My dog bite adventure

As some of you know, I am a dog groomer by profession. It's a cool job.. it's also icky and potentially dangerous to your health.

I had a dangerous day the other day.

I had a chow chow (BIG hairy often not too friendly) who had not been groomed in 7 months.. not so much as a brush ran through his coat since the spring.

He did NOT want to be there. Daddy had to physically remove him from the corner and plant him on my table. So.. I brush this dog for about an hour (with help). Had to put a muzzle on him to cut his nails and brush his belly and back legs.

So.. I wash him, and get almost done drying him (we have a 4 horse power dryer) he was fine until I tried to dry his rear legs.. he wouldn't turn around. So I turn the dryer off to try to turn him around and WHAM. he nails my left arm.

I don't blame the dog.. I blame the owners for not taking care of their animal. He was stressed and in pain from the mats in his hair. His skin was also in poor shape.

So then I get sent off to the acute care center and have to wait FIVE HOURS there.. just so they could clean the wound.. which involved firing a jet spray of listering smelling (and feeling) stuff straight into the puncture wound... and then they gave me antibiotics and sent me home.

And.. this is what I have to show for it. Mind you this dog had a muzzle on when he got me..

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/1/4/2/8/bite.jpg

OOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!

Okay, you should officially get to work on all the sweetie dogs that come in for a month to recompense! Good god...thank goodness he had a muzzle. Poor guy - I hope his owners felt REALLY bad and will start taking better care of their dog. =P

OUCH! Poor you. Poor dog.

Yikes!!!

That's a good one. I'll bet it's even prettier in a few more days, when those colours develop.

We have the same policy at my work...I had to spend three hours in the ER a coupla weeks ago after nearly comatose kitten randomly got me on the thumb....and then the guy that examined me tried to tell me that cats don't carry rabies. *rolls eyes*

Do post us updated pics in a few days. :-)

The owners didn't even apologise.. or ask how I was (I guess the guy did ask but the woman just was yelling that she wanted to see her dog)

I have been bitten before (not this bad) but the owners have never, ever apologised. Some think it's cute or funny, and others want to blame us, or even just don't care.

wow that's a big bruise

was the muzzle loose or something?

Ouch!! That hurts just lookin' at it! I always figured a muzzled dog was a safe dog....guess not! :( Not that I'm around dogs much anyhow, muzzled or otherwise...but still, that's something I'll always remember.

The problem is we are only allowed to use 'humane' open front muzzles. Nothing like the ones with the cage over the front of the mouth to prevent a 'pinch' from the front.

We did not have a great fitting muzzle for this dog either, it was a bit loose, yes.. but it was the best we had.

My goodness that looks nasty. Poor girl Im sure your feeling that and will be for a bit.

Yeah it's sore.. especially with all the dogs who seem to gravitate towards it.. had a big goldendoodle try to swipe my arm with his paw today. Bad boy.. lol

Owwwwwiieeeee! Nailed you real good there. Hope it doesn't hurt too bad. :(

Seems when something is sore your bound to bump that spot into everything just to remind ya its still there.

Yep. I even had a puppy scratch the heck out of that arm. It's amazing how many times you can bump your arm on something in one day.. plus that it's so darn swelled up I bump it into myself when I'm just moving my arm around.

It's not as painful as it was two days ago.. it's too sore to lean on but I can touch it.. it's really itchy though.. but hurts too much to scratch. Oh well. :)

SUE i bet you could get a pretty penny! lol just kidding, do one to others, as i always say.

Can't sue since you took it in, knowing it is a possible biter. You assume the resposibilty then. I know, it sucks.
1. I wouldn't have brushed it out. Shave that sucker! It's NOT your responsibility to take care of its coat! They won't brush it, then you shouldn't either.
2. Stop doing that dog. It's not worth the risk of your losing your ability to groom. One tendon in the right spot, and no more proper movement, possible permament crippling.
I have refused about 2 dogs so far in 4 years for being biters. A few others for other reasons. And if mom and dad "don't care" or "find it funny" I'd TELL them I was going ot sue, JUST to make them flip out , THEN refuse to groom the dog, then clal all the other groomers in the area to warn them.
I don't put up with that junk. It's not worth my time to deal with stupid people who think its funny that their animal is uncontroled and vicious to the point of injuring me.
Wolfy(Go sister groomer!)

I hear you Wolfy.. unfortunately I don't have the same freedoms as other groomers since I work at Petsmart. The managers took care of talking to the owners, I was already gone to the doctor when they came.

I will not groom that dog again. They can't make me do that.

As far as the brushing goes.. the coat was bad, but it was because the dog had just blown his summer coat which got caught in the guard hairs.. most of it brushed out quite easily (though it did take awhile) there were several places that I was going to shave out (had I gotten that far) in fact I did shave his belly (which he did not like at all)

I really didn't think this dog was going to bite. I've dealt with a lot of dogs that behaved much like this one.. and they never actually went for the bite. They'd make a big show but never actually do anything, the bite really shocked me. I learned though.. and will be more cautious from now on. I am tenacious to a fault.. I don't like to send dogs home unfinished.

