First Post (or, hair splinters)

Hello. My name is Ally, and I work as a groomer at a major corporation which I probably shouldn't name so nothing bad can happen to me. I will use customer names and real dog names so too bad. Don't get all hurt because you or your dog is crazy. There's help out there. It's called DOG TRAINING and GET A LIFE!
So, I'll start with the title of my blog. Hair splinters are extremely painful. When you shave a dog, or groom a dog such as a shar-pei, hair will burrow into many places on your hands and arms and make it extremely painful to touch things. They are hard to get out, and sometimes you won't notice them for a while, then a few days later you're looking at your arm and you notice a sharp hair sticking out from a dog you shaved 3 days beforehand. Disturbing, and one of the job perks I bet no one's told you about.
We get a lot of strange customers, and some stranger dogs. I don't even know where to start. Each and every day, someone comes in and shows us how strange people are with their animals. So many places to start--so I'll start with last weekend.
A 4 month old shih-tzu mix puppy named Koby Jack came in and the mom wanted half off all the fur and a teddy bear face. The dog had been here before with no bad comments in the computer. No problem. I took the dog, bid the mom farewell, then hell began. This dog was insanely vicious. Puppies normally don't like being groomed, and they'll often try to bite you or your grooming tools to show their dissatisfaction. But when you stop grooming them, they are cute bundles of happiness again. This dog was different. I barely got the haircut done, and I could not do the face. He was biting and snarling and lunging at the scissors. Our grooming manager could not even get near his face using all the tricks in the book (distraction, yelling "no", pinning the dog down, etc.). He drew blood from both of us and made my arms look like I cut myself for fun. This dog was awful, vicious, and impossible. Anyway, the mom came to pick up the dog and I charged her the price of the groom because I DID get the haircut like 90% done and I figured the rest was equivalent of special handling fees. I told the mom that and how incredible awful her dog was, she felt bad, paid, and took her dog.
Later that day she calls and says she thinks the haircut looks rough and wonders why it wasn't better. Are you kidding me?, I thought. I told her (not as nicely as I had when she picked up her dog, but still pretty nicely), that her dog was very vicious, hated grooming, was stressing out badly, bit two groomers and made them bleed, and no one could get near him with grooming tools or their hands. She said she understood and didn't know he was that bad. I recommended sedated grooming for him and gave her a phone number for a place we recommend for bad dogs.
So a day later, guess what? SHE CALLS AGAIN! She said she had been talking to her friends and they all agree more should have been done. Excuse me? Your dog makes Kujo look like the Charmin bear! "Oh, well, I think we should try again". After arguing with her, I finally conceded to let her bring her dog back and I would try to finish the haircut. I guess she thinks I am lying. I will do extremely aggressive dogs no one else will do. I'm not easily scared or timid about doing a dog. If I am saying a dog is too aggressive, that's one messed up dog. So she is coming in tomorrow, and when he goes psycho and bites her, I'll just smile.
Then there was the lady with the cocker spaniel who made an appointment and was told to bring her rabies shot information. She came in without it and Jana asked her if she could go home and get it, because we couldn't do her dog without it (corporate rules). She lives 5 minutes away, and Jana was very very nice and told her she would still take her dog. The lady bursts into tears, finds a manager, and gets half off the price of her groom.
Gee, I wish I could cry and get half off my rent because no one told me it was due on the first.
I know there was more, but I forget it all.
There was William the Wheaton terrier yesterday. He has been kicked out of every (insert major corporation I work at here) he has gone to. The mom usually does him at home, but he was matted and needed professional grooming. "Oh, he only nips a little when you poke him with a guard comb". Oh, ok. Well I won't be using guard combs on him today and I don't go around poking my dogs with them anyway. Only nips a little. Ha!
He needed to be muzzled for the entire shave. He would scream and bite and jump and fall off the table. Just awful. Everyone was looking at him in horror. He was ok for the bath but flipped out when I turned on the blowdryer. So he had to air dry. It turned out he just hates the clippers, and was the sweetest dog when I just hand-scissored him. So, I hand scissored the rest. It didn't look that great, and when the mom came to pick him up she said "so, you ready to tell me you're never going to take him again?" I told her he was only bad with the shaving and wasn't a bad dog at heart and yes I would take him again as long as she knows his haircut isn't going to be the greatest. She was happy and liked the haircut. She has him in obedience training and knows he is a bad dog when it comes to some things. I wish more customers were like her.
So, I'll just have to post day by day. So many weird customers and things happen that I can't remember them all. So until next time, watch out for those splinters!