PucciNPoni said:
Unless you folks with the GSDs can offer a tip or solution that would be better in that particular case?
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Brush your dog :p

My young dog is my first long coat (that we have kept) and was the reason I was able to get him from someone else at a bargain bin price - his coat is a total pain in the jacksie. He has a matt on the bum that is getting cut off this weekend and has started to finally blow his coat at nearly two :o but he is brushed two or three times a week.


I really, really disagree with clipping a GSD but that coat was a disgrace (that's not the hairiest I've seen by a long shot) and the clip is a nice tidy job.
 
Well done to groomer, she has made that dog a lot more comfortable, if owners can't be bothered to groom their long coated breeds then they should think before buying and opt for a smooth coated dog.
A lady I know had a spaniel and setter whom weren't groomed and ended up with dreadlocks, she was too embarassed to take them to groomers so I offered to clip them off and like others have said it's a bit like shearing a sheep! These dogs bounced around once I had finished with them as they were so much more comfortable.
It's the kindest thing you can do for a dog in a situation like that!
 
misterjay, do moot coats tend to matt? I've always wondered. The sibes don't seem to at all, even when they've been wet and unbrushed several days in a row (and I know D has a very short coat and perhaps wouldn't matt regardless but R has substantial fuzzy trousers :p).

If there is some aspect of the coat that prevents matting maybe the inuit/utonagan folk are on to something after all, they're doing GSDs a favour by improving the coat.

*ducks* :p :D
 
CaveCanem said:
Brush your dog :p




I really, really disagree with clipping a GSD but that coat was a disgrace (that's not the hairiest I've seen by a long shot) and the clip is a nice tidy job.
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Singing to the choir ;)

I just love it though (again, back to the comments below the article) how so many people jump on the groomer to blame her for her "inexperience" and "lack of skill"....
 
As suggested, bone idle owners clearly wanting someone else to do the painful de matting and back breaking work and when they don't and take the more user friendly route for both the dog and groom, the owner screams "cruelty", I doubt they even walk the walk if it's coat was in such a state so not sure why embarrassed to walk it now (put a bloody coat on it) it will need one anyway this time of year with no coat.
My Akita gets shaved right down to near enough that length and everyone who sees her comments and how uber cute she is and how she looks like a puppy (I do make a fabulous job):p:D and I actually brush her out, however as she likes to lie out in snow and rain then the best way to maintain her immense LONG coat (that makes that shepherd look like a single coated breed:rolleyes::p is to keep her short now in her older years. This year her coat has grown in very slow so no need for her doggy coat, but last year I bought a lovely warm coat for her (much to her disgust):p she would rather lie on the lawn all year round:rolleyes: so our agreement is she can (aslong as her coat stays shorter)

You would think the owners would just pay and toddle off in shame and be thankful the dog is not not looking the way it was.
 
CAYLA said:
You would think the owners would just pay and toddle off in shame and be thankful the dog is not not looking the way it was.
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Yes, you WOULD think so, wouldn't you. However, more and more I keep hearing of groomers being asked to pay for vet bills which really have more to do with pre-existing neglect which is uncovered by the grooming process. I keep hearing of groomers getting "charged" for clipper rash treatments when shaving off a year's worth of neglect and filth. Fair enough if it was the groomer's fault - but surely some folk are just getting really cheeky about it when really they've let the dog get in to that state to start with. :(
 
Put Starz Grooming Salon in the fb search.

The poor dog was a real mess, and the groomer gives a very balanced explanation as to why she clipped all the hair off. Looking at the photos I really don't see she had any alternative.
 
Groomer is a friend of a friend.....
Owner had been previously approached and explained to that the dog required grooming on a regular basis to prevent matting.

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Sorry bit big!
 
Can I just make a little mention of my earlier first comment about life experience, where I commented on the groomers age.. I was reffering to her people handling experience rather than her abilities as a groomer..as that was followed by 'i don't care about what the customer wants/thinks" I was trying, badly, to say she probably hasn't got the life experience to have been able to bash the owners head very hard(verbally) against something very solid. She says she told her in March and advised this would happen..when an owner like this is pig ignorant enough to allow her dog to get into this condition ..and "not see the shepherd for its fleece" the groomer might have been better to put it in writing or on the bill..this woman(owner of 'sheepy' dog) is clearly incompetent..if she is capable of bringing a daughter up & not managing to have killed her yet...AS WELL as being the owner of long hair, she will be more than capable of brushing that..so whats the difference with the dog. None. We all know horses/sheep can get nicks/shaving rash when we clip/shear and yes sometimes we mess up (when they suddenly become ninja yettis) but it grows out & clip lines smooth over within a couple of days.

This was a lovely neat job and although I would not have tried to groom it out(seriously ouch for the poor dog), I think as bad as I feel about clipping this type of coat, it was the only painless option for this dog..she's very lucky it had such a clean skin underneath & wasn't riddled with sores or lodgers or worse.Still not seen any pics of the cuts/blood online that she claims to have had. (ketchup/Raspberry sauce anyone?) he looks rather like rupert the bear now!:D
 
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SaharaS - I agree with you about the life experience comment....IF the groomer in fact said what the paper reported ;)

She could have/ should have perhaps handled the client a different way perhaps. There is no mention of her warning the client upon check in that the dog would be clipped short. There is no mention of her phoning the client to tell them that she could not groom as usual.

However, the fact that she clipped, reported it, took photos all speak volumes for her maturity and good decision making for those aspects.

She did a good job IMO, but client communication is also very important.
 
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