Boy do I understand that. I HATE to say "No more"
Petsmart can truely suck that way. I couldn't work there, not more than one day, I'd get fired.
DO you have a coatking yet? OMG I love my coatking, although I had 6 monthes before I ever used it, I hate change.. +20 resistant to change.
Those CoatKings are grand for loose undercoat. Better than any rake and brushes? Bah, pitch them for tangled undercoat.
Wolfy

You poor girl; what kind of mindless morons were these owners? I hope that you heal up fast and send you my best wishes.. sometimes I really hate humans.

Haha yes.. I have TWO coat kings. Love them. The bathers try to take them when I am not looking.

The furminator is awesome for carding cocker backs too.. I use it on my cocker and he looks almost like a show dog.

As for a grooming related question.. what shears do you like? I'm a lefty so it's a PITA to get good shears. I'm liking my Geib super gators, but always want to try new things.

Owie, poor arm!

And whoever's doctor said that cats can't get rabies... Well now... I guess I got my pre-exposure shots for the rabid antelope that prowl the city streets... Dorks need to READ a book. :rolleyes:

It's sad that alot of dogs are like that. I've had to deal with plenty on my end. I try to work with them and show them that I am not letting up. If they get grumpy, they get laid out, on their back, with my hand on their neck. They get the point very quickly that I don't play. Even with dogs that have previously needed to be sedated or just completely anesthetized(which is just rediculous...), I've just show them that I'm not playing and they give it up trying to make me go away.

What I've done to make a secure muzzle, if the one I currently have doesn't fit properly, is to take some 2-3" gauze and tie their snout together, wrap it a few times, tie it again, then tie behind their head and THEN get the regular muzzle. We've had to do this on the tiniest of dogs who take 2-3 people to hold down because they are biting, pooping and peeing all over the place(they aren't scared... They just want to eat your lunch because they've never been told NO).

I remember one dog, an older Miniature Pinscher(they have a much longer story than just the toenail issues, so if you want to hear it, just ask), that hated his nails to be trimmed. Well, I worked with him for about 15-20 minutes with him just standing on the table and me clipping his nails. Everytime he growled or lifted his lip, he got the sharp "SH!" and the fingers on his neck. After about 5 minutes, he just stood there and was a good boy. *giggle* I love it when they are smart dogs and understand what you are trying to do.

(and I hope everyone realizes that I don't lay on dogs or flip them over for fun, it's a training session so they can be manageable and not get stressed out and bitey over the tiniest thing)

I hope your arm gets better soon, hun. Take some Advil or Aleve!

Oh April that's awful. I can't believe they won't allow proper muzzling. I'd think you groomers should complain about that as it puts you at such a higher degree of risk.

As far as your methods Becky, I'm with you kid. A happy dog is one that knows who is in charge, any pack animal is happier that way as far as I'm concerned. If you aren't in charge, the dog will either a) be dominant and take charge or b) be fearful and forced to take charge or c) totally freaked out because no one seems to be in charge.

Yeah.. I would probably get in trouble if I put anything on a dog's muzzle other than... a muzzle. I could see how wrapping a bit of gauze or vetwrap would work nicely, but we'd probably get customers complaining about the 'evil groomers' (Petsmart thinks it's cool to have windows surrounding the entire groom shop so we can be stared at all day while we work)

Same thing with laying them on their backs to show that we are the in control.. it would certainly work to have a nice little training lesson (goodness knows most dogs need it these days!) but I can just hear the complaints.

We've had some real nut-case owners lately. One lady flipped out because her puppy maltese's bangs were trimmed when she asked for them to be grown out ( the bather forgot to write down that note). I understand being a little upset over a mistake like that, but this lady FLIPPED OUT.. she got a free grooming, but that wasn't good enough, so she called corporate offices on us too. :rolleyes:

Hope it's feeling better. :( I worked several years as a groomer and was also bitten by a chow. His teeth had to be pried from my forearm were they stuck in the bone. Still have scars from 30 yrs. ago. NO FUN!
The LEAST they could have done is apologize to you. The owners of the dog that bit me were so apologetic and in tears.

Wow.. well your bite sounds worse than mine. I'm glad he let go of me right away.

The only previous bite I have that left a scar was from a snotty little scottish terrier. When my boss told the owner that the dog bit me (she also explained that his face wasn't a perfect scotty face since he was so aggressive for the grooming) the owner just said 'that doesn't matter' referring to the face not being perfect.. not a word about the bite.. asking if I'm ok, or anything. I don't get it.

The weird part is I had groomed this dog unmuzzled for 4 yrs. We weren't aware when we started grooming him that he had a lesion covered by the hair. I guess I caught it with the brush.

Oh ouch.. yeah that'd do it.

This particular dog had been to our shop twice before and did fine.. but I think he was in better condition those times.

