Grooming Smarter

Smile!!!!!

Most of us have seen this happen and yet we do not understand why it happens. 

Some people think its submissive behavior. Others think they have mimicked human bahavior. 

I remember the first dog I ever saw that did it, and her name was Zelda! She was a mutt of total unknown parentage. We found her in the parking lot behind the grooming shop one morning when we came in. She might have been 8 weeks old and she already SMILED! We had no luck at all in placing her because of her smiling. People thought she was being mean. We had her for 8 years and she smiled until the day she died. 

My next smiler was an Austrailian Shepard name Lacey. She smiled all the time. In fact, she smiled so much that the scottie she lived with learned how to smile as well. 

Truth be told I have NO Idea why they do it. I just think its precious!

In many cases, like Princess, the yorkie in the picture above, they will do it on command. Whenever you say her name, she smiles. If you say SMILE, she smiles. If someone new comes in the shop and speaks to her she smiles. Her dads say she smiles for several minutes every day when they come home from work. 

Most dogs that smile do it when they are happy. My dog Scrappy, whom I have yet to catch doing it on camera, will even do it at bedtime, as if he is saying PLEASE MOM don't make me go up! 

Scrappy, his brother Alley Oop and their mom Maxie all smile! 

I have also seen dogs in the same household as a smiler learn to smile.

SO, while some people think that dogs can't smile for real and if they do there is something lurking behind it, I don't think so.

I think they can. I think it's cute, learned behavior that because the dog gets positive attention from doing it, they continue doing it.

So don't be afraid when dogs smile. Smile back! Bet they think you are being goofy as well when you do!

 

Wow! Sao Paulo groomer frees poodle

This article showed up on a friend of mine's Facebook feed and I am posting it here to share it with you.

It is one of the worst matted dogs I have ever seen in my career.

The story as told in the newspaper is as follows (I did work on the translation a bit)

At the end of last week, around 1 am, the staff of Pet Center Marginal Marginal Tietê, which runs 24 hours, jumped. The poodle came up there for the aesthetic center (grooming center) of the site led by a trio of young people who had left a concert and rescued the pup on the street. The surprise, of course, was the deplorable state of the animal.

Her long-haired and filthy that had not seen scissors for at least four years. Some wires were wrapped into the dreadlocks. Customers waiting in line at the bathing and grooming once gave way to the poor pooch. For two hours, the employee Araceli Sousa unfolded it to get rid of more than 3 pounds of badly tangled hair that was hard like a cast. Fleas nor water could penetrate the coat it was so hard and thick.

During the procedure, done with scissors and electric shaving, the poodle was angry, because it was necessary tugging your skin to remove the hair. Furthermore, his ear, for example, was hematomad. The result was worth it and it came out pretty clean (and much lighter) as shown in the last picture. In the end, kissed, licked the groomer and returned to his new home with one of the boys who saved him from the streets.

 

I wanted to share this with everyone, because we do not see th ings like this often, thank goodness, but some people DO see them, and knowing how to remove t his type of hair is a tremendous skill. 

That groomer needs an award!

 

Have a little faith in me

I know that many of you are ardent ear pluckers and have the thinking (albeit flawed) that if you do not pluck that a dog will have ear infections. I am of the other school of thought but generally we trim the ear hair back to allow airflow.

WELL, on Bo we obviously didn't do that. Here is a picture of his ears with the hair that has never been plucked in his life. 

It is the same length as the hair on the outer part of his ears. 

Please note that it is not discolored, not stained in any way. the ear is clean, not inflamed, red or smelly. This dog has never had the first ear infection that I know of in two and half years. 

So this is to prove my point that NOT plucking does not always lead to ear infections. Plucking alone does not lead to healthier ears. 

i am a firm believer of  the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" way of thinking.

I think that cleanliness of the dog, diet, and genetics play a huge role in whether or not a dog will have ear problems. 

I know that some dogs need plucking but this is proof that not all do. When a client says to me "The vet said to have you do it" I tell them why I don't do it, and tell them that if the vet thinks it is medically neccesary to do it let him do it. I ALSO hear "The vet said it doesn't hurt them" and I explain that it CAN and quite often DOES hurt the dog and that I do not want to be the bad guy causing their puppy pain unnecessarily. I then go on to explain that the hair is actually a sheild against dirt and water and will help the ear stay healtheir if they just leave it alone. 

I have not e er lost a client that I know of because I refused to pluck the ear hair. I did have one person years ago get angry with me because I told her I couldn't pluck her dog's ears but it was a lab with no hair in the ears. There was no reasoning with that person. I have had clients get pset when I refused to clean or pluck inflamed, obviously infected ears, but I don't deal well with clients who put other things before the health of their dogs.

SO whenever you wonder if the ear plucking has to be done or else, look at  Bo. Obviously it doesn't. 

