By Bonnie Wonders
April 2, 2015
After 30 plus years of grooming you would think that I’ve pretty much seen it all as far as unwilling grooming customers. I’ve certainly had my share of canine owners who don’t want to give up their precious pet for an hour or two as they get groomed. Honestly, you’d think they were sacrificing their first born when they have to leave them with me for a bath and haircut. I’m really not all that bad. I’ve never (knock on wood… or my husband’s head, whichever is closer at the moment) had a canine die whilst in my care. never had one have to go to the doggy er after leaving my place. never had to carry out CPR on one. I on the other hand, have had to take myself to the medical facility after being around some of THEM.
We’ve all seen those kinds of owners who transfer their own anxiety to their dogs when the time concerns hand ‘em over. I’ve had owners cry when I try to pry their pet from their arms while they are sobbing, “Mommy is Soooo sorry to have to leave you here… I’ll be back baby. I promise,” they say in between gasps. Geesh… I am so tempted to hand them a paper bag as I not so gently push them toward the front door. These dogs shiver and shake and put on some of the best acting this side of Broadway. The second, and I do imply the second those dogs hear the owner get out the front door, they stop their own theatrics and look up at me like “Thank goodness she’s gone… and she calls ME a drama queen!”
A couple customer’s dogs however, will come in the front door and as soon as their owner’s unhook their leash, they head straight back into the cage room and run into a bottom cage and pull the door shut behind them. They will do just about anything to avoid that room with the dreaded bath tub. until they figure out how to actually lock the door behind them, I’ve got the upper hand.
I had one customer who had to have her daughter bring the canine in because the lady had to work. The girl actually drove the canine to my place, came in dogless and proceeded to tell me that she “asked” the canine if she wanted to get her haircut. The canine jumped from the passenger seat to the back seat, so the girl knew that she wasn’t in the mood for getting groomed. “My mother will have to bring her back when she’s ready,” she informed me. with that announcement, she left. Yup, just like that. best back out the door and into her automobile and homeward bound, I assumed. Me… speechless. I actually kind of delighted in calling the girl’s mother to tell her why the canine wouldn’t be groomed that day. Oh, to have been at their house when it was mother Vs daughter night… round one… I would bet on a knockout.
I had a customer once who brought in a Lhasa to be cut down into a puppy cut. She left, and as I had just started to bathe the dog, the spouse appeared. He stormed back into the grooming room and demanded (nicely, I should admit) that I give him the canine back. “Uh, Linda just brought him in for a grooming,” I said. “Well, he’s NOT getting his hair cut,” he informed me matter-of-factly. “I told her I want him to have long hair. I don’t want any of it cut off,” he said. “Uh,” I said again (I’m good at saying that when I’m dumbfounded). “I don’t know what to do then…” I trailed off. “You just give him to me,” David said. “He’s all wet,” I had said. “That’s ok, just rinse him off and give him here,” he said. I did as I was told, wrapped the canine in a towel and handed him to Dave. “Are you sure you don’t want me to at least bathe and dry him?” I asked. “Oh yeah. I’m sure,” he said. Rolling my eyes, I viewed as he carted his canine away.
Thirty minutes later Linda called to let me know that she and Dave had gotten into a major discussion over the haircut. The husband had apparently won the argument for the moment. However, it was under the stipulation that he would be solely responsible for brushing the dog’s hair every day. It only took about a month for him to see the light, aka “Linda’s Way.” Within four weeks I saw Sparky again. this time Dave brought him in and asked very nicely if I could please cut his hair way down as he couldn’t seem to find the time (or patience) needed to comb through all that canine hair every day. Go figure.
I’ve had dozens of people over the years who, of course, save a ton of money by learning to groom their own dogs. They make this announcement to us that they’re going to take over the job themselves. After all, they know how easy it is to groom a canine as they’ve viewed us through the window. These same people are the ones who eventually come back begging us to groom their dogs again. This of course after they hack their dog’s hair up, making him look like he stuck his tail into a 110 outlet. They’ve also managed to misjudge their objective with the scissors while trying to remove a mat, thereby slicing into their dog’s flesh. Finally, they spend a good hour cleaning up all the blood that they didn’t know their dog’s foot couldnull