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Can anyone hear you scream??

1/1/2018

23 Comments

 

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​We do not just play with puppies all day . Lots of young people and even adults I know think "I would love to have your job!" "I love dogs, this must be SO MUCH FUN!" but they have no idea what really goes on in this industry and we need to speak up more and let everyone know what really goes on.
It IS rewarding to make puppies pretty; to free dogs and cats from the mats that pull skin, hurt and sometimes result in their death (it is rare but it happens). It is also tiring. Dangerous. Life altering (at times). 
If you are not prepared, work alone, work in small spaces...can anyone hear you scream? Do you have an exit strategy? Do you have safety precautions in case of an accidental slip or fall? Do you have a way to call for help if you need it? The following suggestions may just save your life. 
  • Worry about YOURSELF first, the dog last
  • Have a place to go to get away
  • Have a phone in your pocket
  • Consider a life alert necklace
  • Have a panic button keychain on you at all times EASY to get to
  • If you are in a salon have panic buttons in every room and in places you frequent.
  • Have cameras so people can check in on you if you are alone
  • Check in with family or friends frequently when working alone
CAUTION!!!! GRAPHIC PHOTOS!!!!




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The 22 year old groomer in MA has a Go Fund me page set up with more photos. Sienna's Support Fund The photo below has been widely circulated on Facebook grooming groups.
The dog was under a police chief's order to be muzzled in public. He should have NEVER been in a grooming shop! People are upset because of PetSmart's muzzle policy and the fact that Sienna owns a pitbull (some are blaming her for her injuries in fact) but lets lay blame where it falls. SQUARELY on the dog and the dog's owner.

The owner of the dog caused this injury to this young woman (and another woman three months prior) because he thought it would not happen again. He thought the dog needed a bath and was unable to do it himself. HIS CARELESSNESS has cost the women in the maulings quality of life and mental stability and the dog his life. Was all of it worth a bath? A walk? Would a muzzle have stopped this attack? Maybe. BUT Sienna had no way of knowing that this was a dangerous dog. The owner did not say to her "You cannot take the muzzle off per order of the police". 


While we are on this topic, do you know who has the dangerous dogs in your town? The ones that AC has deemed dangerous. The ones that have repeated bite histories or maulings? Does AC have an obligation to tell us? If not WHY NOT? Do you share with other groomers who the dangerous dogs are you refuse to groom again? DO YOU TELL THE OWNERS when their dogs bite, scratch, nip or fight you???? If not WHY NOT?????

Less horrible injuries are detailed below.
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​Mandy who worked for me about 9 years ago had this happen to her lip while I was out of town at a grooming competition. I literally got a phone call from my son while bathing my dog. "Mama, we have a huge problem"... Yes we did. She had a piece of her upper lip torn off. Her mouth is not the same shape as it used to be. Scarring is minimal. Her "crime" ? She was reaching into a crate to put collars on a family of dogs we groomed every two weeks for years. The Shih-Tzu leaped up and took her lip off.


My own facial bite is documented here: Only a matter of time       I am lucky that you cannot tell it happened unless you know to look for it.






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​My hand was torn up BADLY last year and really should have been stitched. I used steristrips and tegaderm to cover it up after the doctor refused to stitch a bite, despite the fact that it was tearing and jagged. I have nerve damage in the area, THANK GOODNESS it is on top of my hand. This collage shows the healing. I had a towel over my hand (three or four layers) reaching in to get a dog aggressive dog out of a kennel. We DID NOT KNOW he was cage aggressive and had already done most of the work on him. Owners knew he growled at them in a cage.... REMEMBER owner's lie.
 







​Groomers have had fingers removed by biting dogs. One groomer I know lost a finger to a lab. 

Dean Mazurkiewicz has a story of a bather taking a dog from the owner to walk it into the back to get a bath who had her nose torn off completely. She did NOTHING WRONG, it just happened. That young girl never came back to work. I don't blame her.
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​Bites are not the only thing that can happen to us at work. Scratches are more common in fact (I bet). Not all scratches are minor either. Billy, pictured before, was torn open by a dewclaw on a small dog over a month before the last picture was taken. The bloody photo? He had already cleaned it up when we took it. It was DEEP. He went to the Royal Canin Dog Show with a huge scratch that ran down onto his hand. LOTS of explaining on that one! Judges look at you funny when you have that type of injury and you want them to touch your dog...