"Make her head like a poodle's"

We all have the ridiculous requests that we shake our heads and try to figure out, but today this one took the cake.

Meet Sassy, the full coated-never been cut short-always had a topknot-with a short visor to make it eaiser to see Shih-Tzu. She is 10 years old. I adore her. BUT her mom always says "Make sure you get over her eyes really short like a poodle for me".

Makes me want to pick up my Poodle, Luke and say, "HOW can I make HER look like HIM?"

If you guys have any suggestions let me know, OK?

 

Do you see what I see?

 One of the most valuable tools in a pet stylist’s bag of tricks is the ability to look at a dog that you have never groomed before and groom it exactly the same way. You do this by looking closely at the dog before and after the bath, and looking for the visible patterns. There are several questions to ask yourself on any new dog or a dog you do not have notes on.

•  Did the groomer before me shave down the nose, or under the eyes?
•  If the dog is a poodle, did the groomer before me shave the feet or just round them?
•  How much hair did they take off the body?

I have written before about my secret weapon for determining how long to groom a dog and I will revisit it here. Find the shortest hair on the body, like under the eyes, the belly, the pads or in the case of poodles with shaved feet, the feet. To duplicate the groom, take that area short like you would always do, and then figure out how much hair that was. If it was a half inch, then take a half inch off the rest of the dog. If it’s an inch, take off an inch. If you follow this philosophy, then the groom will be the same. Don’t worry about how much to leave on the dog, concentrate on how much to take off the dog. That way, if the legs were longer (let’s say on a teddy bear trim or a schnauzer trim) they will be the same as the time before when you are done. Confused about how long to leave the head or ears? Take off the SAME AMOUNT OF HAIR on those parts as well and the look will be perfect. It will be easy to see if angulation was set, legs were longer and everything else that you need to see if you simply look for the patterns. Sounds simple right? To me it is, but many people have a hard time seeing patterns in the dog’s grooms. They cannot tell if the hair was shaved the last time, if the poodle had poodle feet, if the ears were trimmed…..they simply cannot see it. For those people it can be harder to grasp how to duplicate the same groom as they have done before on the same dog, let alone determine what to do to a new client. With time, and by showing them carefully and repeatedly, you may be able to teach them to see the things you see. However, there will be some people who never “get it” and need detailed, written instructions for each and every dog they groom. If you are one of the lucky people who, like me, can tell what you did to each dog by looking at the area under the eyes, you do not need to keep detailed records, because your memory works like a record. You can duplicate any groom by just looking at it. If you cannot yet do that, it’s time to practice doing it. Every dog you pick up, look at it, evaluate it, and try to figure it out before you look at the dogs file. I will bet you can figure it out really fast after just a short time practicing doing it. Use your fingers or a comb to measure out the coat. You will see definite lengths of hair present on the dog and you can see where the blended areas are if you use your fingers and comb. There are also some clear rulers available that are amazing for helping you determine lengths on coat, but any small ruler is helpful for doing that as well. Measure the shortest hair, then measure the back, the legs, the belly, the head, and then take the length of the shortest hair (that will be almost at the skin when trimmed) and take that length off the other measurements. If your shortest area is ½ an inch, and the body is 1.5 inches, then the finished groom will be one inch on the back. Not sure if the legs are longer or the same length as the back? Use the measurements! If the legs are 2 inches and the body is one, then you can see what to do by subtracting the length of your shortest measurement and be confident that you are providing the owner with the same groom as the last time. I am always excited to be able to put the same groom on every dog we groom, including the ones we have never seen before. I love hearing a client say “This is exactly the way my last groomer groomed him! How did you know?” I smile, thank them and say “I can see the groom”. I have gained many clients in my shop for the simple fact that their dogs always look the same every time they are groomed. This technique is also very handy for the owners that change up their groom as well. If they say leave him longer than last time, you at least have a point to start with. Once you determine what was done last time you can go shorter or longer very easily and be sure you are giving the client what they want. I never understood how groomers cannot see what I see until recently when I hired a young man that could not see the groom. I thought everyone could follow patterns, but I found out that is not true. He literally could not tell what had been done to the dogs before, or follow patterns that were clearly set on the dogs. He could groom if given blades and comb lengths, but a simple set of instructions like “You took an inch off the body, so take an inch off the legs” did not make sense to him. I never could get him to understand the concept of seeing what was done before, rather than what was in front of him. Once you learn to see the previous groom by looking at the groom in front of you your grooms will be better, easier and more consistent. That will make your clients happier and happier clients make more clients because they tell their family, friends and neighbors. The best advertising is a happy client and by seeing through the hair to what was done last time you can ensure that your clients are happy, and your job will be easier. And a making you a happy groomer, by teaching you how to work smarter is my goal.

