The Barking Dog

“My dog’s eye and face were severely injured while at Barking Dog’s Grooming.” In January, I took my 7 year old dog to Barking Dog's Grooming. She has been groomed every 2-3 months since a she was a puppy although just the last 2 times at Barking Dog's Grooming. When I dropped her off the manager praised me for the good condition of her coat. When I got her home, I realized her eye had been badly injured, so I returned to their facility. The manager apologized and gave us drops for her eye. I also pointed out places she had been shaved all the way down to the skin, and other places like her tail and ears, that had long, full hair, had just been completely cut off. She reimbursed us for the grooming. The next day her eye was beginning to turn a foggy blue. The vet immediately brought her in and determined she had a large ulcer in the middle of her eye, due to a recent trauma. The vet stated these usually heal within 5 days (obviously an acute injury). Within a week her eye was improving but she was not blinking that eye so we returned to the vet. It was determined that she had Bell’s Palsy, or facial nerve paralysis, which again she did not have prior to the grooming. The vet looked at the photo right after the grooming and pointed out the facial droop. We spent almost $600 and countless hours caring for our sweet dog's injuries that occurred on the day she spent at Barking Dogs Grooming. I contacted the owner with vet notes and photos asking for reimbursement for vet fees incurred and a plan of action to assure this would not happen again. He stated, “I can assure you the issue did not happen at our salon. I just watched the entire two-and-a-half-hour surveillance video, and during her visit Daisy was treated with the utmost respect.” He then provided me with 2.5 hours of videos which I watched and was appalled that he would share them with me. I wrote back to him, “Many times she was drug across the table by her back two legs and a few times by one of her front legs. She was lifted by her harness after her bath. Her head was very forcefully pulled back many times during the grooming. During the hair drying (which we do often at home) she is . . . nipping at the groomer (again my dog has NEVER nipped and we have kids in our house all the time that give her quite a bit of love) because she is so traumatized and trying to get away. At least once every 2 minutes my groomer turns her back to my dog while she is up on the table. We have children from 2-11 years old and I would NEVER let them yank Daisy around the way she was jerked around in the video. . . I am very frustrated that there is not at least an action plan for improvement - I watched the entire video and the two groomers in the video are treating the dogs with such a stark difference. I just want to clarify that this you find is an appropriate way to treat a dog?” Again with a quick but somewhat rude response I was told, “I am going to attempt to break this down because I vehemently disagree with everything your allegations. Let me start by saying as you are not a trained groomer, you are unaware of the procedures of how to groom a dog and hold them so both the animal and the groomer are safe. . . . The tables our groomers use are only 4’ in length, you cannot drag a dog across a space. Daisy was lifted gently by her hind quarters, 3”-4” up in the air and brought back towards the groomer. . . Daisy’s head was held from the back between the forearm, chest and bicep as to form a secure brace, to hold the head in place so the face and head can be dried. One again completely normal with a dog that tries to avoid the drying process. . . She never once attempts to bite the groomer. I’m sorry the camera is somewhat pixilated and difficult to see but that is just not true.” I am so saddened what my dog and our family has been through. I have photos on yelp but this platform does not support photos.