Serenity Pet Spa West | Dog Grooming Madison — Local services in Madison

After being convinced by a recent Cap Times article that Serenity Pet Spa (West) would be a great local business for our 2-year-old Golden doodle’s regular grooming, we quickly realized that we had been hoodwinked.

The fact is, after the grooming, we were presented with a different dog. Not because of the haircut, but due to all of the sores, cuts, and lacerations to our dog’s inner ears, belly, and private parts. Serenity’s trim turned our beloved pooch’s temperament from energy-filled happiness to a sad, injured, and extremely uncomfortable dog. It even required a trip to the vet.

We spoke with Serenity prior to our first grooming there about leaving our pup’s fur a little longer in those sensitive areas (mentioned above) as it can cause discomfort when trimmed too short. There were no issues after our first visit and our requests were honored. At her second of the two mandatory appointments for new clients, we discussed these sensitive areas again with the male groomer responsible for our pup's groom, who seemingly understood. We soon discovered our requests (and notes in the system) were completely neglected.

We arrived a little early for pick-up after the 4.5 hour appointment and watched through the front shop window as an obviously frustrated groomer brushed her tail in a manner that was clearly extremely uncomfortable for our dog. We then witnessed the groomer repeatedly yelling at her, tightening the neck restraint when she tried to look back at him, and firmly pulling her back up by her tail when she tried to sit down on the table. When we checked out, he said she "did great, with no issues". What we witnessed didn't seem that way. Once home, we found several cuts inside both of her ears, lacerations on her belly, and a large (and several smaller) abrasions around her private area (see image below).

As soon as we saw the injuries, we quickly followed-up with Lis and her team via email. The response we got was a description of Serenity's sanitary procedures and at no point did they take responsibility for the visible wounds they caused for failing to listen to or follow our requests. When we asked to discuss our experience at the Salon further either in-person or via phone, we were left with radio silence from Serenity’s management for nearly 2 weeks, despite reaching out to them several more times. After we finally connected over the phone, we were told our dog likely had cuts to her inner ears before being groomed that day and had agitated her private area herself (we saw the injuries within minutes of her being home). Essentially, blaming our dog for the injuries caused by the groomer. We had asked that the groomer receive more training to prevent this from happening to other dogs in his care and this request was also ignored with more excuses being made and blame shifted elsewhere. After the proverbial teeth-pulling process to have them address this issue, Serenity management finally offered to pay for a vet bill as the extent of responsibility owned.

If Lis considers her groomers as part of "our family", we would like to emancipate. Though she says she wants to “re-create what a groomer is”, from our experience this is a huge step backwards from the care we normally receive during pet grooming in Madison. It appears everything we read was just lip-service. Wanting to support a local business closer to our new home, we tried to give them plenty of opportunities to win our business back. At the end of the day their manager agreed that they are incapable of delivering the service they market to the Madison community. We highly recommend you do NOT take your dog to Serenity Pet Spa (West) if you are looking for a safe, comfortable groom for your pet, as well as high-quality customer service, because we experienced quite the opposite. Needless to say we will be taking our...

I took my black and white(mostly white) Standard Poodle there to get groomed on 2/21/2020 at 8am with Summer. I requested the Continental Clip(the haircut show poodles get) and I let summer know she’s had bad grooming experiences in the past so she’s been only groomed by myself the last few months. When i picked my dog up she was pretty anxious but i just assumed she missed me and was tired from playing with the other dogs, I was prepared for a little bit of clipper burn because of the cut i asked for but nothing of this extent, she was actively bleeding and it looked like someone skinned her leg. Summer was “too busy” to hand over my dog and tell me she has clipper burn, I didn’t notice the burn until about 30 minutes after I picked her up and she settled down. I figured it would clear up but the next day it was 100x worse, I emailed the salon and Liz called me Sunday morning. She suggested I bring my dog in for a “thera-soak”, Summer did the “thera-soak” on my dog again but this time there was no manager there. When I picked my dog up this time she was whining before i even got in there, she never whines. She was still on the drying table when i arrived, about 5 minutes into me sitting very low so my dog didn’t see me and whine louder Summer was done drying and my dog ran from the drying room to the counter and tried to see me, Summers response to this was “I’m not done with you yet” in a very snarky and annoyed tone. I said something about this to Liz and she excuses this behavior and says “Summer just has dry humor” Dogs pick up on tone of voice, especially poodles, and in my mind if she had no problem talking to my dog like that in front of me I can’t imagine what she does when owners are not there. When she was done with her i had to put her in the car so i could hear what Summer was saying to me because my dog was still whining and shaking and panting even after she was with me. I spoke to some other groomers and vets that night and they all said Summer should’ve told me to take her to the vet right after my appointment. The next day I have to take the morning off work so I can take my dog to the vet, I tried calling serenity at around 8am but no managers were available, Liz said they don’t have managers there until 12pm but they take dogs as early as 8am, and they don’t have cameras in the back. Liz called me an hour or so later and i requested i be refunded for the groom and vet visit which she obliged to. In the end Liz did what she could to fix it but most of the damage has already been done. I would want to know this if I was considering taking my dog to...

My dog gets anxious about getting a bath/going to the groomers so I was willing to pay double at Serenity for what others charge because they promised the sun, moon and stars. What I got was a dog that couldn't walk. I shared in advance that my 8 year old rescue dog had old injuries and they offered a belly band and mentioned anti slip mats which sounded great. My dog has been to other groomers and never had issues with her old injuries - the issue was her anxiety and trying to find somewhere that treats one dog at a time. I missed the mark on that too. I had to leave my dog there for four hours. Other groomers took less than an hour because she just needs a bath, nail trim, ears and anal glands (if needed) and teeth brushed - no actual grooming/cutting. I picked her up and 3 hours later at home when it was time to go for her dinner walk and eat she wouldn't move. Walks are her favorite thing so I knew something was wrong. She was whining and crying and protecting her back leg. We will not be back for that reason but there is more.

The place is chaotic. When I dropped her off there were about 8-10 other dogs running around various parts of the "spa". Consider that when booking - especially with an anxious dog. I knew they took breaks in between and offered "play" time but that isn't for all dogs.

Their fees are insane and they require you to come every 6-8 weeks and require a nail trim every 3-4 weeks.

*when I called and text to discuss the situation they said it's not surprising because she has an old injury. That just isn't a good response when 3 other groomers have taken care of her without issue (as...