Sad and shocking.

In blogging around this subject we hope that it will one help re-assure you that not all groomers are that same. In all professions you get good and bad and recently there has been shocking reports of poor dogs dying at groomers, 4 in the past couple of years due to being burnt by dryers, from reports it appears that all cases have been due to neglect of observation by the groomer and inappropriate use of equipment. The common approach appears to be the placing of a dog in a metal create, and external stand dryers being directed at the cage – while a groomer continues to work on another dog. Only common sense says heat and metal not a good combination, of course the metal will heat up. Plus when drying a dog and giving no thought or regards to it is only calling for a distaster. Yes groomers do use cabinet dryers and used correctly these can be beneficial to a dog and its welfare, yes groomers use metal creates for the health and safety of a dog again used correctly. We are lucky in our local area we have some brilliant groomers all working in different types of environment, while we would love to name them – we have to remember we are a business and we do not have a bad word to say about them, only praise…. (we do drink coffee and eat cake with some already – and the others we can’t wait until we are free to be drinking coffee with!)

How we work at Groomed to Pawfection – we groom in an area which is open to viewing by customers, passers by and other businesses. We do not work in a atmosphere of a factory line of dogs awaiting grooming, we book one dog to a groomer and if this will be different for any reason this is discussed with customer. All our equipment is used for it’s correct purpose and drying for us is completed with dryers, groomer and dog being together and hands on. All our equipment is PAT tested and checked daily for safety. At the end of each day we thoroughly clean all equipment, floors, walls everything. In between each dog tables are cleaned, any equipment such as brushes, restraints, scissors are all cleaned in an appropriate way to the equipment frequently using a UV Steriliser and each dog has clean towels for his or her groom. We come in regularly at weekends to also steam clean the salon, and complete maintenance on equipment.

How else do we keep high standards of health, safety and welfare – keeping up to date with lastest training techniques, researching new equipment, communicate with other groomers, linked to a database warning of out breaks of paravovirus, welcoming visits and working with the local dog warden, and of course our own vets are brilliant (so are the others in the area!) We also listen to our customers who will report any particular illnesses or incidents in local walking area’s. Added to this we have an extensive record keeping system of all our customers and of every appointment which is now going electronic which means we can alert customer easily if outbreaks of illnesses appear in the area and advise vet check if need be. If at any point of a groom we are concerned about your pets health we will either contact owner to take them direct to the vets if urgent or if we can not get hold of owner we will do this ourselves so not to delay. If it is not urgent we will give owners a vet referral highlighting our concerns.

So while this is a long blog – we hope this highlights not all groomers – the brilliant one’s really out way the bad……..as they say it only take a few to ruin it for everyone.

Before we finish ask yourself this question:- Is the cheapest the best research more than the price – we based our prices on being able to maintain and improve service to keep your dog/pet safe.