# Groomer cut off feathers



## Keelss0613 (9 mo ago)

We took our 1 1/2 year old to the groomers for a bath and to trim feet and ears. When my husband picked her up they have cut off her feathers on her stomach and legs. How long will it take to correct the bad cut back to normal? Before and after pictures attached


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## Tagrenine (Aug 20, 2019)

Wow this is one of the worst grooms I’ve seen, why did they shave her??


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## Keelss0613 (9 mo ago)

Tagrenine said:


> Wow this is one of the worst grooms I’ve seen, why did they shave her??


I have no idea. I am just furious. My husband said they told him to bring her back so they could finish. Not sure what else they were planning on doing.


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## Cookderosa (9 mo ago)

I'm sorry they did that ;( I love my baby's feathers and I'm no help but I just wanted to say I feel your pain.
I saw a fully shaved golden 2 weeks ago - literally like a poodle cut and I'm pretty sure it was on purpose. 😳


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Keelss0613 said:


> I have no idea. I am just furious. My husband said they told him to bring her back so they could finish. Not sure what else they were planning on doing.


If this were my dog, that would be a "No, thank you."

Grooming a golden should only take about 2 hours, give or take.

Bathe and blow out thoroughly - that should have removed all or most of the dead loose coat caught in her coat. The undercoat and top coat should have been fluffy, clean, and shiny... after the bath and blow dry. This process depending on the dog should take about 35 minutes to perhaps an hour. Depends on how thick the coat is and how dirty it was. <= I typically take about 5 minutes to bathe my dogs (and about 30 minutes to dry), but recently had a dog in the bathtub for a good 20+ minutes because I was scrubbing a very sticky and stubborn clay mud off his legs and belly. Needed to use dish soap finally, that's how bad that stuff was.

Trimming - for a golden would focus on trimming ears, feet, thinning out around the neck and shoulders (in front of, never behind), and trimming the tail. <= This sometimes takes about 45 minutes to an hour - basically me taking my time and relaxing while I do it. Technically, if you are not nitpicking and just want the appropriate areas trimmed/neatened up, could be done in under 30 minutes.

There is no reason why a groomer who already did a half apple (insert different word) job grooming your dog needs a second chance to "finish up".


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

To answer your question - with a young healthy dog, coat grows fast. 

That said, I would suggest bringing your girlie to somebody who is either a member of the local golden retriever club or comes recommended (and many such people work at regular groomers) to have them groom your dog properly. Otherwise, as coat grows back, might become matted.


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## PalouseDogs (Aug 14, 2013)

It looks like they did a close shave where the forelegs meet body. That is often a place where mats form. Do you know whether she had mats there? Looks like she might have a "spay coat", with that cottony undercoat that mats easily. She certainly has a heavy coat. It's not a horrible thing to clip a heavy-coated dog to make their life a little more comfy in summer. 

It will grow back. How fast depends on the time of year.


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## JerseyChris (10 mo ago)

Was there any conversation with the groomer on how you wanted the grooming done? Was the first time to that groomer?


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## 3goldens2keep (Feb 13, 2019)

We recently had the same/ similar experience. Our Golden has a bit shorter hair than this girl does, but she has typically, nice feathers. They were all cut off and the coat was made to look even and flat! Needless to say, we paid less then agreed with no tip. The groomer also got a respectful but comprehensive 'tongue lashing' for her incompetence. And yes, she was given explicit instructions on how to trim our girl...she ignored that discussion...!


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## JerseyChris (10 mo ago)

3goldens2keep said:


> We recently had the same/ similar experience. Our Golden has a bit shorter hair than this girl does, but she has typically, nice feathers. They were all cut off and the coat was made to look even and flat! Needless to say, we paid less then agreed with no tip. The groomer also got a respectful but comprehensive 'tongue lashing' for her incompetence. And yes, she was given explicit instructions on how to trim our girl...she ignored that discussion...!


have unfortunately heard this same story too many times. My wife is a groomer who has a lot of golden clients. She is very specific on making sure she knows exactly what her client is looking to have done. Not everyone wants to have their golden look like a show dog and for some families they can be too much work to keep clean and not matted. If she has a new client she will ask them to show her a few pictures of how they would like the dog to look like.