What you don't know, CAN surprise you!

I just arrived home from Groom Expo and while talking to several vendors and speakers, I realized how little the general groomer knows about what really happens at a trade show with regard to the behind the scenes workings, and some of what you don't know, can really surprise you.

When a groomer attends a trade show, of course, shopping is a huge part of that trip. We almost always want to see the new, exciting, unique "toys" and products. We all need that burst of energy that seeing the new things and learning about what we are "missing" to keep us interested in our job, as well as keeping us up to date on new trends and products.

Of course, we also want good deals right? Of course we do! Yet, even though show specials are great for the groomer, it can be really hard for vendors to offer them, and then the groomers get frustrated.

I was working in the Precision Sharp booth Saturday and I was shocked at how many people would not buy something just because there was nothing free, or the price was not drastically reduced for the show. In fact I had one person get really angry that "EVERYONE here has prices that are really almost the same!". 

I think that the vendors are trying to offer us the best possible prices and if they can get bonuses from the vendors, or offer discounts, they WILL, but there are a lot of things that groomers do not think about that go into bringing the booths to the shows. So here is a short breakdown for you on what goes into bringing the products to you. 

Trade show booth costs. The price for a vendor is based on the size and location of the booth that they rent for the weekend and each show has its own fee schedule as well. NDGAA rates are $1000-$1200 for each booth space and many companies will rent two or three to have enough room for their products. Add to that a catalog advertisement and possibly a contest sponsorship and it can be cost prohibitive for smaller vendors, as you can well imagine. I know that Atlanta Pet Fair and Groom Expo are quite often even higher in rates. 

Travel. There are either plane fares or gasoline bills to get the vendor and the employees to the show. If there are 5 people, and they are flying, then it can be extremely expensive. If you drive, it can reduce the cost, but it takes longer, and sometimes, there are more hotel stays as a result. Travel is extremely expensive and going up every year.

Hotel. That is one of the most expensive parts of any trip for vendors. In Hershey, the hotel rooms were $192 (with tax) per night for two beds. Over 4 days, that is close to $800 and then there is food, beverages, and the like. Vendors have to arrive the day before the show to set up, and usually they leave the day after because break down and the like take a long time and its oftentimes easier to stay another night. Remember there can be multiple hotel rooms per vendor. I know one company that had 4 rooms booked! So $3200 for hotel rooms alone! Granted, many companies decide to save money by staying at close, cheaper hotels, but that is not an option if they fly in many cases. 

Product. Frank Rowe ordered an entire tractor trailer of supplies to bring to the show. Imagine the cost on that! Then, after it was delivered to their business they had to ship it to the show. 

Shipping. You know, if you order product into your shops, that shipping is outrageous and for larger items, it can double the cost of an item easily. shampoos, tables, tubs...these items shipped in, can be financial losers at trade shows for the companies selling them even if the groomers get good deals. It can be a huge problem as well, if there is too much product shipped, and it then has to be sent BACK to the warehouse. THat is why you have found some vendors only bring smaller amounts of products and offer free shipping. Its actually cheaper for them and then they can offer you a deal they could not afford to otherwise.

Samples. We ALL love samples! But did you know that those samples are not free to the vendors? They have to pay for them, and the manufacturers who have booths themselves, like Show Seasons, have to pay to package and produce them, the ship them, and they cannot afford to give them away, so they charge a small amount for them. The amount barely covers the packages and shipping, yet groomers still complain! 

Extra vehicles. Many vendors have cut shipping costs by buying panel trucks, trailers, vans and the like to be able to transport products and displays to shows. That just adds other expenses to the balance sheets however, like a driver, the cost of the insurance and the vehicle, plus fuel and extra overnight stays. I am not sure if it helps them to buy those vehicles or not over shipping frieght, but at least they maintain control and their items arrive where they are supposed to, unlike what can happen when the shipper fails to deliver your items to the show! That has happened before to many vendors.

Displays, and Point Of Sale items. Those are expensive! 

Closing their storefronts. Lets face it. When small companies, like Randy and Cheryl Low of Precsion Sharp, close their shop down for four or five days to attend shows, they lose the money they would have made at the shop. Add in the extra expenses that they incur at the shows, even when the added sales are taken into account, they are, at best, breaking even. Larger companies may not lose as much because they have more staff, but usually it does affect sales.

Speakers quite often make nothing for lectures after paying for travel, hotel, food and downtime for their businesses. Yes we get paid to speak, and if you give multiple lectures and have a sponsor that pays for your travel, you come out ahead by more than those who don't, but overall we do not get a lot of compensation for what we do. There are hours and hours of prepwork reasearching the topic, getting video clips done, powerpoints, handouts, outlines...and then practicing it over and over to get it just right. In some cases, like mine, I paid for my flight, my hotel, my food AND closed for 2 days. The money paid for my seminar did not even cover my flight and parking at the airport. 