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THEN we have accidental slips, falls and equipment injuries.
IF you are alone and you fall due to a dog jumping on you, a wet floor, getting hit in the head by a flying dryer hose (You know it has happened to you!) or a medical condition (such as the seizure that left two beagles dead from hanging while the groomer laid on the floor unconcious) WOULD THERE BE HELP COMING? In many cases, OK MOST cases, NO. NO HELP would be coming. This is where panic buttons associated with alarm systems are not going to help much. You need a fall alert button if you work by yourself most of the time or completely. 

There is also  the horrible story of Sarah Shoe in North Carolina who's boyfriend was being attacked by a neighbor and the fight escalated to her fearing for her family's life. She called 911 for help and by the time they arrived the intruder was dead and more people were trying to get into her shop. If she had not had a gun on her, her boyfriend Chris, herself and her grandchildren might be dead. I know some of you are anti-gun but you need to be able to protect yourself from a distance. I hear all the time "I have shears I am safe"...no. NO you are not. A gun. Mace. Pepper Spray. A fire extinguisher. Wasp or Bear spray. THOSE will help you stay safe. Shears? WELL the intruder has to be very very close to use those. 
Sarah lost her home, her business and her livelihood during that attack that all started over a dispute with the water bill for their complex! She has been cleared of all charges and the shooting was deemed self defense, but her life is shattered right now. As is Sienna's life in MA. My life has been changed forever. As was the girl who lost her nose. As are MANY of the people who go un -named though we know they exist who are permanently injured, scarred, traumatized or KILLED by dogs or in the course of their work with dogs.
SO? are you prepared? Are you ready to work tomorrow? Do you know what questions to ask? How to read dog body language? Panic buttons ready? Fall alerts in place?
I will cover a few basic safety measures to help keep YOU and the DOGS safe next. ALL of these posts will tie together to make your grooming safer for you and the pets in your care.
23 Comments
Cheryl
1/2/2018 04:48:49 pm

The text in your article is having some issues. Can you look at it?

Reply
Debi hilley
1/3/2018 10:06:47 am

We think it is fixed. IT is also available at http://groomwise.typepad.com/grooming_smarter/2018/01/can-anyone-hear-you-scream.html

What format are you looking at it on?? Mobile or computer?

Reply
concerned professonal
1/10/2018 01:50:59 pm

We need to stop blaming the pet owners and start making it common practice to teach newer groomers and bathers how to handle difficult dogs and also identify potentially dangerous dogs. Many times the owner may not even be aware .

The art of grooming requires the groomer to get in a dogs space in a way that is not comfortable . Some of your older handling practices make it even worse that paired with not having updated equipment is a recipe for disaster.

There are too many people getting into grooming on the cheap . DIY this and that is not professionalizing our industry especially when it comes to handling.

Something that can get both dog and human hurt which it is doing.

Blaming the pet owner for what ever reason bringing in a dog that could damage someone is not the answer.

Teaching groomers how to identify a potentially dangerous dog or cat and how to use preventative equipment for the safety of the dog and human is the answer. Also teaching that there are dogs that a groomer should just refuse.
Corps who have lots of beginners that are not monitored seriously need to look into stricter policies on dogs they do allow the groomers to groom. This goes for mom and pop stores.
This also is a reason why all businesses should be insured. if this was a small shop on the cheap with no insurance. this could have been a life destroying situation worse then just the attack on the girl that got mauled by the pitbull cross.

Reply
Kim Albert
12/2/2018 05:34:25 am

concerned professional The safest way to identify aggression issues is to be told about them during the initial consultation. In my experience most dogs who display aggression at some stage during the grooming process are not generally aggressive off the bench. Good groomers become good behaviorists over time and are particularly expert at reading, understanding and managing energy levels. New or novice groomers cannot be taught these skills, they come with experience. The bottom line is that owners have a serious responsibility to disclose known aggression issues to their groomer and if they don't they are negligent.

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Kim Albert
12/2/2018 09:03:01 am

Apologies I wanted to edit my previous post but couldn't. I completely agree and think that beginners should have almost constant supervision initially until their confidence and skill levels improve. Learning to read a dog takes time but you're also right in saying that the groomer must also bear some responsibility. Groomers should always learn about any behavioural issues and previous grooming history when consulting with new clients.

My grooming reality is very different from the norm, we have no cages,we spend time with our clients and incidences of aggression are rare.

This is us https://youtu.be/sb30T3Mywlg
https://youtu.be/blwXR3Mp1BE


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1/31/2019 12:59:46 pm

Working in a grooming shop has never been an easy job because there are dangers that might be waiting for you. It's quite devastating to hear this news about the groomer from PetSmart. All she wanted to do was to groom the dog, but what happened to her was unexpected. I don't know what to react about this matter and how I wish I didn't hear it. Well, every job has its consequence, and we don't know what might be waiting for us so it will always be okay to be prepared all the time.

