# Groomer Charged With Animal Cruelty



## Gharrissc (May 19, 2012)

Charges laid against dog groomer, accused of assaulting animals - Calgary | Globalnews.ca


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

This was going around the groomer groups a couple of months ago after a member asked what she should do about a co-worker who was being abusive with the dogs. Apparently, she tried to show the video to her boss, who refused to watch it, and instead fired her. So she put up the video on youtube and it went viral. Then the boss tried to say he had "no idea" that this was happening. 

I hate it when this kind of thing happens. It makes all groomers look bad and downgrades the entire profession. I actually haven't watched the video. I have no desire to watch animals being abused.

I have mixed feelings about leaking such videos to the media. On the one hand, sunshine is the best disinfectant. On the other hand, as I said, it makes all groomers look bad, and the girl in the video has received death threats. I'm not condoning what she did to the animals, but she doesn't deserve the death penalty, IMO. The shop's reputation is of course ruined, which has hurt the employees that didn't do ANYTHING wrong. It's just a bad situation all the way around, and the girl in the video should never have been hired in the first place.


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## Gwenhwyfair (Jul 27, 2010)

I don't think this will have the impact of making all groomers look bad. A few people may over-react like that but most people understand that a few bad apples don't spoil the bunch.

A good friend of mine is a groomer. She worked at a large company for awhile and found that the pressure to groom more and more dogs in less and less time was too stressful. She left and now has her own small grooming business. She also can refuse to do dogs that are just too aggressive or unmanageable since she is her own boss now.

My point being is sometimes groomers are under pressure from their bosses/managers to push dogs out as fast as possible...but when you're working with animals that's not always possible.

This really is a sad case but I trust my friend and will continue to have my dogs groomed by her.


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## Heidigsd (Sep 4, 2004)

Oh boy...I should have skipped the video  

I totally agree with exposing this kind of abuse, I can't imagine what the owners feel like that took their dogs there. And the shop owners reputation should be ruined. I will never understand the things people are capable off just to make a profit.


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## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

Definitely it''s hard to watch!!!

IMHO it's frightening that the boss refused to do anything about the abuse and instead terminated the whistle blower. As far as I'm concerned, both the groomer in question and the boss should face charges for allowing this gross abuse to happen.

I've always tried to find a groomer by word-of-mouth recommendations ... I currently go to the one where I also board the Hooligans and am very happy.


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## Caledon (Nov 10, 2008)

Glad she has been stopped.


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

Gwenhwyfair said:


> I don't think this will have the impact of making all groomers look bad. A few people may over-react like that but most people understand that a few bad apples don't spoil the bunch.


Anytime a bad groomer story goes public, I have to answer a lot of questions that I shouldn't have to answer.  A while ago there was a story about a dog dying under a hot cage dryer, and I had to explain to everyone that you'd have to be pretty negligent to leave a Pug in a hot cage all day and not check on him!! My time and attention revolves around the dogs in my care, as it should for anyone caring for other peoples' dogs, and I've been grooming long enough that I shouldn't have to deal with questions like "Do you hit dogs when they're bad?" 



> A good friend of mine is a groomer. She worked at a large company for awhile and found that the pressure to groom more and more dogs in less and less time was too stressful. She left and now has her own small grooming business. She also can refuse to do dogs that are just too aggressive or unmanageable since she is her own boss now.
> 
> My point being is sometimes groomers are under pressure from their bosses/managers to push dogs out as fast as possible...but when you're working with animals that's not always possible.


Thank God I am my own boss and I don't have to answer to anyone telling me to speed up, take in more dogs, etc. For a while there, when I had employees, I felt a lot of pressure to keep THEM busy, and we did a high volume. I didn't like working under that much pressure (even though it was self-inflicted) so I made a conscious decision to downsize and slow down. Now I work by myself and only take on as much as I feel comfortable with, so everyone's stress level is as low as possible--mine, the animals, and the clients. I'm kind of a control freak so I like having every aspect of the animal's care in my OWN hands. That way I don't have to worry about someone else making stupid mistakes, or treating the pets poorly.


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## Gwenhwyfair (Jul 27, 2010)

I really do feel your pain on this...as a business owner.

You have to answer questions but do you see a significant drop in your business? Most people can't or don't want to groom their dogs so they may have some hesitation but if you have a good reputation and a good presence around new customers these sort of stories shouldn't affect you too much.

In blue, that's being realistic and having foresight! My friend swore that the tension in the big store environment also amped up the dogs. Now in her little shop she grooms some of the same dogs and they are much calmer.

