This review is going to be strange because it is going to sound really negative, but it's really more neutral and a statement of what happened.
To preface, I have a small fluffy dog. He used to go to the groomers every few months and did well. He went to this Petco once when it was still located on Burlington for a full grooming service (bath, haircut, nail-trim). There was no problem with the service, I just didn't like the style of haircut, and started taking him to Petsmart. I started grooming him myself about two years ago to save money. However, in the meanwhile, he has broken both dewclaws multiple times just from running fast and turning hard and getting them caught in the grass. In the past year, due to sensitive dewclaws, he has developed a great aversion to getting his nails trimmed, and I started taking him back to the groomer to get his nails cut as a result. I had been taking him to the Petsmart on 8500 North Evanston Avenue, (Kansas City, but practically Liberty). This Petco relocated and I thought I would give it a try being that it is closer to my home. I went in on a Saturday afternoon. It was very loud, busy, and had dogs everywhere (I am not stating this as negative, it's what would be expected, just stating conditions that may have had an effect on the situation). I checked-in with the grooming department and handed over the appropriate paperwork. My dog, Romeo, was very apprehensive, but I don't expect him to love getting his nails cut. He does better when he cannot see me so I walked away to the register and paid my $10 to have the service done. When I got back less than 10 minutes later, they brought Romeo out to me and said they could not perform the service because Romeo was freaking out too badly, even when they tried to muzzle him. I have never tried to muzzle him before, but he does freak out in confined spaces and think this contributed to the problem. I didn't exactly appreciate the muzzling without my knowledge part, but it was a glass room and I could have seen what they were doing. I understand that he was being uncooperative and they need to protect themselves for their safety (just fyi, he has never bitten anyone before). I was taking him to professionals in the first place because I have experience him behaving this way when I tried to do it myself. They refunded my money and I was glad that they immediately made the decision not to proceed with the service. The didn't try to force the situation just to get my money, which I'm glad about because no groomer or dog was hurt.
The crux of the matter is that I got my refund and immediately drove to the Petsmart off Tiffany Springs. The groomer took Romeo (who was again apprehensive); I went to the cashier and paid $9 for the same service, came back in 5 minutes and he was done. The groomer said he was scared, but did fine.
...in all, I think he did better with the set up of going behind a short half-wall rather than a whole other glass-faced room as was the case at Petco. Dog barks were not echoing from the kennels at Petsmart and it was less crowded. I wouldn't necessarily say that Petco did anything wrong or conducted bad business. This whole situation may have just been bad luck and timing, but he has never been turned away before. I will obviously not be returning to the Petco for his nail trim any time soon as it would be a waste of my time (and costs $1 more). I would have no problem returning to buy treats or supplies, but we normally go to Land of Paws for that type of stuff.
This was a unique and unfortunate situation. read more