The Gorgeous Peeps


Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Dog Owners, Stay Away From PAWS ALLEY Pet Center


Posting this story to serve as a reminder for Dog Owners not to leave their dogs for grooming, that no matter how good the feedbacks are for a certain Pet Grooming Center, it would be best that you observe while the groomers do their thing. 

One afternoon, while waiting for Mom and Dad's go signal to fetch them at the airport, we decided to bring our shih tzus with us since nobody was available to look after them at home, we killed time by having our oldest shih tzu, Hachi groomed at Paws Alley (bad choice!) in Hobbies Macapagal. 




It was Hachi's first time to be groomed and we were watching throughout the procedure to help our little baby feel at ease. 

There was minor struggling throughout the procedure but we were assured it was normal for dogs that are groomed for the first time, so we decided to let the groomer finish all that he has to do to our little ball of happiness. 

Hachi struggled a little and cried a little but he looked okay after the grooming. He was sleeping while we were driving home and it was just when we reached our house that we noticed that Hachi feels something unusual since he was always crying each time we put him down on the floor or each time he moves to another spot. 

We never knew what it was that causes his discomfort but it went on the day after, he wouldnt leave this spot beside my bed, he wouldnt eat nor pee/poo (sorry for the term). I was observing his condition and all the while we thought that he was just traumatized by the grooming procedure, It was when I carried him that I noticed nicks (with pus) on his tummy, his testicles and on the tip of his thing (they shaved the fur off the area around his thing up to his butt to keep the area clean from pee and poo). 

*I wanted to insert the picture of his wounds (and how bad they were) on this space but I thought I shouldnt because some of you may be squeamish* :( 

Thats when I thought thats the reason why he doesnt wanna pee, it probably stings and my dog is in major pain, his tummy was distended from holding or being not able to pee nor poo! 

We observed his condition for a couple more days and noticed he wouldnt really pee or poo unless his tummy is so full already.  So I decided to bring him to Cassandra Care, its by far the best doggie hospital there is here in the South, and the Vet said it was from the grooming tools that were used, its either they failed to sanitize their electric shaver or the blade was already faint/unsharpened or both. 

I came back to their Store a week after my dog has fully recovered and reported what happened to my dog, I never gotten any apology from them and all they did was they got my dog's name and the receptionist said theyre gonna report it to the owner of the shop. Lame. I just left the store and sworn Ill never bring my dog there ever again. 

Not even a full refund will pay back how much I spent for my dogs hospitalization, and whats more important is, they dont handle the dogs with care like dog owners do. We manage to pay hefty amounts (even more expensive than getting our own haircut) just to get our babies groomed and thats the kind of service we get. 

I was not really gonna share the experience here in my blog but what forced me to do this was when I witnessed AGAIN earlier how bad they handle dogs, My family and I had dinner at YakiMix Macapagal, just a few stores away from Paws Alley and we parked our car in front of their shop. 

While we were waiting for our driver to come back, we witnessed how bad they handled this puppy, I have no idea what breed it was but the Groomer was forcefully pulling (combing off) the furball from the poor dog's ear, we were outside and we could hear the dog crying. 

My mom called their attention and told them "Ang pangit nyo mag-handle ng aso" (You are not handling the dogs with care), the Groomer and all the other sales attendants of that store were just giving us weird stares, so I knew I had to enter the picture, I went inside the store and reminded the receptionist of my own experience with them. 

The groomer answered, "May buhol sa tenga ng aso oh, dahan dahan ko naman sinusuklay" (There's a bunch of tangled fur on the dog's ear (showed it to me) but im combing it carefully"), what the heck? cant they just cut the furball off rather than pulling it forcefully with a wide-toothed comb and hurt the dog in the process? We wouldnt really react if the dog doesnt look like he's in pain, he was trying to run away from the groomer and he was crying like crazy, the place was enclosed and we can hear the dog cry even from the outside.

Animal cruelty at its finest. That is not what we actually pay for. 

I had a little chat with the owner of the Pet Grooming Center just beside Paws Alley, she told me the trained Groomer of Paws Alley just left and that guy that's grooming that poor dog isnt a trained one, he was just hired to bathe the dogs prior to the actual grooming and that Paws Alley always get a lot of complaints (same nature as mine) from previous customers. 

Oh well. That prolly sums up why we shouldnt bring our dog there ever again.

For all the Dog Owners out there, never ever bring your dogs to Paws Alley Macapagal, and each time you have your dogs groomed, make sure you are watching. 


Apologies for the rant. 