Small associations, without a lot of things to sell you other than memberships, REALLY lose out. They have all of the same expenses as a larger company. Many times they volunteer to speak in exchange for the booth space. That means that unless they do sell a lot of memberships or whatever other meerchadise they have, they end up losing money at every single show.

Not to mention, there are no potty breaks (you lose sales if you are not there!) no food breaks (it took me over 2 hours to eat a club sandwich Saturday) and sore feet, knees and backs. Exhaustion sets in and can take two or more days to recover after we get home. If you th ink the shopping and classes will wear you out, think about the vendors and speakers!

So, why do you ask, are the vendors and speakers there at all? They love you. They love each other. We are a big family. The goodwill they exhibit every day at the shows transfers into more than just show sales. It trasfers into long term customers if they are lucky. It is the best advertising money can buy.

So the next time you go to a trade show, and think "They could give me a better deal" realize that they are giving you the best deal they can. They are giving you the opportunity to meet the vendors, see the product and save you as much money as they can. 

And it never hurts to offer your favorite company representatives or speakers a cold drink, a candy bar, or just a chance to go to the bathroom! Trust me. As groomers we remember those who take care of us, and the vendors will remember those who help them out, even if its just by saying thank you for being here. A little kindness goes a long way.

Should I pay or should I go (to court that is)?

 

Usually, I am of the mind that if a dog is injured at your place of business, either by something you did to the dog (like cutting or irritating the skin) or something they did to themselves (like jumping and hurting a knee, or scratching themselves) that the shop should cover the bill. I mean, that is what we have (HOPEFULLY) insurance for. Isn't it for when something goes wrong? And they don't call accidents "on purposes", so we all know that stuff happens but we HAVE to take responsibility for things that happen.

I paid a bill several years ago when a dog that was groomed with a 4f scratched herself bloody after clipping. The vet said she has a nervous condition, but it happened on my watch so I paid it. From that point on she got a valium before grooming to help her settle down. I still groom her.

Last year I had two bills. Neither was our fault. 

The first one was a broken leg. The dog in question was a butthead for grooming and growled at everyone but had never bitten anyone. My bather put him into the bath tub and before he could be secured with a loop, he bit the bather. THEN he bit the other bather and the kid that dried dogs! After that they stepped back just enough that he could jump. It resulted in a slant fracture right above the ankle. Cost? Over $2000. I still groom this dog, and honestly he has been a perfect angel ever since! 

The second was terribly distressing. A small Morkie that I have groomed for 6 years (and I own her brother) was not acting right during the groom, hunching her back and generally acting like she hurt. Didn’t really think much about it until after the incident, but when I went to put her on the floor from the cage so she could walk to her mom, and she jumped/fell from my knee level, so she was about 6-8 inches from the floor to her feet. Her mom thought she was having a seizure and so did I, but it turned out it was much worse than that. She was paralyzed from the mid spine, behind the ribcage, back and was euthanized a few days later. OF COURSE I paid all the bills, but the vet did say she had a previous condition and had been treated for a pulled back six months before. I still groom their other 4 dogs. It was the right thing to do.

HOWEVER, when a client accuses you of something happening that didn't happen, are we still responsible? Do you pay it and consider it a cost of doing business to settle a nuisance, quiet the squeaky wheel just to prevent a lawsuit? What if they talk about your business and spread untruths or falsehoods? How do you know that paying it will stop them, and how do you handle that? 

There are people who want something for nothing. They accuse you of something that was already present before grooming (like ear infections, hot spots, fleas, and the list goes on). They may have not known about the problem, but they also, sometimes DO know about the problem, and just want someone else to be responsible.

 How do you handle that? Do you pay it, or do you go to court?

For the second time in 15 years of being open, I have recently refused to pay a vet bill. 

I ended up being sued in small claims court over the incident detailed below.

I groomed a ten year old peke-poo on May 28, 2012. My records on the pup say she has weak, popping rear legs and will fight you on toenails. We always take two people to trim her nails to avoid her injuring herself. She is also an excitable puppy, so when she comes into the shop, she stays in a kennel in the back room to keep her from barking and jumping around making all of us anxious. My rear kennels have pads just like the ones in the front room do, and she is much happier when she doesn't see people coming in all day long.

Her owner picked up at 3:42 (she was after closing which is why I remember) and the dog walked up to me from her kennel, jumped from the kennel to my arms (maybe 6 inches because it was a middle cage, so not really a jump) and we went out to see mom. I carried her rather than putting her on the floor in case the door was opened since there was someone still in the car outside.

