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On Saturday 4/11/09 I dropped my 8 year old Dachshund (Duncan) off at Pet Smart Grooming in Chesterfield, Michigan at 12:30pm. I was told he would be ready to pick up at 2:30pm. He is a very gentle long hair dachshund and he was due for a shampoo and trim. I arrived at 2:30pm to pick him up and they had just started to groom him and told me to come back in another 1/2 hour. I was unsure why she was grooming my dog on the floor but noticed that all the tables were full (like they overbooked) she was hanging onto him and trying to groom him and he ran to me when he saw me which means he was not on a lead like the dogs on the tables but I left so she could finish. Within 10 minutes she called me on my phone and told me to come back to Pet Smart and when I walked in she told me their was an accident and that Duncan was nicked with the shears I looked at him to see a large hole about a inch and a half round on his chest open and bleeding they told me they had the vet come look at him before they called me from the Banfield medical clinic in Petsmart and that Vet stated Duncan needed stitches and that we need to take him to the vet in Petsmart. The vet had to shave the chest bald, clean the wound out, gave my dog a local, Four stitches, and antibiotics which took over (3) hours. I don't blame the vet at Banfield clinic I blame Pet Smart grooming salon the lady was not experianced and it showed badly. My dog was freaked out and I cannot take him back and actually do not know how grooming will be done in the future for him. Pet Smart feels they did me a big favor by refunding my money for the below standard grooming job and paying for the vet bill they caused! Why would I pay the vet bill? Their excuse is that (someone) dropped a vacume hose and he jumped which is bull because if he was on a table with a lead he would not be able to jump and why is their a vacume hose out while dogs are being groomed becasue we all know how dogs feel about vacumes the excuse was a lame one to try to make it my dogs fault. Pet Smart Grooming called me today to ask how Duncan is and I feel that it is more of a procedure they do than they care about the seriouse injury they inflicted on my dog not to mention me. I will never step foot inside Pet Smart Grooming Salon or the store. I called the Corporate offices and told Customer service of my expericeane and they told me someone in Management would call me back in 24 hours and no one has yet! What I can say now is DO NOT USE Petsmart Grooming they are not experinced as I see new faces every time I go. They have maybe 1 or 2 with experiance but very sadly for Duncan he did not get the experienced groomer that time. VERY UPSET!
The lady at Pet Smart who groomed my dog said it was her fault and admitted that she cut him not once but twice. The Supervisor informed me that the groomer was going to be disiplined so you are wrong! It was PetSmarts fault as they admitted. the Vet also said this was careless cutting him twice and Petsmart piched the Vet.
TO BLAME -YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO SPELL CHECK OUT YOUR WORD vacuums, the correct spelling is Vacume ###
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I have to say that is the worst grooming story I have read. I really do hope your dog recovers 100% mentally and physically. That salon sounds insane and I truely hope that extreme changes happen in that salon. It sounds like the place is run by monkeys. Where is the common sense? Grooming a dach on the floor? That is about the most stupid thing I have been told. The dog is do short you would have to lay on the floor just to be at his level to trim his hair! No tables or overbooking is not an excuse. Just to let you know, not all salons are like that. And I am not just talking about petsmart. Good luck to you and Duncan!
ok i have heard a lot off bad petsmart stories but this one is the worst one yet ! like how can petsmart be so careless and unshameful ! hope ducan recoves and hope petsmarts grooming goes out of bussiness !
Uh you have NO CLUE if it was your dogs fault or not. So you can play the blame game all you want.
Accidents happen. It's unfortunate, but most of the time it's not the groomers fault. 99.9% of the time it's the dogs fault. If it's not and it's groomer error, the groomers are either written up or given a warning. Either the dog squirming around, being aggressive, or trying to bite our equipment.
There ARE vacuums in the salons. Most salons have them, and most of the time dogs are fine with them being on. We always ask before hand to see if the dog will react in a negative way.
Play the blame game all you want, but most mom-n-pop shops won't even tell you they nicked your dog. We don't plan on nicking dogs, and we hate it when we do it.
The fact of the matter is, we're dealing with moving targets and sharp objects. PetSmart approaches the situation in an apologetic and empathetic manner. I've never had anyone get mad at me when I first started out, although they were very minor.
