This review is really just for the grooming services, well, for BETH'S grooming services, which…read morewere stellar.
I was nervous about having our cavalier King Charles spaniel groomed at a chain store franchise. Full disclosure: About 20 years ago, a friend of mine had to put his dog down because a groomer broke the little cocker spaniel's leg, and it could not be reset. Until now, we have had all our dogs groomed at the groomer housed within our vet's office, which is reassuring to me. But, our regular groomer's earliest available appointments are now in SEPTEMBER! Our little cavalier was getting pretty matted, so I was forced to look elsewhere for her health and safety.
When I went in to book the appointment, there was just one woman in the grooming area (which is completely viewable through glass from the store areas), and I had to wait a little bit for her to get to a stopping point with the dog she was grooming so she could take my information. I was grateful for the time to observe not only the worker, but the dog, to see how stressed or nervous he seemed and how she handled him. The dog was very calm while she worked on his foot pads, and she was not hurried or abrupt with him.
Assured enough by all of this, I booked a Saturday noonish appointment for our little Betty. When we arrived, we noticed the woman checking in the dog ahead of us, asking a lot of questions about cut, services, etc. The woman who checked us in wasn't as personable, and given Betty's fur matting, was NOT encouraging; basically, she showed us a swatch of fabric "fur" to show us that they would shave Betty everywhere. We were a little upset because the cavalier coat is not ideally to be cut at all, but due to our own delay in getting her groomed, she was going to have to have some mats cut out. But that seemed a little aggressive to us! We kept talking to her about what could be kept and brushed out, and when we left, we saddened and nervous about what we would get when we came back three to four hours later to collect her.
They called about four hours later and said she was ready to pick up, so off we went. We waited while they went to pick her up, and when she came out, we couldn't believe it! We were prepared for bald Betty, but she came out fluffy and beautiful, mat free, with pretty little bows in her "pigtails" (her ears). We had stipulated we wanted her fluffy little hobbit feet left long, too, and they were trimmed and shaped, looking fabulous. There were some shaved areas, but they were well camouflaged. Seriously, she looked AMAZING!
We took our sales slip to the check out at the front of the store (she was $40, which I signed off on when we took her in), and I got $10 cash for the groomer. I went back and said, "I have a tip for Beth..." not knowing who she was. The personable, energetic woman we had seen initially upon arrival said, "I'm Beth!" and we talked to her about how happy we were with the quality of the cut and she explained what she had done and how mindful she had been of what we wanted.
I will happily return with any of our dogs here, but only if I can make a Beth-specific appointment. She was awesome!