Grooming Ani

Every two months or so, I take Anakin to the groomer. He’s a shih-tzu, which means his hair can get out of control if he’s not taken care of properly. Generally, by the time I get him to the groomer he’s already looking like a mop and infiltrated with tangles because he won’t let me get near him with a brush. So, I take him to the groomer and get him a nice little “teddy bear” cut, pay the $25 and take him home. The teddy bear cut is longer hair on his head and his tail, shaved close everywhere else. It’s really not that complicated.

About 6 months ago, our regular groomer, to whom I had been taking Anakin for two years, moved away. Not only did he move away, he did so without telling us! I was not happy. Ani is my baby, he’s my child (so to speak) and I can’t just take him to any old person. Chris (the former groomer) was always awesome with Ani and Ani loved him! I always trusted Chris to be good with Anakin and take good care of him for the hour or so he had him every 6-8 weeks. When Chris moved away, sadly, I was forced to take my baby to a groomer I didn’t know. She worked for the vet, as Chris had, so I trusted her and she did a good job. Then, the next time I called to make an appointment the vet told me they were no longer doing grooming! What?!

We live in a relative small town, but everyone has animals. I looked around for another groomer and ended up taking him to a place in town called Polished Pets. The first time I took him to this woman everything was fine. I didn’t care for the way she handled him, she took him from me and put him in a kennel. She handled him a little roughly, but overall she did a good job. I didn’t particularly like her overall manner with people, but you don’t have to be good with people to be good with dogs. I’m not good with people and I adore Anakin!

Yesterday, I took him back to this woman at Polished Pets and this time she had an assistant. The woman was equally bad with people, she all but ripped Anakin from my arms and stuffed him roughly into a kennel. I should have known right then that it wasn’t going to go well. They told me to come back at 1pm that he’d be done. Hubby and I did some running around, had lunch, and got around to get him about 1:30pm. When we got there, we had several issues.

First, the woman tried to give me the wrong damn dog! Can you believe that. She had a brown and white shih-tzu FEMALE in a kennel in the corner, looking very cute, and she tried to tell me that that little dog was Anakin! No, the dog she was working with when we got there was Anakin. Ani looked excited to see us, wagging his tail and fidgeting around, and his collar was laying on the table next to where she was standing. She still tried to tell me the other dog was Anakin as if I wouldn’t know my own dog! She even tried to argue with me telling me that Ani was some other dog. WTF?! First, Anakin is a boy and the dog in the kennel in the corner was very obviously a female. Second, the dog in the kennel was about five pounds lighter than Anakin! No, no, NO! I finally got it through her head that the dog she was working on was MY dog. I cannot believe I paid this woman $25 and then she tried to give me the wrong freaking dog.

Second problem, she gave him the wrong cut. He’s cut short all over, which I expressly told her NOT to do. The dog in the kennel in the corner had the cut Ani was supposed to have. She got the mixed up and butchered my babies hair. How hard is it to keep them straight? Clearly, for her, very hard.

Third, Anakin has a cut on his head and a razor burn on his leg. She cut his hair too short and cut his head!! I am incensed. The woman has to be the most unprofessional groomer in ten counties. She hurt him and that hurts me.

All in all, this has been a bad week for my little guy. How could she think I wouldn’t know my baby? How could she not be more careful with the scissors? How could she, after screwing it up, look me in my face and say, “I’ll be $25.” I paid and left, but I was NOT happy. Now, I wish I hadn’t paid her at all. I mean, if I’d gotten a bad haircut I’d probably have been less than apt to pay for it, so why pay for Ani’s when she screwed it up AND hurt him?!

I am going to be looking for a new groomer. Sadly, there aren’t many choices here. 15k people doesn’t make for a ton of business for groomers. Some of the vets might have groomers, but none that I’ve called previously. I’m going to call my vet back and tell them about the unpleasant experience I had with Polished Pets so that they won’t recommend that atrocious woman to any other pet owners. I’m also going to see if my vet has a groomer yet. If I can’t find one in town, I may take him to one of the little towns around here, like Hico or Dublin. I cannot have a my baby going to a groomer that doesn’t treat him well.

I have to go… time for class. Hope everyone is having a better week than I am so far.