What drives me bonkers is pet owners going into the bigbox pet stores dropping their dogs off without even having an appointment and then complaining that it takes too long or the groomer did a bad job. Honestly sometimes pet owners are their own worst enemies. How much of a logical leap does it take to comprehend going to a large busy store will often (not always) yield less desirable results. Then the store manager gets on the groomers, the frustration rises and that's not good when handling animals.



Freestep said:


> Anytime a bad groomer story goes public, I have to answer a lot of questions that I shouldn't have to answer.  A while ago there was a story about a dog dying under a hot cage dryer, and I had to explain to everyone that you'd have to be pretty negligent to leave a Pug in a hot cage all day and not check on him!! My time and attention revolves around the dogs in my care, as it should for anyone caring for other peoples' dogs, and I've been grooming long enough that I shouldn't have to deal with questions like "Do you hit dogs when they're bad?"
> 
> 
> 
> Thank God I am my own boss and I don't have to answer to anyone telling me to speed up, take in more dogs, etc. For a while there, when I had employees, I felt a lot of pressure to keep THEM busy, and we did a high volume. I didn't like working under that much pressure (even though it was self-inflicted) so I made a conscious decision to downsize and slow down. Now I work by myself and only take on as much as I feel comfortable with, so everyone's stress level is as low as possible--mine, the animals, and the clients. I'm kind of a control freak so I like having every aspect of the animal's care in my OWN hands. That way I don't have to worry about someone else making stupid mistakes, or treating the pets poorly.


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Freestep said:


> Thank God I am my own boss and I don't have to answer to anyone telling me to speed up, take in more dogs, etc. For a while there, when I had employees, I felt a lot of pressure to keep THEM busy, and we did a high volume. I didn't like working under that much pressure (even though it was self-inflicted) so I made a conscious decision to downsize and slow down. Now I work by myself and only take on as much as I feel comfortable with, so everyone's stress level is as low as possible--mine, the animals, and the clients. I'm kind of a control freak so I like having every aspect of the animal's care in my OWN hands. That way I don't have to worry about someone else making stupid mistakes, or treating the pets poorly.


This is what I love about the groomer I take my poodle to; she owns her own business and has a small staff of only one other groomer and one student who does the bath. The whole atmosphere is geared towards no stress and even my poodle that has very weak nerves is comfortable there. I would much rather put my money in her pocket then a big chain store, even if it means I book my appointments a minimum of 2 weeks in advance lol It's a small price to pay


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## Gharrissc (May 19, 2012)

This may have already been said, but I think just like anything else you will have good or bad. I turned the video off after I saw her with the first dog, but don't think it makes a statement about all groomers. Some will see things like this and become paranoid of everyone though.


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

I am not watching this. 
But Freestep, why would you think this makes all groomers look bad?

People, hopefully, are not so clueless as to think that. There are bad apples everywhere, from cops to food service workers to luggage handlers to doctors to military personnel. (Remember the nutcase Marine who threw the puppy over the cliff?) 

Just because one person is a jerk or a nutter does not mean everyone in their group or profession is, too.


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

Gwenhwyfair said:


> You have to answer questions but do you see a significant drop in your business?


Actually, no, I don't. Most of my clients are regulars, coming every 6 weeks or so, and many of them I've known for years. Those people aren't the ones who cause me grief, it's the people who are calling around looking for a groomer. If they've never been to a groomer before and they've only heard horror stories about groomers in the media, I can understand why they'd want to be vigilant. It just sucks to have people mistrust me right off the bat, when all I want to do is help.



> What drives me bonkers is pet owners going into the bigbox pet stores dropping their dogs off without even having an appointment and then complaining that it takes too long or the groomer did a bad job. Honestly sometimes pet owners are their own worst enemies. How much of a logical leap does it take to comprehend going to a large busy store will often (not always) yield less desirable results.


Thank you! This is exactly what I try to explain to people.


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## Syaoransbear (Sep 25, 2008)

You'd probably see this daily if you put cameras in the grooming areas in chain pet stores.


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

Sunflowers said:


> But Freestep, why would you think this makes all groomers look bad?
> 
> People, hopefully, are not so clueless as to think that.


