I worry about any pets that are taken in to Best Friends Grooming Salon.
Last year I decided to try the salon because I'm employed in an office nearby and it was convenient. I left my two small mini schnauzers and the husband and wife that own the salon seemed nice enough. When I returned to pick them up the owner offered to carry them to my car which I thought was unusual. I noticed in the car that one of my dogs had a hemoraged eye socket. I carried him back into the salon and asked the owner what had happened. He said he didn't know that maybe it was an allergy to the shampoo. I took my dog immediately to my vet where I was told that the only way that an eye socket could be damaged to that degree was with blunt trauma and he said my dog had been hit. I took pictures and called the humane society and filed a complaint. I was told that one of their investigators woudl drop by the salon and question the owner. I didn't hear back from the human society but assumed that the visit may have had an impact on the owner. I called the owner and told him what my vet had said. The vet also told me if I wanted to pusue the complaint that he would testify. I called the grooming owner and told him what the vet had said and he still denied knowing about the injury. He was very rude and said that my dogs were difficult to groom and that owners get very upset if they come to pick their dogs up and he couldn't get the job done" and I told him he should have called me to pick them up instead of abusing them. He then said that "in dog grooming - once the dogs realize that ithey are not going to die they settle down and comply" - those were his exact words. If anyone else has had this experience please call the humane society and let them know that my complaint was filed in 2005. In hindsight I think the best action would have been to file a police report for animan cruelty but at the time I was so upset I didn't think about it. I took pictures of the injury and it shows how severe the injury was. The matter around the eyeball was so red and swollen that it protruded out around the eye. The injury healed and my dog has no lasting physical results but the emotional trauma may still be with him. I've taken my dogs to Petco, Petsmart and the grooming salons where the grooming is done within view of the store patrons and even though some of their trims aren't done as well as private salons - I know the chances of them being mistreated are less due to the visibility of the groomers.
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