DISHEARTENED WITH DOG PEOPLE writes:
I am the owner of a small doggy parlour in Kempton Park and have been for over 20 years.
I show and breed dogs and also run a grooming academy. Most of us doggy parlours do this because we love dogs (I hope) and the welfare of your pets is foremost in our minds.
This is hard manual labour. We do not have a washing machine or a tumble drier to do the work for us. We have difficult dogs, biting dogs and some that are just really naughty, but we cope to the best we can.
We try our best to control fleas, which is a national problem. We DO NOT put fleas on your dogs. We cannot control the flea population.
Flea control is a big part of being a responsible pet owner. We try our best by dipping, which generally only kills what’s on the pet. If there are fleas at home, guaranteed the fleas will jump on again. The rest is up to you.
The number of complaints I have heard over the past two months about other dog parlours is ridiculous. We all work extremely hard. Our staff are subjected to some terrifying ordeals and most of these people are the ones who take their dogs in once a year for grooming.
Have a heart, we do, otherwise we would not subject ourselves to such labour. Groom your dogs regularly, control your own flea problem.
Don’t expect to bring your dog in for grooming, ask to stand by and then proceed to instruct the groomer on what not to do.
If you could groom your own dogs we would not be here. Most of us (I hope) are experts at what we do and know dogs.