You'd be surprised how clueless people can be... I get phone calls from people asking bizarre questions, like "do you fix pets?" I'm serious! There are a lot of people out there, dog owners even, who do not even know what a pet groomer is or that such a profession exists. The only time they hear the word "groomer" when it is attached to a media horror story of someone's dog getting cooked in the cage dryer or dogs getting abused or whatever. A lot of people come from the position that they don't trust ANYONE with their pets. Heck, I've even seen it here--people saying they don't let vet techs touch their dog, or they wouldn't ever let a vet tech, groomer or anyone take their dog out of their sight.

It's true though, MOST people I encounter have enough common sense to figure out that not all groomers are bad. But there are those few that just don't trust groomers from the get-go, for whatever reason, and there's more of them out there than you'd think. Thankfully I don't have to deal with them very often these days, but I ran into a lot of it working with veterinarians.


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## katro (Feb 26, 2013)

Unfortunately, I am not at all surprised by the video, as sickening as it is. Many moons ago I was a dog-bather at a big-box pet store. The groomers there were awful and the management was worse. Even as just a bather, we were encouraged to mistreat the dogs in order to meet an unspoken quota (the supposedly tearless shampoo to be used on the dogs' faces burned like a mother and too bad if you got it in their eyes); they wouldn't let me be a full-time employee unless I was able to "turn cages" at a certain rate. As a human, the atmosphere was tense, anxious and uncomfortable - I'm sure the dogs could smell that a mile away! Needless to say, I only lasted 3 months there and knowing what goes on, I don't encourage anyone I know to take their dogs or cats there and for sure don't bring my beloved pets to any of their locations!


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## wyominggrandma (Jan 2, 2011)

Any place I have ever groomed or worked at would have fired that person immediately.
I am a salon manager. My salon is based on caring for the animal, and not pushing animals out the door to make more money. Hitting an animal, any type of abuse of any kind is a quick dismissal from your job. Also, ALL our grooming is done in the public eye.


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

Fortunately, when I had employees, I never worried about my bathers hurting the dogs; none of my employees had anger issues and I didn't make them do more than they could comfortably handle. Still, working alone gives me the ultimate assurance.

If I'd ever seen one of MY employees deliberately hurting an animal? I'm honestly not sure what I would do. Fire them, obviously--but in the moment of catching them, I can't guarantee I could behave in a civil and professional manner. It makes my stomach turn even thinking about it. I would want charges to be pursued, but at the same time, it would be horrible to have my salon name dragged through the mud, so I wouldn't want to alert the media. Then again, I wouldn't want that person getting hired in a caretaker-type position ever again, so I'd want to give everyone a heads-up.

Tough call and I hope I'm never in a situation to have to make it.


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## vprasad (May 17, 2013)

This is one of the main reasons I groom my puppy myself.


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

vprasad said:


> This is one of the main reasons I groom my puppy myself.


See?!?


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## vprasad (May 17, 2013)

Freestep said:


> See?!?


No offense to any groomers out there! Personally speaking, I have this fear of the unknown. The 'what IF' at the back of my head. And I haven't suddenly decided to never take my puppy grooming after watching that video. It has always been my opinion .


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Freestep, I have had a groomer act irresponsibly with my dog, letting the dog hang herself while she went to answer the phone with the dog tied by the neck on a grooming table. The other groomer rushed to put her back on the table, and no damage, but she did not bother to tell me about it. I saw it, but she did not know that I did. 

The woman in this incident was videotaped by a fellow employee, who went through channels with her evidence and was fired. That sucks. She tried to save the company publicity, she tried to deal with it properly, and the owner of the business in my opinion SHOULD have lost her credibility for refusing to watch something that exposed a serious issue with her business. 

I think the employee should have then gone further up. I wonder if that poor soul is having a hard time finding another job now. Black lists exist today. And more often than not, you will be hurt for standing up for others. But you can live with yourself, and in the end that more important. 

So you have to answer more questions. When doctors or vets are exposed doing thing that are unethical other doctors and vets may also have to answer uncomfortable questions. When breeders are raided and charged with animal cruelty other breeders may have to answer more questions. When rescues are raided and animals seized, etc. other rescues will have to answer more questions. The answer is not to keep everything quiet. Crappy people exist in all fields, including those that have to do with animals. And they will make it more difficult for others in their fields.


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## Gwenhwyfair (Jul 27, 2010)

It does happen, some people just don't feel comfortable to begin with or just on the edge enough that something like this is the final straw even if it's not their groomer involved.

Personally (nothing against the person you quoted) just in general you're better off not having them as customers if they are too jumpy and end up being more trouble then they are worth. 



Freestep said:


> See?!?


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