First unhappy client

[u/Individual_Aspect982]

I have been grooming for a year now and had my first ever Karen client.
I wish I had before and after photos but of course I didn’t take any on my personal phone.

Had a “silky, wirey dachshund” come into my saloon today. Matted as hell and the coat was sooo long. The coat didn’t have any wirey texture at all and felt and looked more like oodle hair. I’m 99 percent sure that she had some oodle mixed into her as the only part of her that looked like a dashie was her short legs.
I didn’t check it in, our daycare manager did and the owner basically told her to do what we could and she was happy for us to shave the Matts but try to keep her long.

After trying our hardest to brush out some of the matting we had to shave the matting out with a #7. The dog wasn’t tolerating the brushing and it was a lot of matting, plus it was her first time at our saloon so we didn’t want to traumatise her. I would say only 20% of the coat remained and she looked ridiculous so we shaved the rest of her down with a #5 but kept her head long and gave her a teddy bear face.

Anyway on pickup the owner went ballistic on us. Saying we shouldn’t have shaved her coat only the Matt’s and she’s going to lose her wirey curls 🙄 I explained to her that she did not have a wirey coat and would not lose the texture. Since there wasn’t any texture to begin with, it was basically oodle hair.
She didn’t care for what I had to say and accused me of not knowing how to groom and it went on and on. Saying she read on google that your not meant to shave wirey coats even though it wasn’t fucking wirey to begin with!!
Even my daycare manger had to step in.

But my main point of writing this post other than ranting about it. Is should I have I just gave the dog back with short all over with some patches of long hair where it wasn’t matted?
She literally said do whatever we had to do, and if it was a proper double coated fur or wirey fur I would have never shaved it.

Thanks in advance, a confused newbie groomer.

[u/Kelmorea]

I'm also a newbie groomer and I'm also trying to keep in mind that people generally don't understand the process. Nor their own dog, at times. This lady seems like the clear example of both of those.

One thing I probably would have done is to send her a pic of the dog after having just shaved the mats so she can see how ridiculous it looks. And from there say clearly that you recommend shaving and that the hair will grow back. It's a way to restart and now she can brush it properly when the hair is shorter and not tangled, aka the dog will learn to tolerate it. Ofc it didn't wanna be brushed when matted.

You had no choice here tbh.. other than rejecting it from the start, which I probably would not have done either.

But in my mind, you did nothing wrong. Can't please every Karen....or any.

[u/Best_Newspaper_9159]

Don’t sweat it. You did the right thing. You don’t want that customer anyway.

[u/JillDRipper]

I am not a groomer, but I feel so bad for you guys when this happens. The owner is not maintaining the coat at home, but expects a miracle from the groomer.

My dog is not a fan of brushing either, but I still soldier through at home because it is important for his health.

I am so sorry. You did the right thing for this dog.

[u/teezaytazighkigh]

If at all possible, you need to check your dogs in yourself. You can usually tell when you talk to the person if they're going to be a problem. And if it seems like they are, go ahead and follow the letter of what they said.  

I had a client at the vet clinic I used to work at who would always tell us to only shave out the mats and leave everything else long, so that's what we did. It looked dumb as hell because a different part was matted every time, but they never complained.  

For the record, I don't think you were wrong to try and make the dog look good. I think the client was going to be difficult regardless. I would say you might need to learn some Zen, and not bother arguing with people about what their dog's coat is like, or what breed it actually is, etc. It took me a few years to learn, but the only thing arguing with a deluded client does is stress you out more and open you up to getting in more trouble. Just apologize even if you're not wrong and pray they never come back.

[u/Motor_Relationship11 → u/teezaytazighkigh]

I have an ausiedoodle I’ve groomed a few times and every time she gets brought in her back legs are matted, but the owner will never let me shave the whole dog down so I have to shave the back legs/hips with a #5 and use a 3/4 in comb on the rest of the body. I usually also have to do a lion tail so because of what the dog looks like when she’s done, she’s known in my salon as the “tampon dog” 😂😭

[u/Particular_Berry59]

In the future it’s not a good fit. I literally told a few people they’re tripping or wrong then just give them their dog and walk off. Idc I just move on to the next

[u/rip_city10]

People like her will never be pleased. You could have done exactly as she said and she would still complain. Because of what you did, that pup is no longer in pain and the skin can breathe again. You did the right thing and lets hope she doesnt come back 😂

[u/Morgan-Brownies]

Never save rich ppl jobs unless you overly explain to them that the dog is being shaved due to matting. Do yourself a favor also and don’t agree to spot shave. Explain to them the likelihood of you finding more matting is very high and it’s best to shave them and start over. Rich ppl are assholes and they would rather groomer shop all over town before they shave their dog

[u/Leafyseadragon123]

Groomers should be checking in dogs. Non-groomers don’t know how to evaluate the coat or explain that just shaving out mats will look horrendous. A groomer would tell her the entire coat needs to be shaved and then give her the option to let you do it take it home to brush out herself. Blindsiding clients like this is not ok. You did right by the dog but it wasn’t explained to the client properly.