# Keep your Vets and Groomers Safe!



## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

This is such a important article. Everyone should read this and listen to the video. 

It's so important to be honest about your animal and to remind the vet, tech, groomer about any behavioral issues. Be upfront and ask for the muzzle when you come in, speak to the person who will be handling your dog directly to remind of behavior issues.

*Grooming Smarter: Can anyone hear you scream?*


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

I’ve groomed for 40 years. People are not honest about behavioral issues. They almost always underplay it. “Oh he won’t bite, he’s just nervous”. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard that about a biting dog. I won’t do biting dogs. I have 2 schnauzers that have to be muzzled on their nails. Beyond that, no thank you. They can take the little demon shark to their vet and have it groomed there.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

dogfaeries said:


> I’ve groomed for 40 years. People are not honest about behavioral issues. They almost always underplay it. “Oh he won’t bite, he’s just nervous”. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard that about a biting dog. I won’t do biting dogs. I have 2 schnauzers that have to be muzzled on their nails. Beyond that, no thank you. They can take the little demon shark to their vet and have it groomed there.


Strangely, people with biting dogs don't seem to need any help. Groomers and vets in my area have referred many clients with biting dogs to me but only a few called for an appointment and the visits were disappointing; people defending their dogs, plainly being proud of their assertive dogs. "but we lover her so much" or "he only does it to my wife" etc. I am sure the groomers, vets and techs have heard it all. You even see it on this forum once in a while from people asking for help with aggression and then leave when they don't get what they want to hear. I wonder if this is a phenomenon that could be researched as a master's thesis :grin2:
I can only recall one success story from a Corgi who had bitten everyone in the family (parents and three teens). They did their homework in providing leadership and allowing him to work the pigs every day and he made a 180 in a few days.


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## Heartandsoul (Jan 5, 2012)

If the vet exam is going to be painful or require physically restricting him I will ask for a muzzle. He has never bitten nor is aggressive towards humans but there is the potential. And is the reason I give when asked. Truth be told, when I first started requesting the muzzle it was out of fear of having a bite record. It didn't occur to me that a vet would appreciate it until one thanked me.

My response above was before I read the link. And my response is very trivial compared to the seriousness of the subject matter. Going to finish reading and watching the article.


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## Heartandsoul (Jan 5, 2012)

I don't keep up on the news or other social media so I had not heard of that story. Not far from me. About a year ago I was in PetSmart when all get out broke loose. Everyone in the store could hear something going on in the grooming room (sounded like a dog fight) and someone frantically call for help over the PA system. I got out of there quickly and never found out what exactly happened. It is not the same incident as the link.

The stories are wrenching but it is good as it does create awareness. Safety for ones self has to be top priority. Her point about being young and feeling invincible or maybe it could also be not wanting to jeopardize the job. I can imagine being in a position where insisting on safety could mean losing a customer or losing your job so the immediate choice is not to insist.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

If you work with dogs or horses or cattle, in 20 years, you are going to have some injuries. If you work with someone else's dogs or horses or cattle, you probably will have some injuries. I have a few scars. Not life-changing scars. Just something to laugh about while we sing 100 bottles of beer on the wall, as the great white shark is circling the boat. 

I work with electricity, sometimes as an engineer, sometimes as a technician. We have a morbid attraction for telling of our encounters with electricity. I was hooking up PET/CT Systems. These are 480V, 3 million dollar systems they use in hospitals. Cool stuff. But another tech managed to get himself nearly cooked, major fireball. It can be a dangerous job. Some linemen I knew were talking about being zapped up on a pole, both of them got their wives pregnant right after getting zapped -- that was the conversation. That weird or what? It is dangerous stuff. In 20 years you are going to have some injuries. We try to make it as safe as we can. My dad, an electrician and then electrical engineer was working and thought, "I could get zapped" so he got the janitor and handed him a broom, and told him that if he gets in trouble to use the broom to knock him off. Well he got zapped and locked on, and the janitor did nothing, because he did not say anything. Well, he couldn't. He managed to break himself free. Electrical work can be dangerous, but really a lot of factory work is dangerous. 

And the list goes on. This lady seems to be very down, frustrated, burnt out, maybe it is a knee-jerk reaction. Yes, there are incidents when groomers get hurt. It is going to happen. You are dealing with a living, breathing, thing with a brain and mind of its own, and a set of teeth. But it can't be that common that people get seriously mauled or killed grooming dogs. Yes, owners minimize. Some are idiots, others are in denial. But that has to be such a minority of dogs that people deal with. I got my first dog 23 years ago, I think. And while I have gotten a few scars, and maybe a few concussions, so far, no groomers or vet techs have been injured by my dogs (knocking furiously on wood). And, I have had a lot more dogs than your average pet home. 