Rosanna Mohler link
2/17/2018 10:13:20 pm

Grooming or taking care of a dog or any pet is not an easy job. Being a pet groomer, I know how hard is it to take care of pets. Sometimes it's to dangerous as all dogs are not of the same kind.

Reply
Jason link
3/6/2018 03:46:28 pm

Something I always worry for the groomers that work for me. I think a lot of pet owners don't understand the danger they put people in when they have an overly aggressive animal and don't give us warning of their tendencies. Thank you for this eye opening article!

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Guylaine
3/23/2018 11:19:57 pm

Sorry to contact here but I did not find any email on your website. I want to buy drummel bit and can not find it on your website. Thank you

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ryan smith
4/21/2018 12:00:02 pm

I don't think this is a pet problem, but an owner problem. I know in my local area, all pets have to be on a leash, and it is a law and they can get a ticket if they are not. I know with many pet lovers, and places such as <a href="http://www.petgroomingcypress.com">dog grooming</a> stores, they have a lot of hard work to do because they deal with every different type of animal. It is said that we blame the animal instead of the owner.

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Pet groomer link
4/21/2018 12:02:15 pm

I don't think this is a pet problem, but an owner problem. I know in my local area, all pets have to be on a leash, and it is a law and they can get a ticket if they are not. I know with many pet lovers, and places such as dog grooming stores, they have a lot of hard work to do because they deal with every different type of animal. It is said that we blame the animal instead of the owner.

Reply
Karla
5/16/2018 12:32:54 am

Great article and I totally agree. Owners lie all the time but it is the groomer's responsibility to reject any dog they don't feel confident with. No matter how friendly a dog may seem, you are a total stranger to them. Big or Small. Every precaution must be taken at all times with every dog. Your safety is more important than anything else. Looking forward for your next post. :)

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7/11/2018 11:06:21 am

I think that if we taught everyone the difference in different breeds that we will learn that it is not the breed but the owners of the dogs that teach them to be violate. We see things on tv about murders. they don't grow up to be murders, they become murders with the tools they see and use like games, and "money see monkey do"

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Rahul Roy link
8/1/2018 01:32:58 am

Quality <a href="https://www.abkgrooming.com/collections/grooming-tables"> portable dog grooming table height adjustable </a> designed for professional groomers, including electric & hydraulic table.

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Karolyn
8/1/2018 12:48:08 pm

It is very amazing how safety first is so easily forgotten. I preach safety first all day long. We had a dog that was not going to be able to get groomed due to aggression and the owner actually was very upset that a professional could not get the job done. I told him we are about safety first and your dog was showing teeth then alligator rolled and that is not safe to the groomer or the dog. Also I told him if he did bite it is not good for him either as authorities would be called and you would be dealing with that as well. Unfortunately he still didn’t get it. Sad.

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3/1/2019 04:47:39 am

I feel sad for what happened on the groomer because that was extreme. The pet might be very aggressive that's why it happened. Actually, your knowledge about this situation wouldn't be enough because animals are all different. You can never classify dogs as 'friendly ones" because they are also different from one another. Neither teaching them to behave could work especially if they were born aggressive. This is one of the reasons why I don't have pets. 


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3/12/2019 03:52:32 pm

This is the right blog for anyone who wants to find out about this topic. You realize so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I would want? HaHa). You put a new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!

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12/27/2019 06:08:39 pm

We have recently started our new dog grooming and service company and came across this article.

Really appreciate you taking the time to educate us on this. I would have never thought of any crucial tips,
but it makes perfect sense.

Dog grooming by no means is an exciting topic to write about, but you did an awesome job keeping it entertaining and not boring.
Thanks a ton.

Reply
Fresno Pet Groomers link
1/5/2020 09:12:34 pm

Oh my! Thankfully no injuries like that here. Be careful out there!

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pitbullscare.com link
3/18/2020 07:54:26 pm

oh it's awful and unfortunate It was a terrible accident.

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Dog Teeth Scaling link
5/10/2020 11:12:52 pm

Good stuff look forward to more.

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6/24/2020 02:03:53 am

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Miles Riley link
1/14/2021 06:22:57 am

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    Debi Hilley is a dog groomer with a passion for teaching. Watch her videos and read her posts on speed, techniques, products for the professional groomer.

    A cause near and dear to me is childhood hunger. Please donate in the name of groomingsmarter this holiday season. It would mean the world to me!!!

    No Kid Hungry

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