Sorry to hear about the bite! Good thing he had some sort of muzzle on though. Looks like you need to start taking some sedatives to slip some dogs:Pj/k...it would make it a lot easier some times I'm sure. lol.

-Jason

Don't even joke about sedating the dogs! We already get accused of that ALL the time. Especially for those ones that get overgrown then when we wrestle them to get them shaved,a nd they finally can go lay down without fleas gnawing them or matts making them hurt they sleep happily for hours at home.. so we must have SEDATED them! Geez people.
I've had the back of my hand ripped loose(could see all the tendons and bones it was actually kind of cool in a morbid way)by a boxer that my boss rescued. He would flip out, totally a pyschopath of a dog, and he eventually was put to sleep because of it.
I've gotten bites over the years, cat bites are just the WORST. But the little suckers that sewing machine your hand 50 times before you can get away! I hate those.
As far as sissors, I have 2 OLD OLD pair of rehabbed PINK ice tempered professional shears. They were actually in the desk drawer as ruined, paper cutting sissors by the old groomer. I got the sharpening guy to fix them and they are the best! I won't pay $400 for a pair of shears, since I KNOW I will drop and destroy them before I get $400 worth of use out of them. I preferred bent shanks forever, and used a curved pair very briefly. These are simply large pink shears. I think PetEdge sells them now too.
Oh, I also had the entire pad on the end of my left index finger ripped loose by a pomeranian. It hung on by the end of the fingerskin, and I rinsed it and put it all back together, wrapped it and it healed okay, no infection. Still have nerve damage, and that dog was supposed to just be a nail trim, it went berserk, ate me up both arms and hands, and the owner(looking at me dripping blood everywhere) was saying "Well, who is going to trim my dog's nails? You didn't finish him!" If I hadn't been concerned with the entire thing of bleeding to death, I'd of gone over the counter after her.
People are idiots.
Wolfy

Hah yeah.. sedating dogs = no no. But oh so tempting sometimes, I admit. :)

When my bite was fresh you could see some 'stuff' (muscle, fat, who knows..) in my arm. I couldn't stop looking in it.. dang I am just too curious. LOL

There is a reason I do not groom cats.. there is only one groomer at our shop who does. She told us the story of a cat bite that broke the bone on the tip of her finger.. she went to the hospital for IV antibiotics.. and she was allergic to the meds, so was in the hospital for a few days.. then they gave her something else and on breaks she had to go hook up to the IV.

No thanks.

On the note of shears.. I can't use the el cheapos.. for one they are not left handed, and they just don't 'cut it' for me. I started with $60 shears.. being a new groomer I dropped them and they just were crappy shears anyway. They're both rusty now. Then I got $80 shears. They're pretty good but don't hold an edge very long and have a spot where they fold the hair instead of cutting.. just not good enough.

NOW I have $170 shears.. these things rock. Hold their edge a good long time and cut like a hot knife through butter (guess that's why they call them buttercuts). I only use straight shears.. my curves wouldn't cut for a long time so I re-learned everything with my straights.. I can do a nice bedlington cut with just straight shears (I love bedlingtons) ..and I haven't dropped a pair of shears in many many months.

Ok enough of my blabber.. other than my co-workers I don't really know any other groomers, and I like to talk grooming stuff. lol

WOW! Hope you feel better, April! Hope that heal's nice and fast for you:)

Ooh, I love scissor talk! *melt*

My two favorites are Gingher and Weiss, albeit I know more about sewing scissors than pet and hair industry scissors and shears.

That's appalling that the owners don't even care... Hell, I appologize to the vet if my cat so much as growls at her! I hate that privileged attitude that so many customers tend to get... I always try to give the working person the right of way and respect, because I've been on the other side of the counter so to speak and even that aside it's just basic common courtesy! Or not so common, I guess... Ugh.

It's people like that that fuel sites like http://www.customerssuck.com/

I hope your arm feels better, and I wish there was more that could be done about it aside from getting to vent, but... customers will be customers. :(

Hm I gotta peruse that site. :)

Thank you Sheree, that site has made(and is still making) my day. *sigh* I love it..

There's lots of sites like it too I'm sure, venting is therapy. ;)

Groomers, servers in restaurants, bank tellers, bus drivers...it is bloody amazing just how rude, self-centered and spoiled some folks are! Sorry but if the WORST thing in your life today is that fact that the bus was 10 minutes late, your dumb yappy dog's bangs aren't Farrah Fawcett floofy or your eggs aren't e-x-a-c-t-l-y 2.5 minute eggs then personally I think you've had a damn fine day! Some people need a good shake, a kick in the butt and to be dropped into a very poor neighbourhood so they can see that the life they have (and the folks that make that life tick along for them) are some pretty darn big blessings.

Okay my rant is done!

P.S. When our 125 lb male GSD needed his nails trimmed, we paid the cash, had the vet lightly sedate him and had it done there. Much safer for all concerned and in the end far less stressful on old Chum.

Hear hear Jo! :w00t: