AVOID THIS GROOMER! DANGEROUS - SHAVED MY DOGS GENITAL AREA AFTER BEING TOLD NOT TO, AND INJURED HIS PENIS, WHICH COST ME $700 IN A VET BILL (which they did pay me for after the fact -- DUE TO THEIR NEGLIGENCE!).
My 10 month old golden retriever puppy was eager to come in for his first grooming appointment. When my wife brought him in, we noticed several issues:
- this is a TINY space that have about 8-10 dogs CRAMMED into.
- The space itself is dirty, with dangerous cords and wires in plain sight for any dog to accidentally chew. They had 2-3 groomers available on staff to handle these 10 dogs. They claim the dogs are all supervised at all times, but I assure you there is absolutely no way my dog was watched at all times. My wife even noticed that our dog jumped up on a shelf where there was a cord exposed! They claim that they were short staffed and this was unusual for them, but this was just inconceivable to me that a groomer would allow this sort of environment for my or any dog.
Against our best judgement, we decided to let them groom our dog. We were told that AMANDA was the person and apparently the lead "senior" groomer who groomed my dog.
*** We then made crystal clear to them that his genital area and penis are NOT to be touched, as he was recently neutered.
When I picked him my dog, we were told that he had BLOOD IN HIS URINE...and that the front desk staff had the audacity to tell me that he "likely has a urinary tract infection or kidney stone".
I am a physician, and I know what a kidney stone or a UTI looks like, and this was NOT that. When I inspected his penis, I SAW THAT THEY HAD SHAVED HIS PENIS AND THE AREA AROUND HIS PENIS (please see the photos which clearly show he was inappropriately and cleared shaved in the genital area and on his penis). WHAT IS WORSE IS THAT MY DOG SUFFERED A CLEAR INJURY TO HIS PENIS!!! Again look at the pictures.
I was subsequently forced to take my puppy to the emergency vet, only to have my suspicion confirmed by the vet that my dog did NOT have a UTI or any evidence of a kidney stone, but that he clearly suffered injury to his penis. I had to pay almost $700 out of pocket for this vet visit.
You dont need to be a doctor to put 2 and 2 together: Groomies was NEGLIGENT in shaving my dogs genitals when they should not have, and they most likely (although of course this cannot be proven definitely) injured my dog in the process.
I confronted the front desk staff about why my dog was shaved in the genital area and was told that it "must have been miscommunication". I followed up with the owner of Groomies, who contacted my vet, confirmed what happened, and paid the vet bill (which I do appreciate).
I was given a non-sense explanation that my dog possibly sustained this injury because they had to use some sort of "restraining bandage" on him. I know this is ridiculous and not possible because when I asked the groomer how many times in her almost 5 years as a groomer she has ever seen this injury due to this mysterious restraining bandage, she said never.
The simplest explanation is often the correct explanation - a restraining bandage that has NEVER injured another dog at their business did not harm my dog; the groomer Ashley (most likely) harmed my dog while shaving his genitals, even though they were explicitly told not to go near his genitals.
The owner, however, belittled me and stood firm when I simply suggested to her that she improve communication within her team to avoid harming pets in the future and performing procedures that owners explicitly tell them not to (i.e., shaving of the genitals). She said that she "reviewed the video footage and asked her staff" and said to me their staff did nothing wrong and that no negligence occurred lol. What a joke.
Again, even if my dog never got injured, THEY STILL SHAVED HIS GENITALS AND PENIS WHEN WE EXPLICITLY SAID NOT TO. That in and of itself is negligence. The fact that in the process of doing this, they hurt my dog and injured his penis makes it 100% worse. read more