Disappointed In Petsmart Grooming

I work at a Petsmart grooming salon and want to share some of the unsanitary practices and mistreatment of dogs that I have witnessed:

1) After brushing a dog's teeth, we are supposed to dispose the toothbrush or ask the dog's owner if they would like to have it. The salon I work at frequently runs out of toothbrushes. They will then resort to reusing the same toothbrush on different dogs while waiting for the new batch of toothbrushes to come in. I have seen the same toothbrush being used over many days. I have also seen blood on the toothbrush (occasionally a dog's gums bleed when you brush them). Isn't it wrong to use a dirty toothbrush, infested with bacteria and tainted with blood, on another dog? The salon manager is aware of this practice and lets it happen.

2)The salon also frequently runs out of clean towels (almost every week) and resorts to reusing the same towel on more than one dog after bathing them. This is their way of "saving towels" before the new batch of clean towels arrive. Some dogs come in with fleas on them, some have skin diseases like mange, and some have warts or bloody sores. Isn't it unhygienic to reuse the same towel on different dogs?

3) Kennels should be disinfected after each and every dog. However, dogs are often placed in kennels that have not been cleaned.

4) The salon manager gets easily frustrated with the dogs when she is grooming them, and when she is in a bad mood, she screams at the dog and grabs it in a very rough manner. She will not tolerate the slightest movement from the dog, even if it was well-behaved. It broke my heart to see the look on the dogs' faces. They were terrified and surely traumatized by their whole grooming experience. You would think the salon manager would set a good example to her employees.

I am curious to know what it is like in other Petsmart salons and if there is another employee out there who is also disturbed by things that are happening at their work. Please share....

Reusing a tooth brush! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! Yuck! and dangerous for the dogs!

Reusing towels! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! She needs to get her towel order increased! Or use fewer towels. With the high velocity dryers PS has, there are some dogs like short coated labs that don't even need towels. BTW- do you honestly groom dogs that have mange????

Kennels! Yes they need to be cleaned after each dog.

Salon mgr! OMG Yes she needs to set the example and it should be a good one! She has a "P" card too and can purchase toothbrushes if need be. If you are using alot of them for TD pkgs, then she can also get the store mgr to increase the amount she can order.

When I was PS salon mgr my groomers did things according to the P&P's. I didn't have to babysit them. We all just did it.

Sounds like your salon mgr needs some major retraining! Have you spoken to your store mgr about these issues? If not, please do for the dogs sake!

i completely agree! kinda. i started working as a bather in the salon and it was a mess. they ended up firing two people for animal abuse. and they certainly dont clean the kennels after every dog. i do though. i follow the policy's. eye drops before AND after the wash. and cleaning kennels properly after every dog. a lot of people are just lazy. speak up! i should probably do the same.

First of all I like the P&P's. I think they are for the most part worth following. I work in a Salon where we kinda follow P&P's. Occasionally we run out of toothbrushes and when we do, I don't sell Top Dogs. Im not going to charge for something and not do it. I am Honest. My Salon Manager however is not. She constantly rips people off. Everything is "How many nail grinds did you sell" and "how many Top Dogs." I do this job cause i love dogs and the money really is 2nd. I dont know im gonna leave soon i think its too much drama

Cali Groomer in Los Angeles, California said: First of all I like the P&P's. I think they are for the most part worth following. I work in a Salon where we kinda follow P&P's. Occasionally we run out of toothbrushes and when we do, I don't sell Top Dogs. Im not going to charge for something and not do it. I am Honest. My Salon Manager however is not. She constantly rips people off. Everything is "How many nail grinds did you sell" and "how many Top Dogs." I do this job cause i love dogs and the money really is 2nd. I dont know im gonna leave soon i think its too much drama

I wouldn't really blame your manager for that though. That's the company...The company wants you to sell a certain number of add ons...hence why she pushes the Top Dogs and Nail Grindings...because I'm sure if she does not meet the company expectations, she gets an ear full....

doglover09 in Irving, Texas said: I work at a Petsmart grooming salon and want to share some of the unsanitary practices and mistreatment of dogs that I have witnessed:

1) After brushing a dog's teeth, we are supposed to dispose the toothbrush or ask the dog's owner if they would like to have it. The salon I work at frequently runs out of toothbrushes. They will then resort to reusing the same toothbrush on different dogs while waiting for the new batch of toothbrushes to come in. I have seen the same toothbrush being used over many days. I have also seen blood on the toothbrush (occasionally a dog's gums bleed when you brush them). Isn't it wrong to use a dirty toothbrush, infested with bacteria and tainted with blood, on another dog? The salon manager is aware of this practice and lets it happen.

2)The salon also frequently runs out of clean towels (almost every week) and resorts to reusing the same towel on more than one dog after bathing them. This is their way of "saving towels" before the new batch of clean towels arrive. Some dogs come in with fleas on them, some have skin diseases like mange, and some have warts or bloody sores. Isn't it unhygienic to reuse the same towel on different dogs?

Your salon manager is clearly just plain greedy. She's trying to cut costs (supplies and towel order) to get a bigger bonus. Disgusting!

i, unfortunately, work in the grooming salon. we experience the same issues. no, we don't reuse the stuff that i see (our store is new and we have little business so no need). we do reuse kennels though.

the way the employees treat the animals is horrible. i can't believe they haven't broken a dogs leg yet. the manager is good, she is firm with them and not nearly as rough. but the other 2 groomers are horrible. and when i am nice to the dog, petting it, letting it calm down before i do something (like nails if it doesn't like it) they tell me i'm being too soft and i need to be more firm with the dogs. it's like, no, i love animals, which is why i have this job, i will not abuse them.

so i guess its everywhere. i hate it. the store manager brings his dogs in to be groomed and me and another manager ask him why because even he knows how they treat them. he just shrugs off.

the way they treat me is another story too. im a bather and its like i work for the groomers (which i don't) and i need to drop everything and cater to them.

needless to say, i am looking for a new job. but the condition your store is in is horrible. isn't there an anonymous number you can call (a petsmart one) to report it?

You need to address these problems with your store manager if you are comfortable with him/her. If not, then you can speak with your Ops manager or District manager.

Unsanitary practices like reusing toothbrushes are a violation of policy and procedure. Unfortunately a lot of the time store management is so busy trying to make sales and have all of the stock and signage looking right that sometimes the salon is isolated or overlooked. It is likely nothing will change if no one from the salon calls their attention to the problem. Also, let the person who does the salon supply order know when you are running low on toothbrushes.

The salon managers do get a lot of pressure to make sales put on them. I believe the store and Ops managers are the only ones with P cards now, they took them away from petcare and salon managers as far as I know.

If a dog comes in with mange, sores or blisters, you should not be providing services! These dogs need to see the vet.

There should be the caresmart number posted somewhere in your break room in case you are uncomfortable with members of management. If it is not in the breakroom on a poster, you can pull it up on Fetch.

As for disinfecting kennels, it is a MUST. Consider making folded in half note cards that say on one side "CLEAN" and the other "USED" or "DIRTY". This will alert other groomers and bathers that a kennel is not clean.