champollion
New member
I hope this post is OK. I'm a customer, not a groomer, but you awesome peeps are by far the most qualified community to answer, ESPECIALLY the "without sounding like a total B" part! I had a bit of a disaster with my first ever pro groom, and am kinda an awkward human so would love some feedback on my communication from people who groom dogs as pros to help next time go better. Sorry if this is a touch long but bear with me, I wanna give deets so you have the whole story to go on and are able to call me out if/where necessary.
I have an 8 month old Havanese that I am working on showing for fun. Nothing big or high stakes, it's just something a little different to do together. Havs aren't allowed to have any trimming or shaping in conformation and are required to be presented in a completely natural coat, so I take meticulous care of her coat at home (line brushing with a metal comb every day, bath and blow out weekly, leave in conditioner and spot-washing when needed, etc) to ensure she's presentable in the ring. I'm still learning- she's my first long haired dog AND first dog I've shown- but I do try really hard to keep things in good shape. A couple months ago I got the bright idea that it would be helpful to not only groom at home but start getting her socialized to the environment of a grooming shop and have someone other than me work on her. It wasn't feasible to have one of my more Havanese-experienced show friends help groom her, but I did get some recommendations for local pros.
The person I chose came highly recommended as a show groomer of drop-coat breeds. I talked to her on the phone originally, where she assured me she's styled Havs in full coat before so a puppy intro bath would be no problem. She transferred me to reception to book the actual appointment. I booked a basic bath and brush and also asked to make a note that the only trimming I wanted was the bottoms of pads and sanitary that came with the basic service. Their basic bath service wasn't supposed to include any trimming beyond those two things anyway but I wanted to make sure. I don't think I explicitly put in the notes that we were growing out her show coat, although they did ask a lot about how she behaved during various phases of grooming and I shared all the extensive things we've worked on at home in anticipation of showing. I can't remember whether I re-stated my exact expectation when I dropped her off, but for sure no one asked me about style or shape so I guess maybe I assumed they knew we weren't wanting any cutting?
It seems the main groomer passed my dog along to an apprentice and the apprentice did what I think of as a "doodle cut" (not visible in the picture is super tight shaping on her feet and legs and a big shaved bulls-eye around her b-hole). It was... not good. I mean it wasn't terribly executed, but didn't really work with her face and coat type and was just so far from what I expected I was speechless. I also unfortunately didn't ask the questions I should have at the time about what went wrong cause I was so shocked. Needless to say we didn't do well in her first show, heh.
My girl looks kinda like some permutation of poodle mix if you're not familiar with Havs, so I'm wondering if the apprentice mistook her for another dog on the schedule...Is that something that could happen? Do groomers often do extra non-included trimming? Was I just not specific enough in my ask, or should I have told them about her show coat in particular? I didn't want to give TOO much info in the notes at the time cause it already felt like I'd told them her life story, but I'm worried this was my big mistake. Thinking back on it, no duh the groomer wouldn't have remembered our phone conversation from a week before.
Is there a better way to find out if a groomer is going to be a good fit for someone like me and make my will known without coming across as that customer, or should I just forget about it for now and deal with finding a pro groomer once she's no longer showing? I thought I'd found a good fit so am still pretty bummed it turned out how it did. My dog is going through her coat change now and I'd REALLY like to pay someone else to do a bath and blow out from time to time, but I'm unsure if the same series of conversations would turn out the same at another groomer. I also don't want her to be one of those dogs who is fine with me but terrified or a total hellion on someone else's table down the line, yet I'm scared of another accidental disaster cause idk what (or how) to ask when talking to a potential groomer. I've talked to some show peeps but of course they were all Karen fury and no great advice so I'd love the other perspective
TIA!
I have an 8 month old Havanese that I am working on showing for fun. Nothing big or high stakes, it's just something a little different to do together. Havs aren't allowed to have any trimming or shaping in conformation and are required to be presented in a completely natural coat, so I take meticulous care of her coat at home (line brushing with a metal comb every day, bath and blow out weekly, leave in conditioner and spot-washing when needed, etc) to ensure she's presentable in the ring. I'm still learning- she's my first long haired dog AND first dog I've shown- but I do try really hard to keep things in good shape. A couple months ago I got the bright idea that it would be helpful to not only groom at home but start getting her socialized to the environment of a grooming shop and have someone other than me work on her. It wasn't feasible to have one of my more Havanese-experienced show friends help groom her, but I did get some recommendations for local pros.
The person I chose came highly recommended as a show groomer of drop-coat breeds. I talked to her on the phone originally, where she assured me she's styled Havs in full coat before so a puppy intro bath would be no problem. She transferred me to reception to book the actual appointment. I booked a basic bath and brush and also asked to make a note that the only trimming I wanted was the bottoms of pads and sanitary that came with the basic service. Their basic bath service wasn't supposed to include any trimming beyond those two things anyway but I wanted to make sure. I don't think I explicitly put in the notes that we were growing out her show coat, although they did ask a lot about how she behaved during various phases of grooming and I shared all the extensive things we've worked on at home in anticipation of showing. I can't remember whether I re-stated my exact expectation when I dropped her off, but for sure no one asked me about style or shape so I guess maybe I assumed they knew we weren't wanting any cutting?
It seems the main groomer passed my dog along to an apprentice and the apprentice did what I think of as a "doodle cut" (not visible in the picture is super tight shaping on her feet and legs and a big shaved bulls-eye around her b-hole). It was... not good. I mean it wasn't terribly executed, but didn't really work with her face and coat type and was just so far from what I expected I was speechless. I also unfortunately didn't ask the questions I should have at the time about what went wrong cause I was so shocked. Needless to say we didn't do well in her first show, heh.
My girl looks kinda like some permutation of poodle mix if you're not familiar with Havs, so I'm wondering if the apprentice mistook her for another dog on the schedule...Is that something that could happen? Do groomers often do extra non-included trimming? Was I just not specific enough in my ask, or should I have told them about her show coat in particular? I didn't want to give TOO much info in the notes at the time cause it already felt like I'd told them her life story, but I'm worried this was my big mistake. Thinking back on it, no duh the groomer wouldn't have remembered our phone conversation from a week before.
Is there a better way to find out if a groomer is going to be a good fit for someone like me and make my will known without coming across as that customer, or should I just forget about it for now and deal with finding a pro groomer once she's no longer showing? I thought I'd found a good fit so am still pretty bummed it turned out how it did. My dog is going through her coat change now and I'd REALLY like to pay someone else to do a bath and blow out from time to time, but I'm unsure if the same series of conversations would turn out the same at another groomer. I also don't want her to be one of those dogs who is fine with me but terrified or a total hellion on someone else's table down the line, yet I'm scared of another accidental disaster cause idk what (or how) to ask when talking to a potential groomer. I've talked to some show peeps but of course they were all Karen fury and no great advice so I'd love the other perspective
TIA!
I'm hoping not to miss the same thing if I try again. And you're right I didn't say any of those things when I dropped her off and relied way too much on things being remembered from a preliminary call and some brief notes on the appointment. Lesson learned.