Also, learn to spell.
vacume? really? c'mon. is that french for vacuum? ;) not trying to be pretentious... just joking with ya
but you're right about overbooking and high turnaround for their groomers. i left petsmart years ago, i was the only one not "schooled" by their "academy" and with any real skill. God Bless U and Duncan.
I would have been angry as well if this were my baby...however, you must be aware that the dogs CAN jump whether they are on a noose or not! I do not believe this story either. The problem is that people take their dogs to these big chan stores hich hire ordinary people and train them to their standards. If you want a real grromer...stop trying to save a nickel and go to a reutable salon ! Petsmart and Petco should stick to retail !
I work for a petsmart salon. Accidents do happen. We dont plan on them happening, but they do. It sounds like your situation was due to a bad salon. Not all salons are like that. Even in my district. We pride ourselves on our quality. Yes, we do have incidents where a dog gets cut, but its rare. Also, groomers have been fired for having a high amount of incidents. I know that personally, when I have cut a dog, I feel terrible. I think about how I would feel if it had happened to either one of my dogs. Maybe Im just emotional, but I get teary when it happens. Not because I dont want to tell the parent, or the fact that I wont get paid, but because I genuinely care. Groomers work on commission, so whenever you dont pay for a service, we dont get paid. Doesnt matter if I spend 6 straight hours brushing, bathing, drying and grooming your dog, and your dog kicks my shears and I nick his pad or leg, I dont get paid. Thats like working all day for free. No groomer wants that.
My suggestion is to make another appt at a different petsmart. Ask to have the salon manager groom Duncan. Explain what happened last time and what your concerns are. Ask how long they have been grooming, how long they have been with petsmart, any questions or concerns you have. Also, ask for an express service where Duncan wont be in a kennel and you will be able to see most of the process. If you go in and get a bad vibe, leave. Also, go and observe the groomers beforehand, it will give you a good idea of what goes on there.
Good luck on getting Duncan groomed in the future. There is a good chance he will get over any anxiety of being groomed. I groom a dog that has previously been cut in around the same are from three different private salons. Shes an angel on the table and I have yet to cut her. You would never know what had happened to her previously.
Sorry to hear that your dog got injured. It is not always the lack of the groomers skills when a animal gets injured. I have shaved a few of my own pets numerous times and i still from time to time by accident nick them. Nothing as serious as what happen to your dog mind you, no vet was ever needed. But dogs do get fidgety while getting groomed and they do move sometimes. It was nice of the groomers to be as sympathetic as they were, and to actually phone to see how the dog is doing. I know of someone who did not get 1/4 of what you did when their dog got cut and they did not complain.
The exact same thing happened to my dog 3 days ago. I dropped him off at Petsmart at 4, then when I hadn't receive a call to come pick him up by 8 (they close at 9) I finally called them and was told the groomer was still working on him.
I arrived at around 8:45 to pick him up. He was on the table and the groomer was clipping his ears with shears. I payed and left, got to my car and saw something red on the seat. I picked him up and noticed a huge gash on his elbow (the part where the leg meets the body), the cut was so deep, the bone showed through.
By this time Petsmart was closed, but I went back and banged on the door and called the grooming salon on my cell phone. Thankfully they answered, let me back in, bandaged him, and gave me my money back.
They gave me the info for a 24 hr animal hospital and told me that the animal hospital had their credit card information and they would pay for it. I went to the animal hospital, waited around for an hour or two, finally got in to see the vet only to realize that Petsmart in fact did NOT have a credit card on file with them. It was 1am by this time.
I called the cell of the supervisor on duty at the time of the accident. She then called her manager, who then called the vet's office to tell them that he would NOT come in to pay the bill, he would NOT fax in the CC info, he'd had a "few drinks" and was under no circumstance going to come in to pay the bill at that moment. I took the phone from the vet tech and freaked out on him. Finally I called the cell of the on duty manager AGAIN and she called yet another manager who happened to be on vacation - but home (thank god) he was the actual store manager and not just a supervisor. Finally, at 2am or so, he arrived and paid the $600 bill, my puppy had to be sedated and received 6-8 stitches and has to wear a cone around his neck until he heals.