She pays, takes her dog and leaves, saying nothing, and since I had nothing else to do at home, I decided to stay at the shop a little bit longer, walk the boarding dogs one more time, and do some cleaning. There was a possibility that a boarding family was coming back and they would be in around 4 if they did. 4 came and went, no boarding owner, so I then went to run a couple of errands, leaving my dog Toto at the shop. I came back to the shop, dropped off the items I had bought and got Toto, to go home. 

As I am getting in my car, the last client of the day, COMES BACK (it is now 4:50) and says to me "WHAT did you do to my dog and why did you try to hide it by carrying her to me??" NOW, if anything out of the ordinary had happened at the shop we would have told her, but nothing happened. Of course I was in shock that she would accuse me of something when nothing happened, but the dog was limping at this point. She was walking fine then would pick up the leg and hop, then put it down, take a few steps and then pick it up. I had her pick her up (she had her running all over my parking lot without a leash) and I inspected her foot for a quicked nail, manipulated her knee, foot, hip and did a full range of motion check. I got no response at all, which is exactly what I would expect from a dog with arthritis after a grooming session. I will say I assumed she had arthritis based on age and just her general way of moving, so I told her mom that if it was me I would not worry too much about it on a holiday weekend and that I would not make an afterhours veterinarian trip. I would wait until Tuesday when they reopened. She agreed finally, and after again accusing me of hiding the injury, which I steadfastly denied doing, she left.

NOW I want to reiterate, nothing happened here. NOTHING. She wasn't limping in the crate. She showed no signs of any injury on the table or in the tub. If there had been anything wrong we would have given her an incident report.

They were gone over an hour, and anything can happen in that timeframe.

She went to her vet on Tuesday and he agreed with me that there had been no rush to get her in, that it was a torn ACL (in a ten year old luxating patella dog). He did not reccomend surgery, he wanted to try injection treatments. He also told her it could have happened anywhere at all, and that it is just one of those things that old dogs have happen sometimes.

She wanted me to pay for Adequan injections, 8 to begin with THEN one a month for the rest of the dogs life. I asked her did the vet tell her what happened, and she said he couldn't tell her. I told her to leave the bill and I wanted permission to talk to her vet.

Her vet was really helpful on the phone, said he told her it can happen from jumping out of the car, walking up stairs, falling off the car seat or walking across the floor even. He cannot tell her what happened or where and he was mad that she brought me the bill.

This is when it got NASTY. She actually said to me "I don't NEED to prove anything, God will tell the judge what happened because GOD knows what you did to her!"......I have no problems paying medical bills for dogs injured here even if they do it to themselves, but she is #1 OLD, #2 has pre existing conditions and #3 was gone more than an HOUR before they noticed her limping......The vet said paying the bill will be accepting fault and he does not recommend paying it.

She kept coming to the shop, making scenes, calling, demanding that I pay the bill. I finally told her no way no how am I paying this bill. The last time I spoke to her she said to me "I am a DOCTOR and a MINISTER and I don't need your money". She asked me in the last phone call had I come to terms with God yet. I told her I had, and I was not paying for something that did not happen in our shop and wished her luck.

Well, 3 days later I was served with papers for a small claims lawsuit by a Sherriff’s deputy. I immediately looked over the paperwork and burst out laughing, because the vet bills that were lying on my desk still were half of what she was claiming they were in the complaint. The claim listed over $456 for the injections plus court costs. The bills I had were only $243. The Sherriff’s deputy asked me what I was laughing at and I showed him. He said “Make sure you reply to this suit and point that out because that is WRONG”.

I filed my reply, and the court secretary said she remembered the filing because the plaintiff was offended she didn’t know what her doctorate letters after her name meant, and when she asked her about her evidence, she had told her that God had all the proof she needed. She commended me for not paying the bill to shut her up and standing up for myself.

We set a court date for a Monday so that I would not have to take time off work, resulting in a countersuit against the plaintiff for time off.

We went in, were sworn in, and I am not going to get into too much detail, but her first words were, “Your honor, I do not know what happened” and then it went on from there. She brought forth witnesses that were not present in my shop, or at my shop, and the judge even asked her why they were testifying because they were not bringing anything forward that we didn’t already know. Nothing was presented that said anything about how the dog was hurt. WE did learn that she had gone from my shop to get fish at a drive through place that cooks fish while you wait, with the dog in the back seat, then she went home, and shortly after they got home they saw her limping. Then they picked her up and came back to my shop. She admitted she hadn’t seen the dog limping when she picked her up. The entire proceeding lasted about 20 minutes.

I didn’t have much to say. I simply said that she had pretty much said everything correctly, and that nothing had happened.

The judge informed us that he would send us his decision in writing within a week or two. That is silly, but it is the way our jurisdiction works. They mail out decisions on small claims court cases. I felt really good going into court, because I knew nothing had happened, and she felt that something had happened, and I should be responsible. The judge would decide. All we could do was wait.

