[QUOTE=Mosey_2003;8175011]
For the record, my blame lies with Petco corporate and this specific location’s manager(s) on duty, not the girl that left.[/QUOTE]
exactly. I don’t really blame the employee–she was likely following procedure as she had been instructed to do. It sounds like she was only a student.
I witnessed first hand a horrible tragedy that turned into a witch hunt, complete with threats against the human who made a very human mistake. Let’s just say that any respect that I might have had for “troubleshooter” reporters is pretty much in the toilet.
The real story here, what several others mentioned, is why is Petco using dryers years after they were discontinued and why are don’t they have timers. THAT is what should be addressed. But mob mentality has kicked in. You couldn’t pay me to read whatever the internet trolls are saying online.
[QUOTE=french fry;8174999]
That’s what I mean, though, jen-s. The internet mob mentality requires a villain, and in this case it seems to be the groomer (the audacity! having to attend a graduation party! how frivolous!) while the larger issue of the dryers not being equipped with safety measures goes ignored.[/QUOTE]
Yes to this. It seems to me that so-called “animal lovers” can be some of the most hateful, judgmental people on the internet. I feel terrible to the poor dog and his family, and clearly something went seriously wrong somewhere along the way for this to happen, but the nastiness that is displayed by people who undoubtedly don’t know the whole story rubs me the wrong way. Rather than saying, “something bad happened and as a result, someone’s beloved pet is dead … What can we do to make sure this doesn’t happen again?” they are looking first and foremost to place blame.
This is not directed at any individual posters on this thread … Just something that has frustrated me with comments that I have read about this situation and other similar stories on social media.
The Westchester Petco is just around the corner from me. I’ve been in that store several times. It’s crazy (in a good way) that this is making national news.
MY question is… if Petco claims that no heat source was used during the drying process, then WHY was the dog’s body temperature so high? What else could it have been? I’m really curious to find out what the “answer” is to this situation.
[QUOTE=lachelle;8175418]
MY question is… if Petco claims that no heat source was used during the drying process, then WHY was the dog’s body temperature so high? What else could it have been? I’m really curious to find out what the “answer” is to this situation.[/QUOTE]
I’m curious about this as well. I work at a different big box store, and our cage dryers have no heat. Even if you let them run for over 15 mins, no heat. The hand-dryers get hotter. We’ve also got thermometers all over so if the actual temperature of the whole place gets too high we stop everything, though that’s never happened.
If Petco switched over to dryers without heat, short of mechanical failure of the dryer, I’m not sure what happened.
Perhaps they changed their policies and started to switch over but not all stores complied? Wouldn’t be the first time an individual store didn’t keep up with corporate demands.
I am overprotective, but I will not let my dogs go to a place that uses cage dryers of any kind. Automatic shut offs could, I am assuming, fail, and even if it doesn’t have heat that would mean that there is no one there in the event of a dryer seizure, etc. My groomer uses hand dryers, and is probably more expensive because of it, but I believe it is safer. I would never trust anyone to put my dog in a cage dryer with heat. I hope that more people will look for groomers that hand dry after this story, as I can’t help but think that hand drying is the way to go. All of my prayers go out to the dog, the family, and the groomer as accidents happen and the groomer probably feels terrible about what happened. It is such a sad story. Heartbreaking. Those dryers just leave too much potential for human error and malfunction. I’m glad for the media attention as I do think people should vote with their feet and insist on only the safest practices.
If they really can’t just hand blow dry the dog, why don’t they use cold air fan dryers? This is what every doggie salon I have been to used.
I can’t think of many worse ways to die than to be baked to death 
I don’t even like going into those dry heat rooms at spas. Why do we subject our dogs to it?
I work for Petco as a groomer. The kennels are right next to the bathing area, so usually there are people constantly back there. We used forced air dryers- like human blowdryers but without heat, to dry by hand, but for the dogs who do not tolerate them (and some do not like the noise), we have kennel dryers. They are dryer hoses that attach to the kennel and use cool air. It flows into the kennel really slowly and doesn’t dry the dog that well honestly. You get a better cut when you hand dry also, so I always strive for a good hand drying. I have no idea what went on here… but I am anxious to find out. We’ve got no heat elements in the salons at all. Oh and timers are on the dryers. They go off after 15 minutes. I love my job and I love dogs! It’s not an easy job if you are a dog hater! I really think something else was going on here, like that whole store is bad. There is nothing wrong with a groomer leaving work early to attend a graduation ceremony. Managers are supposed to come in and check on the dogs every 15 minutes if groomers aren’t in the salon, but usually every salon is staffed by a minimum of 2 groomers from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. I know the situation still is awful, but I do wish that people would stop judging us groomers. We’ve been bulldozed by the media lately because it sells. There are terrible people in EVERY profession. Nurses who kill babies, teachers who molest children, corrupt police, etc. My job is my passion… I really hope it isn’t destroyed by a few idiots.