19 comments:

  1. this story makes me mad!!!!! i own a dog too and i would be so mad if that happened to my little guy!!!! i cant believe they didnt even say sorry!! a lot of my friends had bad experiences with groomers too~ so we just groom them ourself at home... its the safest way... but i hope ur little guy is feeling better! hes too cute~

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  2. hey jap...thanks for the warning :) - twinks

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  3. darn..cant imagine how painful and difficult that is to HAchi.thats a clear def of bad customer service..and to think,dog owners put their trust sa groomers,scary...plus what about the other owners who doesn't know na that guy isnt supposed to do other than shampooing lang.hehe.great post jap

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  4. Bumigat loob ko after reading this, I cant bare to see nor even hear about dogs being hurt. But super thanks for sharing, will definitely look after my dog next time I get him groomed.

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  5. Poor Hachi. :( I want to smack that groomer in the face. >:[

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  6. @queerpinkfish : i know! :( sometimes they become so careless or theyre in a hurry just to finish grooming the dogs without even caring much if the dogs get hurt or what. :(

    @MEOW :
    he's a lot better now, it actually happened a couple of months ago, never cared to post the experience here coz i thought it was just an isolated case, but after seeing how they handle that dog yesterday, it confirmed the fact that they dont really handle the dogs with care.

    @Rose Martinez : uy twinks! its been a year! how are you na? :)

    @Camille(SHOBE) : shobe, exactly, that guy isnt trained pala to do dog grooming, the nerve, he even answered back that he was gentle in pulling that furball off the dog's hair but we can clearly see he was forcefully pulling it. :)

    @MissChief :
    i can relate :( imagine nalang how disappointed i was to see na ganun sila mag handle nung dog na yun, that dog isnt even mine but i can feel how stressed he was while he was being groomed. :(

    @Pammy : naku pammy, i felt the same thing, i was furious when i went back to that grooming center to report what happened to my dog, i was even more furious with that groomer yesterday, wala manlang care talaga dun sa aso. :(

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  7. Thanks for the warning! Ay naku, kung sa dogs ko ginawa yun, malamang ndi lang ako ang magwawala! grrr.... kainis... that's why I am trying to learn how to groom my babies myself, eh... tsk... bad sila... TT__TT

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  8. Pwede ba sila mareport sa PAWS or somewhere else? Kawawa naman kasi yung mga dogs, its so heartbreaking to see a harmless dog get hurt. If I see something like this happens to my dog I swear hell will let lose. They should be taught a lesson.

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  9. @angelamhiere : I can actually groom my dogs but then Hachi threw up in the car that time so we really had to bring him for a bath lang sana, but then they dont do shampooing and blowdrying alone, and since we had more time to kill pa, we decided to have him groomed nalang din. Bad decision. :(

    @MissChief : I actually sent an email plus pics and a scanned letter of the vet when we brought him for a checkup after the incident, i also included pictures of his nicks/wounds, im not really sure but I think covered ng PAWS yung complaint ko coz the way they handle dogs is a form of animal cruelty as well. Nakakainis no? It makes my blood boil pag naaalala ko how much pain Hachi was going thru that time. :(

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  10. I hope PAWS do something about it. Ang sakit sa loob to see our babies in pain, especially that we dont know whats really wrong with them. But atleast Hachi is better now. :)

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  11. If they don't love dogs, they shouldn't be working at a pet grooming shop.

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  12. @Rae I personally think its the management's liability, they should train their grooming staff before they let them handle pets.

    the groomer wouldnt be there in the first place if the management cared much about the welfare of the dogs, parang all they wanted is for the business to survive whether they have trained personnel or not. Their service sucks.

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  13. Ugh ang sama! My dog is groomed by experts, sa Vets in Practice (Mandaluyong). They handle animals with care, and my usually maarte dog doesn't freak out when they cut her nails.

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  14. @Krys: we usually have our dogs groomed somewhere in BF Paranaque, naligaw lang kami that time sa Macapagal since Hachi threw up sa car, so we had to have him bathed para marefresh, ayaw kasi nya bumibyahe haha! :D arte e haha! :D

    nakakainis no? and they have the nerve to operate ng wala naman palang matinong training mga groomer nila. argh.

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  15. awww :( eh kung shave ko head nya with his unsanitized/blunt tools! And pull his hair while I'm at it. That makes me so mad!!! My husband does the grooming for our 4 lhasa apso, they get nicks sometimes but never get infected.

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  16. @kryzteta : IKR? good thing Hachi wasnt traumatized by the incident, actually he became submissive na whenever i groom his eye area and yung fur sa paws nya. well prolly sakin lang siguro, im not sure if ganun padin sya ka-relaxed pag dating sa grooming centers, havent tried bringing him to a grooming center again, natatakot na ko for him eh :(

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  17. What happened to Hachi really seems painful. What if something fatal occurred because of the infection? Isk, that's the problem when a pet grooming shop's workers aren't animal lovers at heart. Btw, where's Cassandra Care? :)

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    1. Where is this business located?

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  18. I feel so sorry for Hachi,
    He does'nt deserve to be treated that way,
    thanks for the warning Jap,
    I wish for more happiness and good health for Hachi, he is very cute!

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