I was out of town at Disney with the grandkids (note to all of you: avoid taking a 3 year old grandson to Disney in July. You will thank me for this later) when the letter came in with our decision.

In that envelope, was a simple piece of paper with the block checked next to “decision for the defendant”. We erupted in happiness, knowing that we are in the right for fighting this the way we did, but still feeling bad that a (now) former client feels we did something to hurt their dog.

So, it’s important to know that you are responsible when something DOES happen, and you should pay any bills that come about as a result. But when you know you did nothing, and nothing happened, you can stand your ground. It can be aggravating, it can be nerve-wracking, but it can also be empowering.

Tell the truth but stand your ground. Accept responsibilty when you mess up but defend yourself and your staff when you don't.

Remember: Justice will prevail. 

 

They said WHAT???

My son has come to work for me again after leaving a job as a warehouse assistant manager for several years. Yesterday he suggested we do a book on how to communicate with clients. It was such a silly idea I decided to run with it.

Clients are funny! There are certain phrases you will hear repeatedly that bring to mind flashbacks to every other time we hear them. Those are the ones that once you figure out how to interpret will make your life as a groomer SO much easier!

For example, any time a client starts out the conversation with “I have been out of town and my {insert the name of relative here} was supposed to be taking care of him/her for me” expect that the dog has not been bathed, brushed or touched for MONTHS on end and they want you to fix it and make them pretty again.

“He doesn’t like men” means he will lick every man in the shop to death and the women will be his chew toys.

“He might be a little funny about his feet” means DO NOT TOUCH them unless you have a death wish.

“My dog needs a dip” or “He might have a few fleas” usually means get out the flea bombs because this one is going to be an infested mess, like you have never seen before. EXCEPT when it means that there are no fleas at all and there never have been and never will be.

“I brushed her this morning” or “I brush them every day I SWEAR” means the dog has never seen a brush except in your salon and will likely need shaving down.

“My last groomer refuses to do them” generally means that the client is bringing you the best dogs you’ve done in a month.

“I need my dog back as early as possible” is more accurately akin to “prepare to leave 15 minutes late tonight.” Conversely, if the client says “take your time no hurry” you can expect a call in 45 minutes inquiring as to their status because “I was just on this side of town and checking to see”.

On the phone when a customer asks for a price quote, “my Yorkie is about five or six pounds” means to expect a twelve to fifteen pound Yorkie, and you should quote the price accordingly.

“My dog’s nails MIGHT need trimming” can mean one of two things. They are so long a chainsaw will be needed to trim them or they are so short that if you touch them with a clipper they will bleed pre-emptively.

If a person says “My hubby/wife/mother/son/daughter, etc wants him/her cut short” or left long or dyed pink with a Mohawk (YES that really happened!) it is always wise to call the person you usually deal with to verify if the person giving the instructions is NOT the person you usually see. This is critically important if it is someone you have never seen before or if they are a stepson or son in law. Don’t ask me how we know that.

People are FANATICAL about their football! At least here in the south. If a person other than the owner of the dog drops off and requests a particular team, beware! It's a set-up designed to make you look like an idiot in the eyes of the owner who is actually a fan of the requested teams arch rival. You will never live it down!

“My previous groomer would NEVER do to what I wanted” means the client has no idea what they want and expects YOU to figure it out or the other groomer was trying to fire the client.

“I want my dog to look like the dog on the Little Caesar’s dog food ad” means they want a round head. NOW if they have a Westie it will mean that their dog doesn’t have hair enough to do a proper Westie head and has a long nose with huge ears. The good news is that if you come CLOSE they will not see the differences and will be thrilled that you did what they asked.

“My dog is a little bit overweight” means it will take two people to lift them onto the table or into the tub. Usually the owner also falls into the “extra large” category and you feel bad even saying anything to them about their dog’s weight.

“We want it shorter but not shaved” is my favorite thing this time of year. Usually that means cut the down with a 4F or so, but it also can mean that the dog will need to be wetshaved with a ten to get under the mats.

“I can get her at ANY TIME during the day” is usually followed by a gasp and utter disbelief that it will take 4 hours to groom her pooch. My son usually says, “SO I take that anytime is NOT ok for you then?”

"Why did you cut her so short" means you did exactly what I asked you to do, and the same thing you always HAVE done, but then again, so does "You need to go shorter cause it grew out so fast this time!"

Sometimes these clients are so high maintanence that it is not worth keeping them around. It is up to ou how much of it you will put up with. If a client is constantly driving you crazy or demanding more and more special treatment, letting them go on to another place is sometimes a great idea for both you and the client. 

