Safety during grooming

Recently, there have been many reports of dogs getting injured or killed during professional grooming in the media. While I agree that some cases scream negligence, abuse and carelessness, this negative portrayal does not reflect the overwhelming majority of dog groomers who perform their work with professionalism and integrity and are motivated by their love for dogs.

There are many ways groomers minimize their risk of injuring a dog and injuring themselves. Dogs that are positioned on a grooming table should never be left unattended. Nooses are used to keep a dog from stepping off the table and should be adjusted to be short enough to not allow much tugging while being loose enough to allow the dog to move its neck comfortably. At Head to Tail, we use a tool called the Groomer's Helper (see website http://www.groomershelper.com/) that makes it impossible for the dog to fall off the table.

Maintaining our blades sharp and well oiled also ensures that injuries and skin irritations due to dull and hot blades will not happen. Professional groomers know which blade lengths are safest to use on certain parts of the body. When scissoring a dog, care is taken to anticipate and prevent common unexpected movements that can lead to a cut. Dogs are unpredictable and the most experienced and careful groomer will occasionally cause a nick. Accidents are an unfortunate fact of life and happen very rarely to a talented and conscientious groomer, just as car accidents happen rarely to a careful driver.

Knowing when to stop grooming a dog that shows warning signs of aggression, stress, uncontrollable excitability, etc. also greatly reduces the risk of a preventable injury. Groomers should know how to read a dog's body language and use proper judgement in deciding when completing a groom safely is not possible.

Dogs that come with a severely matted coat requiring close clipping are at increased risk for skin irritations and nicks. Wet clipping a dog to remove the bulk of the mats is recommended as a wet coat allows the groomer to see and feel where the mats end and the skin begins and reduces the risk of nicks and clipper burn.

Heated cage dryers should be used with caution and most recent models have an auto-shut-off feature that prevents overheating. At Head to Tail, we choose not to use these heated cage dryers and all our dogs are hand-dried and then fan-dried in a kennel. We keep the building's temperature at 70-72 degrees at all times for our dogs' comfort and to keep drying conditions optimal.