Who takes their pet to be groomed?

[Cetawin]

My boys go every 4 - 6 weeks for a full groom (bath, conditioner, nails, ears, glands and blow dry)

for an analysis for you I am in Southern Oregon about 45 miles North of cali border. Little one runs me $16 and big one was $24 but he will bust into the new weight category next groom so he will be a bit more.

There is the mountain lion chasing 10 lb terror ChiChi who looks completely adorable when his groomer puts his little mean self in a cute scarf when she is done with him

Then now 5 month old 50 lb goofy ball G.P./Lab puppy...who is just a goof and soaks the poor groomer playing with the water. LOL

I was not given anything to sign but I would sign it anyway. I know my puppy is goofy and therefore, I know accidents can happen. The ChiChi wold be hard to accidentially hurt because he is a big pile of mush for women. If an accident occurs, she has my vet's info and mine, she can call either. I provided her with the rabies certificate and the vet info. If I cannot trust her to call me if something happens, then I cannot trust her to bathe them either. Word of mouth in a small town kills. I trust her and her daughter without question...I see how they treat the animals. I stalked her shop for a few weeks looking at toys and grooming supplies and such before I took the chiChi to her. She fell in love and was cradling him like a baby in less than a second. So, I was not nervous, he was not nervous so I trust that.

 

[stormylady]

I have 4 toy poodles that go to the groomer regularly and my groomer has never asked me to sign an agreement. He says its all in a days work, however I would sign the agreement if presented to me. (I trust him compleatly) You have covered all your bases, and i appreciate that, however to protect myself I think i would just groom at home. But for your end I would incourage the agreement. My groomer just charges me 17 bucks a dog and they can be a handfull not mean but nervous, and he just picks them up and goes, and they know he is in charge and quits fighting the inevitable.
Sandy

 

[redhen]

.sorry messed up post..i tried to quote and it didnt work..

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Obviously the formatting is nicer when printed out...

I think it is a fine contract except the part i quoted in bold....maybe i am misunderstanding the sentence though..what exactly do you mean by that line? That I am responsible if my dog bites you during grooming? thanks, Wendy

 

[Cetawin]

redhen I do believe that is what it is saying.

Personally, I would not sign it with that in the contract. For starters, there is strict liability for the dog owner if the dog bites in most cases however, provocation is another case. Who knows what caused the bite...had the dog bitten previously or shown agression...too many variables to blanket something like that... especially if you are reserving the right to charge extra for "aggression".

Also, you are doing a trade that has inherent dangers...anytime you are messing around with scissors or clippers near an animals face or genitals you risk a bite. Should a nick occur whether the dog moves or you twitch that is no one's fault...it is what it is an accident. there has to be some liability on the part on the groomer just in doing the job.

I would clearly post that you are not responsible for accident or injury to the pet and that by leaving a pet there, you accept the responsibility not the groomer.

I would have the contract lie out specifics of service, manners to handle incorrect grooming procedures or results.....example someone pays for a french poodle cut on their poodle and they come out looking like a nonsense with its paw in a socket...that is clearly your fault...LOL So outline how you will remedy it.

Have the owner list the dog's temperment, give permission for a dog to be muzzled if the need arises and etc.

that contract is going to push a lot of people away and for a $20 - $25 groom...is it worth it?

That is my 2 cents worth

 

[cybercat]

As a pro groomer that has been around for 20 years releashes are need by some more than others. For all the Pro groomers here you might want to look up the Groomer Talk board. It is for all pro groomer and has a big home and salon businiss area.

 

[ninjapoodles]

I'm just in shock that there are groomers working for $17-25 per dog! That is NOT enough money for the work!

 

[klf73]

oh, I had one more story to share....
I was pregnant and wasn't up for grooming my dog. I brought him to a local woman. I asked her experience and she told me that she worked at the pet store and took some classes etc. I have no idea what these classes are but figure since he only need a brush and bathe what harm could be done(not saying anything bad about these classes, just don't know anything about them). I brought him in and she proceeded to let the other dogs *greet* mine. I nearly blew a gasket. I told her how that is completely unacceptable, another dog could bite mine, they could transmit diseases, etc. She didn't see why I was so upset as all the dogs were *nice as well as healthy*. I never brought my dog back. There was no way she could tell if any of those dogs would have reacted differently to my dog, or if they carried a disease. Contact should be prohibited and disinfecting happening frequently. If my dog contracted something at the groomer I would have held her completely liable....
I also never expected anyone to pay for medical if I was harmed during the grooming. I had my fair share of scratches, but never got seriously bit as I was extremely attentive and always focused on my dog. As for my *friend*, she chatted, smoked, answered the phone, etc while doing a dog. She got bit a lot and also let quite a few dogs hang themselves because she would walk away. Although she went to the same school as me, she didn't walk away with the same lessons.....
NP- it's all where you live. I would do a dunk-a-dog (well behaved) let's say lab, for $25. My husband brought the same dog to the groomers in Alaska, they charged him $45. I asked why so much, they groom by size

although he was easy as pie. Pregnant or not I groomed him myself after that while we lived there.
We learned to charge by the amount of time to do the dog. Miniature poodles were about $30-$35 depending on clip, where as a rat terrier might be $18-$22 as they only take about 20-30min. I think locality has a big play in charge.....
eta- my school was in the Boston area

 

[Felicia]

I personally would not sign anything when getting my dog groomed. My parents own a boarding kennel, and we have a groomer there, and we don't have anyone sign anything for grooming (we do for boarding). I wouldn't sign it because, what if you provoked my dog to bite you? Or what if you hurt my dog badly? I am supposed to pay for it? I guess just make sure you trust your groomer. I would definitely not sign anything for grooming.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
"Dunk-a-dog." That is great!

OK, I guess I can see doing those cheap. But a poodle? Dang, y'all, you need to be gettin' PAID.

I'm guessing you could get a mini done around here for the $35 range. I'm so bad about letting mine all get shaggy at the same time, I'll call my groomer and say, "I've got X amount of dollars--come do as much as you can for that!" We have often bartered goods and services, too. We sold her a horse once, and that was my favorite deal, because we didn't pay for grooming for a solid year!

When I had my first *mini* show-poodle's pattern set, the groomer (not my regular--this was when she was out of state) charged me $125. And I brought the dog TO him already bathed and blown out!