Petco is still investigating, but once they find out what really happened they will send us a letter about it. I will come back here and share what they say. The only thing I can think of is an air conditioning malfunction, so it got too hot in the actual kennel/ bathing area room.
[QUOTE=Jim R;8174849]
Who takes their dog to a place like that?
How could you know who is going to be taking care of your dog at a big box store?
I just can’t see myself dropping off my dog at a place like that.
I feel bad enough getting my eyeglasses at Walmart, can’t see letting that kind of store care for my dog.[/QUOTE]
I check in and out all of my clients. I am the one who bathes them, drys them, cuts their hair. We don’t split up grooming work like some stores have bathers who do part and then groomers who do part. I’ve got about 56 very regular clients who come in every 6 weeks or more, and then several other clients who come in 8 plus weeks. I get to know them and their dogs. When their dog gets sick, they call and let me know. Hell today one client called me and told me her dog has cancer 
we both cried on the phone. At Christmas, I give cards, they give me gifts. Many have told me that they think of me as family. Just because it’s a box store doesn’t mean we aren’t personable or care about our clients.
[QUOTE=Jhein12;8175576]
I check in and out all of my clients. I am the one who bathes them, drys them, cuts their hair. We don’t split up grooming work like some stores have bathers who do part and then groomers who do part. I’ve got about 56 very regular clients who come in every 6 weeks or more, and then several other clients who come in 8 plus weeks. I get to know them and their dogs. When their dog gets sick, they call and let me know. Hell today one client called me and told me her dog has cancer we both cried on the phone. At Christmas, I give cards, they give me gifts. Many have told me that they think of me as family. Just because it’s a box store doesn’t mean we aren’t personable or care about our clients.[/QUOTE]
I am thinking there must be a lot of variation in store culture. I have not utilized the grooming services of either Petco or PetSmart as I groom my own, but for the two near the ER where I work, even the slightest concern will have them bringing a client in to be checked out. The PetSmart has Banfield in house and when an issues arises outside of the hours the Banfield has a veterinarian in house and they’ll bring them over to the ER.
Winner winner, chocolate for dinner!
[QUOTE=Mosey_2003;8175454]
Perhaps they changed their policies and started to switch over but not all stores complied? Wouldn’t be the first time an individual store didn’t keep up with corporate demands.[/QUOTE]
I used to be a salon manager for petco. This should never have happened!
They have regular kennel bank cages (from clark cages http://clarkcages.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/RTA-5.jpg), with room temperature fans ducted into them (http://i01.i.aliimg.com/img/pb/429/409/254/1277195310073_hz-myalibaba-web3_2010.jpg). At no time should there be more than one fan hose on those cages, and never for brachycephalic breeds or breeds prone to collapsing trachea. There are charts in several places showing which dogs never get kennel dried. These fans are on dial type timers, which do break with use and require the store manager to put in a work order to get them fixed.
They also have one or two ‘drying’ cages with fan, heat, and a plexiglass front. These come from the manufacturer (clark cages http://clarkcages.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Clark-Dryer-300x187.jpg) with heat controlled by a dial. When the store receives this unit, the store manager must put in a work order to have the heat element disabled, per petco policy. The fan on this type of kennel blows more air, and due to the higher grate on the bottom also offers better circulation underneath the dog. The fan is controlled by a dial type timer, which will break with use, and needs store manager to put in a work order to get fixed. It is possible for a dog to overheat in the plexi front drying kennel even without the heat element, if the fan is off (I’m not implying that’s what happened to this dog). I’ve seen that happen once in my eleven years with petco. I abhor that thing!
Using the plexiglass front drying kennel with a non disabled heat element is a fireable offense. Using a stand dryer to blow heated air into a kennel is a fireable offense. Using fans with broken timers qualifies one for a write up.
The last location I worked at for three years… took over a year to get the heat element disconnected, and the timers for several fans where still not fixed when I left.
Petco no longer allows groomers to blow dry dogs on the grooming tables, as the noise of the dryer turning on can startle a dog on another table which can cause an injury. They also removed positions for bathers, and now have the groomers squeezing in bath dogs and nail trims in between groom appointments. All while keeping the phones answered, talking to walk-ins, trying to upgrade services, trying to upgrade grooming clients choice of dog food, speaking with customers on the sales floor… and push push push for more volume.