I dunno, I have used a lot of trainers, vets/vet techs, groomers over the years, and while I haven't made it a point to count phalanges, I've never seen any missing. I have come in and seen a small dog muzzled an acting like it might bite the groomer that was doing toenails. And my vet was sporting a bite on her hand once from a dog that she treated. But it is part of the profession. 

My guess is every profession has its opportunities and stories of injury. I live alone. My dogs are my dogs and will never deliberately attack me. But they may kill me by accident. I am not worried about finding a way out, an escape route. I am more into, protect yourself at all times. Because it only takes a moment to bend down to pick up a ball, when some nutty dog is jumping up to land on top of her shelter and SHAZAAM!!!! The legs go weak and the stomach flutters as the forehead explodes and blood vessels in the eyes burst. Just in a day's work, and with some care and a lot of luck, you can put years between you and incidents like that.


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

Working with animals can be dangerous. Even a dog that's never had issues could suddenly lash out and cause serious injury. In any line of work with risks you need to take measures to protect yourself, develop safety guidelines and follow them. I wouldn't rely on an owners assessment as people are often blind to their own bullpoop. 

In the case of the 22 year old Massachusetts groomer some news articles report the dogs owner as mentioning the muzzle order, but who knows what conversation took place. Just as easily as dog owners can emit important information there are some people that believe that the dog won't hurt them or feel sorry for the muzzled dog and remove it despite the warning.


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

Nigel said:


> Working with animals can be dangerous. Even a dog that's never had issues could suddenly lash out and cause serious injury. In any line of work with risks you need to take measures to protect yourself, develop safety guidelines and follow them. I wouldn't rely on an owners assessment as people are often blind to their own bullpoop.
> 
> In the case of the 22 year old Massachusetts groomer some news articles report the dogs owner as mentioning the muzzle order, but who knows what conversation took place. Just as easily as dog owners can *emit* important information there are some people that believe that the dog won't hurt them or feel sorry for the muzzled dog and remove it despite the warning.


Lol, "omit"


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## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

Such as sad story maybe all groomers, vet techs, should put up a sign owners liable and fully prosecuted if withholding information. I heard a dog was killed by another dog in Petsmart in the grooming station in November.


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## Sunsilver (Apr 8, 2014)

[sigh] Makes me glad I no longer own the kennel. I ran it on my own most of the time, and easily could have been trapped and mauled by an aggressive dog. I did have a few close calls, but thank God, nothing serious!

The worst injury was when I still had another woman as my partner, and she put her dog-aggressive female out in the large run off the grooming room which we used for our own dogs. It was dark, and I didn't know she was there. In breaking up the resulting fight, one of the dogs bashed into my knee so hard that I was on crutches for a day or two. 

Fortunately, no dogs were injured.

If I knew a dog to be aggressive, it would go into one of the cages with a sliding door to the outside run. I'd make sure the dog was outside before I came into the cage to clean, or give food and water. And I also did not walk dogs. They were turned out in a large fenced field for exercise, and I'd throw a ball for them for exercise.


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## Kyrielle (Jun 28, 2016)

I think if your dog really hates the vet or the groomers, and you have no choice but to take them to said establishments, the kindest thing to do for everyone might be to sedate your dog a little and soft muzzle them if they tend to get too rowdy. There's nothing shameful in that. I mean, the quieter your dog is, the sooner the vet/groomer is done, the happier everyone is at the end. Vet's happy, you're happy, dog's relieved. Everyone wins.


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

You can't believe the number of new customers over the years who have booked an appointment for their dog, and don't tell you that it bites and/or has been kicked out of a shop for biting. They don't tell you up front, obviously, so you'll book their dog. I guess they cross their fingers and hope their dog is different this time. I can take a little snapping over something that's uncomfortable, but there's a difference in snapping and a full on "I'm going to hurt you" bite. 

I've been doing a Bedlington for several months now. Started him when he was 5 months old, and he was a biter. I told her he was a beast, and that I would work on him a few more times, since he was a puppy, but if he didn't stop, then I wouldn't do him anymore. She got a little panicky since no one around here knows what they are doing as far as grooming a bedlington. The woman that owns him is incredibly nice, and has had him in all kinds of classes since she got him. She's doing everything she can to turn that dog around, and he's improved. No biting in quite some time. I still don't like him, but at least I'm not afraid he's going to make me bleed.


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## Oreo1 (Mar 29, 2018)

The first time we took our oldest chihuahua to the groomers I actually told the groomer they may have to muzzle her, went to pick her up and they said no muzzle needed I was so relieved, took our pit mix to his first vet visit at 10 yrs since he started loosing weight and put him in a headlock to make sure the vet didn't get bit, he did growl when having his temp taken


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