The Muddy Mutt — Local services in Bailey's Crossroads

I had been looking for a skilled groomer to take care of my wavy haired goldendoodle and the receptionist assured me that a high percentage of their clients were goldendoodles. I was optimistic.

After speaking with the groomer in depth (I believe her name was Tanya) she basically told me my only option was to shave my dog down the skin because of his mats. What?!? This was a first for me.

My dog had been matted far worse than this in the past and my previous groomer took the time to brush him out. I'm not sure why she couldn't be bothered to take the time to brush him out? I instantly had the impression that she didn't really care what I wanted and that she was going to cut him anyway she wanted. I was nervous, but desperate to have him trimmed up. Off I went.

About 1 1/2 hours passed and I got a phone call saying he was ready. Alarm bells instantly went off. 1 1/2 hours? I've never had a grooming appointment less than 3 hours for his type of hair. Dread sunk in as I drove to pick him up.

When I arrived they instantly started ringing up the bill without bringing him out. I thought that was odd, especially since I was basing a tip off of a grooming job I hadn't even seen yet. Oh well, my fault, I should have been more forceful.

Anyway, they brought him out and he was unrecognizable. The haircut was worse than she described it would be. Shaved nearly to the skin everywhere, vertical streaks up and down his legs, long chunks of hair all over the body, and a horribly lopsided mustache (luckily I was able to trim this myself). How could the groomer be this careless? The worst part wasn't even discovered until the next day.

The next day my dog had an annual checkup at the vet. The vet was concerned by the severe "clipper burn" under the front legs and on the testicles. My dog was in visible discomfort and the redness from the clippers was quite shocking at this point. The vet prescribed a spray for the pain.

At this point I was just straight pissed off. The bad haircut I could deal with, but the reckless clipper burn was too much for me. I'm sure every experience here isn't as bad as mine, but I hope you think twice before coming here. I will...

They will rush you in and out if they are even slightly busy. The girl today ignored my request for her to go around my dog’s whiskers, completely bypassed cutting his eyebrows, AND the fur in front of his ears. So basically didn’t do over half his face like a jacka** then had the nerve to say her sloppy cut is the best she could do because “his fur is dirty.” That isn’t true because I cleaned it before we went inside and my small dog gets a bath biweekly. If anything, his chin was a little damp and that’s it which isn’t an issue. In my experience, you brush the fur before you do a trim and you trim before a self-wash anyway sooo your point is? They must really need help to have hired such a lazy and untrained rude little girl. Giving an additional star because the first time I went the other girl did a beautiful job and was so nice to my little Elliott BUT they didn’t make my dog a profile so they couldn’t tell me who did him the FIRST TIME which is lame. Why wouldn’t you take note of that in case a new customer returns for the same staff member? Anyway, I sent this lazy girl back with Elliott two times and then decided not to send him back a third time just because I don’t like not being able to see what is going on in the back. Just not gonna go here anymore. Luckily it was only $10 wasted and I didn’t do a privacy trim like I was considering. My note to leadership, don’t hire people that can’t actually do cuts or charge less money when you know your employee isn’t fully trained yet. If your employee has an issue with something it should be brought up BEFORE they begin or else, it’s just an excuse to not have done the job the way they should have. Also, this place needs to clean their vent. It’s downright disgusting to see filthy black hair hanging on air vents like mold and airborne diseases just waiting to happen. The filters need to be changed like once a month here. As much as they charge for so little work, it shouldn’t be an issue to at least keep it clean. Luckily, my dog is very good and will sit still for me to do his cuts from now on. I’d rather have an amateur cut for free than to spend...

2 out of 2 times my dog came out of this place hurt. First time I took him for a grooming I picked him up and noticed he was bleeding from having one of his nails cut too short. They didn't say anything to me at pick up but I noticed it as soon as I walked out so I went back inside and they put some powder to help with the healing. Second time I took my dog in for a bath, made an appointment for drop off at 3:30 PM and by 6PM I had not received any calls or messages so I called them and they said he was still drying and to pick him up in 30 min. I arrive and my dog is still pretty damp which is fine, he's a goldendoodle and they have a lot of hair, but he also came out with a big red bump on the top of his nose. I asked the guy that bathed him what that was and he simply said he didn't know, the dog was like that when he started to bathe him. 2 for 2 in giving me no notice of my dog being hurt while in their care. I've taken him to other places and have had no issues. I understand dogs move and don't necessarily like being groomed but that's why there are places like this with supposed professionals you should be able to trust and at the very least, let the owner know of the incident. The owner called after we left a voicemail and apologized profusely and made it a point to tell us that her focus is on better training her staff but the damage was done, and I don't believe I'll be going back to them for even a simple bath. They think my dog was moving too much in the crate, etc. but not once has he hit himself against the crate (he is crate trained) or bumped himself on anything. I truly suspect he was hit with something either on purpose to keep him still or by accident, but that red bump had to be a hard hit. He even grew a scab on the...