I can groom small breeds straight through in 45 minutes to an hour. There where times with all the above going on when it would take 2 to 3 hours just to finish one dog. Not an excuse for what happened, not EVER, and not taking any blame away from the groomer that caused this to happen, but I know a lot of petco groomers must feel so rushed that they feel they must take these unsafe short cuts to hit productivity goals/requirements.
I resigned because I just knew these types of preventable accidents where going to rise with petco’s new policies.
TL;DR - This should never have happened!
Edited to add, not all stores are the same. Jhein’s sounds like a good one!
[QUOTE=Marshfield;8175605]
I am thinking there must be a lot of variation in store culture. I have not utilized the grooming services of either Petco or PetSmart as I groom my own, but for the two near the ER where I work, even the slightest concern will have them bringing a client in to be checked out. The PetSmart has Banfield in house and when an issues arises outside of the hours the Banfield has a veterinarian in house and they’ll bring them over to the ER.[/QUOTE]
Lucky for me I haven’t had any issues arise. Haven’t even accidentally cut a dog and I’ve been grooming 4 years. At least at my store (and per policy) if a dog seems sick at drop off, we tell them that we cannot take the dog. If a dog seemed in distress while I was grooming him/her I’d call the parent and a manager would take the dog to the designated vet nearby. I have had to send a dog home due to aggression, as we can no longer use muzzles of any kind. But that too is uncommon. I think in general both the groomers at Petco and Petsmart are kind and caring individuals who love animals, as the majority of private shop groomers do too. I can’t imagine doing my job if I didn’t like animals or the art of grooming. It would be awful!
[QUOTE=Jhein12;8175716]
Lucky for me I haven’t had any issues arise. Haven’t even accidentally cut a dog and I’ve been grooming 4 years. At least at my store (and per policy) if a dog seems sick at drop off, we tell them that we cannot take the dog. If a dog seemed in distress while I was grooming him/her I’d call the parent and a manager would take the dog to the designated vet nearby. I have had to send a dog home due to aggression, as we can no longer use muzzles of any kind. But that too is uncommon. I think in general both the groomers at Petco and Petsmart are kind and caring individuals who love animals, as the majority of private shop groomers do too. I can’t imagine doing my job if I didn’t like animals or the art of grooming. It would be awful![/QUOTE]
The last one was a basic collapsing trachea. But, definitely the staff erred on the side of caution. I think the one before was one sent for a “clean up” after a botched attempt by the owner to remove a matt at home. Groomer found the wound from scissors (by owner) and brought the cat in.
[QUOTE=Marshfield;8175762]
The last one was a basic collapsing trachea. But, definitely the staff erred on the side of caution. I think the one before was one sent for a “clean up” after a botched attempt by the owner to remove a matt at home. Groomer found the wound from scissors (by owner) and brought the cat in.[/QUOTE]
I’ve seen my fair share of owner caused injuries. It’s always hard to earn the dog’s trust after that but you can do it. I’ve seen cuts from owners cutting out mats with scissors, owners clipper burning their dog, and cuts from them not knowing the dog’s anatomy and using the clippers going towards folds of skin, not away. Not that someone can’t learn to groom at home, but we do go through months of training. That’s another reason why this scares me. More people are going to try grooming at home who don’t know a thing, and they may hurt their dogs.
[QUOTE=Jhein12;8175716]
Lucky for me I haven’t had any issues arise. Haven’t even accidentally cut a dog and I’ve been grooming 4 years. At least at my store (and per policy) if a dog seems sick at drop off, we tell them that we cannot take the dog. If a dog seemed in distress while I was grooming him/her I’d call the parent and a manager would take the dog to the designated vet nearby. I have had to send a dog home due to aggression, as we can no longer use muzzles of any kind. But that too is uncommon. I think in general both the groomers at Petco and Petsmart are kind and caring individuals who love animals, as the majority of private shop groomers do too. I can’t imagine doing my job if I didn’t like animals or the art of grooming. It would be awful![/QUOTE]
It is owner.
[QUOTE=Alagirl;8175829]
It is owner.[/QUOTE]
Who gives a crap. Owner, parent, whatever. That’s just the language others around me use. If that’s all you took out of my post then that really sucks!
[QUOTE=Jhein12;8175840]
Who gives a crap. Owner, parent, whatever. That’s just the language others around me use. If that’s all you took out of my post then that really sucks![/QUOTE]
I give a crap.
Part of what I hate about petco and petsmart.
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