09/22/2023
In honor of Atlas, the poor dog that died at the hands of a cruel groomer, I feel this must be said to those who are not my clients, and for my clients to share with their friends and family who also have dogs.
This man worked as a dog groomer. He lied about what happened during the groom and he was later found on video to aggressively harm and eventually kill by restraining poor Atlas for resisting to being groomed.
I've told many new clients who's dogs were uncomfortable being groomed that I have a plan on how to make grooming a good experience. It takes time, patience, and work on both ends to get their dog to a good place after having a bad experience or being new to grooming. Many of my clients listen and we have beautiful stories of success. Some people think that going to another groomer is the magical solution. Sure, that can absolutely work at times, and I completely respect that choice.
BUT truthfully, my biggest fear, because I've seen it more time than I care to admit, groomers getting aggressive with dogs to get the job done. They will restrain the dogs against their will and force a haircut on the dog. This does NOT solve the problem. Does this aggravate the problem and set a fear in a dog, of course it does. Will the groomer tell the parents the dog was great in order to get repeat business, absolutely. Is this good for the dog? I think everyone knows the answer to that. Please, I'm just asking, if your dog has a hard time being groomed and magically doesn't have a problem at a new groomer, ask yourself why. I know I'm happy to share videos with my clients and I love more than anything to show videos of their nervous dogs slowly getting acclimated to getting groomed over time.
If your dog gets groomed, and you know they hate having their feet touched, why don't you ask your groomer for a video of your dog getting their feet groomed. I think you might be surprised at what you imagine is happening in their salon and what you see in the video.
Let's do our part in making sure our babies are treated with love, care and compassion and no babies have to suffer what Atlas endured. Please make sure your dogs are safe out there.
Rest easy poor Atlas and so many other dogs that have sadly crossed over the rainbow bridge at the negligent hands of horrible people.