There are many more of these pleasantries I am sure! Send them along to me in comments at the bottom of this article! I will add them to the list! We all need to laugh every now and then!

 

All I want for Christmas is my OWN DOGS BACK!

_O

_{Oh my gosh! They abduct kittens too!}

I was married once a lifetime ago to a wonderful man with whom I had three children. At some point, about 12 years after we were married, he changed so drastically, virtually overnight that I always said aliens came down and abducted the man I married and replaced him with this other person. We could not live together and I am actually surprised that we have not killed each other yet.

NOW It is happening with my dogs, and I want MY DOGS BACK! 

Case in point: Minnie, the Chinese Crested mix we have used to be content to go outside and play in the play yard and would stay all day long, pouting when she had to come in. She loved it outside! She also would sleep in her kennel with no issues. Had a blanket and bed she adored and had to be pulled out of in the mornings. Now, as I type this article she is curled up as close to my legs as she can get almost pushing me off the recliner. She refuses to sleep in a kennel anymore and sleeps in the bed pushed against my legs or my husband's back. If you have to put her in a cage for any reason she screams and will get out of most any cage we have tried. Dog forbid you close the bedroom door with her on the opposite side than you are, because she will tear the wall down to get out. I know this because I have had to replace sheetrock in my bedroom and tile as well in front of the door after she got accidentally locked into the bedroom one day.

Aliens are the only explanation. Nothing else makes sense. 

_{Huh! Cows.....who would have thunk it?}

Then, there is Pixie, my rescued maltese who was neglected severely before she came to my house. I have placed her three times and end up getting her back every single time. She always despised people and would rather be with dogs than people. and really enjoyed being dirty. It usually takes three people to get this 4 pound dog groomed. WELL the aliens took her too! They left me with a puppy that shadows my husband, climbs in his lap while he is watching tv and demands to be petted all the time. Ignore her and she will bark and scratch your legs to make you pay her attention. Last weekend she got her monthly bath and I was able to shave her face (her eyes drain horribly) and get her feet and nails done by myself! She is currently curled up in the chair next to my husband and looks perfectly content to be there.

I have also decided that they are stealing client dogs. I have no idea what they are doing with them, but their owners as well as myself would like their dogs back!

_{Watch your dogs! They lure them away and then replace them. This is your proof!}

"Charlie" (name changed to protect the abductee) has been coming every two weeks since he was 12 weeks old. He has always been a great dog to work on! WELL since his abduction, his replacement is a wimp! He fights being bathed, brushed, touched, dried...OK he hates the entire process! His mother says he is becoming "needy" at home and since he hates being brushed she no longer does it. He also is very picky in his food choices now and will not eat if he does not get what he wants. He also refuses to go into the kennel at home. 

We have no idea where he was when he was abducted, but obviously he was!

Then there is "Murphy" and "Lola" (names again changed to protect the abductees) who are almost evil when it comes to touching their feet or trimming their nails. In fact, sometimes nails just don't get done. Mom and dad will tell you that they cannot touch their feet either and that they will bite you if you try. They have always kept them away from their grandchildren as well. They were replaced with some of the nicest, easiest dogs I have ever worked on. Overnight. Last visit before today they were unfinishable. Today they were perfect. Turns out that the grandchildren were allowed to play with the dogs for the first time ever last weekend!

To be honest, we do not mind this type of abduction and replacement. We truly enjoy those in fact. We do wish there were more of them!

Some of my clients were replaced as well. Clients who never tip have been replaced with ones who tip large amounts routinely and ones that were high maintenance are now so easy going it is not really possible to understand. Ones who did not care are now extremely picky! 

I again will say the only explanation is aliens. I have no clue where they came from or why they are doing this. I just know that sometimes they do good things and other times they really mess things up. I feel for the aliens that have the bad dogs at this time. I feel sorry for us that have the bad dogs now as well. Maybe they ARE dogs! Alien dogs or cats for that matter! That makes much more sense now that I think about it. 

I know that aliens most likely did not abduct any of the people or dogs in my life, I just have no other explanation for the changes in their personalities. It is puzzling to me that overnight a dog (or person) can change from nice to mean, or vice versa, or independent to totally dependent.

I need to know how this is possible.

So I blame aliens. That's my story and I am sticking to it! 

 

PS. Its been a long month, and this is my way of relaxing. I hope you enjoyed this article, as it is your Christmas Present from me! Merry Christmas Everyone!

The Customer is ALWAYS Right?

I have heard for my entire life the old adage "The customer is always right". I have to say that when I first started out in grooming I felt like they were and would bend over backwards to accommodate them, gave away grooms when people complained, stayed as late as I had to for them and came in early when asked. 

I think, however, as I have gotten older and a bit more wise, I have learned that more often than not, "The customer is right PART of the time" makes more sense.