I hate Petsmart and will NEVER EVER use them again.
wow that is not good mugain I hope your pet was ok after all of that. Sorry that you had to go through that
I brought my 3 year old shih-tzu into Petsmart today in Ottawa Canada to have her groomed. I've had one bad experience before where her nail was clipped very deeply, but this was not at Petsmart. I thought I would try Petsmart because I liked that they had a window where the groomers could be viewed. For some reason this made me feel more comfortable. I guess I assumed that bad things only happened behind closed doors. I got there a half an hour early because I wanted to view the groomer at work. I asked who was going to be grooming my dog then stepped outside and observed through the glass window. The groomer was just finishing another shih-tzu. The dog looked shaky, and had his tail between his legs, but this didn't put me off as I can imagine being up on a steel table isn't the most calming scenario. She finished the groom and attached a bow to the dogs collar then a manager came over to inspect the cut. This was when I little bell went off for me... I thought it was strange that someone be inspecting but again I had never been to Petsmarts grooming centre before so I told myself it must be standard practise... I have yet to find out as the incident I'm about to tell you just happened. Anyways I spoke with the groomer told her that my shih-tzu had a bad experience at the groomers before but that she was very sweet and under no circumstances would she bite or yelp. I just asked that she be gentle with her and try and comfort her as much as she could. She told me it would take about 3 hours and that they would call me when she was ready. She assured me that she was in good hands and not to worry. An hour later I received a phone call from the manager saying that my dog was okay but had been cut and was being transported to emergency at the local animal hospital. They asked if I wanted to meet them there and of course I agreed. I rushed over and waited 45 minutes for them to show up. They explained to me that when the groomer went to put my dog in the bath after shaving most of her body that's when she noticed blood all over her hands and found a laceration on her right flank (the extra skin bit where the leg bends) She had said that she was a little matted around that area and that because of that the razor must have just sucker her skin in. She told me that my dog didn't even yelp... so she thought that my dog wasn't in pain. Boy was she wrong. As most dog owners know, they have a high pain threshold and are also not big complainers. The manager and groomer were both very apologetic and at the time I accepted the situation. I told myself that accidents happen. Obviously this woman didn't intend to hurt my dog. She's only human and it could have happened to anyone... The manager and groomer asked if I wanted them to stay, I told them no as I didn't feel like making small talk! They left their credit card number and told me that all expenses would be covered. The doctor then inspected my dog and told me that at the least she would need a few staples and worst case scenario she would need more serious surgery performed... after he shaved the area where the laceration was it became clear that it was much more serious than anyone had thought. it was about 2 inches long and pretty wide. The vet said the area had been SHREDDED! he needed to clip a piece of skin that was hanging by a thread. Then the laceration required 5 staples. Still my strong girl didn't make a sound. She had to be sedated given a shot of antibiotics and then of course the staples. We got home and that's when it happened, she began to cry. I had never heard her cry before so you can imagine how heart wrenching this was for me. I'm now sitting here with her at my side wrapped up in a sweater administering pain killers and wondering what I should do if anything to try and prevent this from happening ever again. I appreciate that petsmart is paying the vet bills, but this should have never happened in the first place. I'm thinking back to the inspection the manager made and wondering if this groomer was new... Should I be pressing the manager for something more than just covering the vet bills? I don't want this young girl fired but I also don't want her hurting another animal. was this carelessness? the fact that she didn't notice she had shredded my dogs skin until she lifted her up to bathe her? why wasn't she paying more attention? I guess these are all questions I will ask the manager tomorrow when I assume they'll be making a follow up call. Anyways I just wanted to warn people of the potential dangers your pet faces when being groomed and because my google search returned so many 'Petsmart accidents' I'm starting to think that something more needs to be done...
They damn near killed my dog by tearing off the end of his tail. He almost bled to death. I probably need to do a whole post on the matter. My poor dog had to have half of his tail amputated to close off the wound. In the end they claimed he "may have had a rare tail condition that resulted in the need for amputation." I couldn't afford a lawyer. This may be better. I have talked at least a dozen people out of taking their dogs to them. It's not enough.