On December 2nd 2020, I took my 6lb fur baby (Penelope) to Hector's feed and Supply for her first grooming appt. I talked with the groomer for over 10 minutes, explaining that this pup (8 months old) had never been groomed before, and she was skid-dish. I also told them to groom her however it was easiest on them and her (shave her or brush her out) to minimize stress to both dog and groomer. I felt something was wrong about 35 minutes before I picked Penelope up, and decided to call and check on her. The groomer was given the phone and she could not even form a sentence through her crying, she just kept saying "Her eyes, her eyes, I need to taker her to the vet." I told her no, do not move, I will be there in 5 minutes. I raced there, went inside, the groomer was holding my dog, brushing her. I grabbed Penelope, and left immediately, with no explanation. She was lethargic when I picked her up and didn't even recognize it was me for about a minute until we got into my car. At which time I saw ALL the blood vessels in her eyes had burst. I went to 2 vets for 2 separate opinions, both were horrified and said it looked like she had been strangled, perhaps with the slip leash she was tied to while grooming was the consensus (as we did not have any story of what happened yet.)
She was given 3 different medicines and a cone, as well as hundreds of dollars worth of vet bills, as I prayed there was no long term damage. My husband in the meantime, was on the phone with Hector's manager, Kate, trying to get some answers.
First, they said they received some packages while she was being groomed, left her on the table, and when they returned, she pulled back on their slip lead (it gets tighter around a dogs neck when pulled) and caused the damage herself. THEN, Kate told us what actually happened was Penelope pulled back on the slip lead, it tightened on her neck and the groomer used a "normal" scruffing technique to control her. We questioned just how "normal" this technique was as the groomers reaction was inconsolable. Kate then said she had watched the video with the groomer and there was no abuse or neglect in her opinion. We were still not satisfied with their answers, as Penelope's injuries told another story.
We insisted on seeing the video ourselves, and met at Hector's the next morning. We then watched the video with a Snowflake-Taylor Police officer, and were horrified. Penelope was 90% done with her grooming, she pulled back away from the groomer, at which point the slip leash tightened around her neck, the groomer then grabbed her by the nape of the neck, picked her up off the table by the neck, shook her around and then slammed her back down onto the table. The groomer continued to hold her so tight by the back of the neck, I could see Penelope's mouth gaping open, gasping for air for at least 2 minutes. We tried extensively to work with Kate through this, as we own small businesses too and empathized with Hector as a business owner in the middle of Covid-19, however, Kate was not willing to work with us unless we signed her ridiculously one sided contract absolving them of any and all responsibility in this matter. We asked that the groomer be fired, she clearly needs a new profession that doesn't involve animals, but after being treated like WE were the criminals here by Kate, coupled with the fact Kate said this was "completely standard practice" BEFORE we saw the video, we felt morally obligated to speak out to ensure this does not happen to anyone else's defenseless animals. Our vet bills have yet to be re-reimbursed to us, and my dog is still having some breathing issues, continued redness and sensitivity in her eyes and is very scared of anyone who is not immediate family. The pictures speak for themselves. read more