Don't get me wrong! I love my clients (most of them anyway) and am appreciative for their business. They are what feeds me and keeps my household running. They are what allows me to care for my pack as well as indulge my grandchildren. Without them I could not feed my shoe habit either! 

I will not let a client walk all over me. Not in the slightest. If they do they are corrected or fired. 

Clients that do not know what they want, clients that get upset when you shave their pelted dog and proclaim "He wasn't matted!" even as they look at the pelt you saved to show them, clients that are unreasonable in their demands. These are the people that I say are right only SOMETIMES.

I had a client that up until recently I had put up with the nonsense from. I like her dog, who is a small, thin coated Yorkie with a simple, FFTT and trim the legs a bit, groom. Mom however was one that knew everything (she is a nurse you know and her husband is a doctor) and even though she would ask questions and we would offer answers, she always rebuffed everything we said and her way was the right way. She changes grooms with the way the wind is blowing, and she thinks nothing of going elsewhere with her dog and then bringing her to us to fix.

The morning that she got fired, or quit depending on your point of view, she came in with her dog who really didn't need anything done to her and then proceeded to say "well you know what to do" and "The girl who works here said it was a puppy cut" over and over, while gripping the dog tightly in her arms, refusing to give her to me or anyone else until we established the haircut she wanted.We then decided that all she wanted was for to be tidied up and we settled on a pick up time. She said on her way out the door "I wish I had brought the picture of what I wanted" and I replied that it would help if she had. She left. Finally. The 3 clients waiting behind her were aggravated and so was I.

We bathe and dry the pup and she is placed in a cage in the main room until it is her turn to be finished. I look up and see her car in the parking lot and her dog sees it as wel and is getting upset. She comes to the door, opens it wide enough to stick her head in and starts mouthing words. Now I have a dog on my table that will not stay for me to go into the other room, so I said "I can't hear you" and she says in a real voice, "Is my dog in here" to which I replied, "Yes that is her barking". "I didn't want to upset her, but I wanted to bring this picture". My bather had come out of the other room, so I said "Kayser, can you get that picture from her and ut it on my desk so I can look at it when I get a chance?" She gave it to him and left, repeating she was trying not to upset her dog. 

She got to her car and we are all just dumbfounded looking at each other like, REALLY did this just happen? when she came back in demanding her dog because WE upset her and she couldn't leave her with us. She then said, as I was explaining that I was sorry for her pup being upset but she would calm down once she was gone, she said to me "WELL You didn't have to be such an Effing Bit##" and I was stunned. She then took her dog and said again, "You are ALWAYS an Effing Bit##". 

I was always as polite to her as I could be, trying to explain that I needed more information than she was offering and I DID tell her that we don't use the term p uppy cut at all, but I was nice about it. When she returned, she caused her dog the stress not me, and we did what she asked. We gave her her dog and photo.

There are some people you cannot make happy regardless of what you do. She is one of them. If we cut her dog the way she asked it was too short or too long, or cost too much.

These types of clients are not right. They are NOT the type of client you wish to see or deal with and the nice thing for me is I don't have to deal with them. I am my own boss. 

Clients who manipulate you into doing something that you do not feel is the right thing to do, clients that lie about things that go wrong, clients that always have a complaint even when the dog was groomed to perfection and to their specifications.....these clients are never right.

A client that swears at or harasses a groomer is never right.

 A client that blames the groomer for their own mistakes or negligence, is never right.

A client that gives instructions which you follow to a T, then says "that is not what I asked for" is never right.

A client that accuses you of not doing something you did or doing something you didn't is never right.

Clients who have little or no respect for you, your time, your other clients or staff are never right.

Clients who belittle the "other groomer" are likely to do it to you and they are never right.

Clients who have no clue what they want and yet get upset when you do "whatever you think is best" are never right. 

Clients that argue with you about things that are not your fault, or policies clearly stated to the client in advance are never right.

Clients who want you to do anything that is dangerous or harmful to their pet are never right.

Clients that want you to adjust your policies or hours "just this once" are never right and will expect you to do it everytime if you ever give in.

There are times in this industry that you have to (or want to) kiss butt and suck up to clients, but when they are belittling you and causing you stress they are not the clients you want. 

I am not saying you should be mean, rude or bitc##y, simply direct. Tell the client that this is not acceptable behavior. You cannot read minds. Your time is important. You need the to follow the rules like everyone else.

If you are firm, stick to your guns and are polite, most will adjust and become good clients. The ones that don't need to go elsewhere. So that they can learn the grass is not always greener, and the groomer is not always nicer.

Life is too short. There are other clients to replace the rude ones. Make your salon a happier place. Remember that the customer is NOT always right! It will make you feel better.

In my next entry I will discuss some tings you can do that will make your customer service skills improve and every client feel special. And right.