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## Rion05 (Jan 4, 2016)

This is precisely why I usually groom my own golden (or only let a professional handler do it). As Megora explained, goldens are a "natural" breed and most of grooming is bathing, blowing dry/brushing or combing, and VERY LIGHT trimming done by someone who knows what a golden retriever should look like. Too many folks...do not. SO SORRY this happened to you. 

Yes, contact your local GRCA-affiliated club and find some members who can direct you to someone who better understands how goldens SHOULD be groomed.


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

Exactly why I don't trust groomers. There's one groomer in my town the will shave the entire dog if they find one mat. Size doesn't matter. They make clients sign a waiver beforehand stating that this is their policy. If you don't sign, they will refuse service. Needless to say, they will never lay a finger on my dogs! 

It will eventually grow back out.


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## FurdogDad (Mar 30, 2021)

DevWind said:


> Exactly why I don't trust groomers. There's one groomer in my town the will shave the entire dog if they find one mat. Size doesn't matter. They make clients sign a waiver beforehand stating that this is their policy. If you don't sign, they will refuse service. Needless to say, they will never lay a finger on my dogs!
> 
> It will eventually grow back out.


Why would anybody sign that waiver? That's not a groomer, it's a doggy barber shop.....


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## FUReverGolden (Nov 24, 2021)

So sorry for your experience This is why I always brush, bathe , trim , ears etc. myself. It will grow back .


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## iPappy (Nov 30, 2021)

As a groomer this stuff makes me want to scream. A Golden is a less is more groom. Shape things up and create a neat, not sculpted, outline and leave it alone. Start hacking away at the coat and you're creating a much more difficult and time consuming groom for yourself. It doesn't look like she was brushed out/combed properly. And "bring her back tomorrow so I can finish" is only acceptable IMO if the groomer is having a stroke or something and needs to leave work NOW. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience.


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## Goldens&Friesians (May 31, 2014)

Another groomer here. So, the shaving behind the forearm (at least that’s what it looks like in the pic) could be justified if there were mats there-it is a common place for mats to form. She does appear to have that soft wispy spay coat which tangles and mats for more easily than correct coat.

What should’ve been done is that spay coat needs to be hand stripped as much as possible. It will be quite a task to start off, but once it is done it is just a matter of keeping up with it-stop it out as it grows. This is something you can do. Just grab a pinch of that lighter colored soft hair and yank it out. It doesn’t hurt because it is just dead coat that needs to come off (though some dogs can be dramatic and you would think you were ripping out a limb and not just some dead hair!) You can do it little by little and once it’s done you will find your dog doesn’t pick up nearly as much stuff (sticks, leaves, etc) once that spay coat is out.

I can’t really get my mind around a groomer who would tell you to bring the dog back to finish? The only time I would ever do that is if I were working with an owner on training a terrified dog or young puppy to tolerate and be less fearful about the grooming process. I have seen dogs so fearful they would benefit from coming every few days and doing a little bit more each time.

Not sure why, but it seems like many groomers are taught basically a one size fits all approach to dog grooming and do not take into account breed, coat condition, etc. And there also seems to be a “thing” for scissoring/sculpting feathers on everything-even when the owner only asked for a bath and brush. I personally think you don’t touch a dog (particularly a double coated breed like goldens) with a scissors unless the owner specifically says they want the feathers trimmed or tidied-which some do if the dog mats easily or collect burrs or what have you.

Anyway, to answer your question, her coat should grow back in fine-it doesn’t appear to be short enough to have suffered from shave damage. How fast it grows can vary from dog to dog. Maybe a couple months or so.


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

I don't really get the "some people don't want their Goldens to look like show dogs" remark when my grooming for my "show dogs" is literally a bath, blow dry and tidying up feet, ears and tail. No sculpting, no shaving, no excess scissoring etc. 

Goldens are NOT hard to keep clean, a correct healthy coat will not hold onto dirt or dust. A good bath and blow out and tidying is all you need for a golden to look nice.

I'm sorry they did this to your girl. She appeared to have a nice coat (albeit heavy) in the photo of her running photo, and does look to have a spay coat in the more recent one...they didn't even do a good job with the blow dry or combing her out. I'd be finding a new groomer --OR learn to do it yourself. There are many great videos on YouTube of trimming golden feet and ears.


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## iPappy (Nov 30, 2021)

Emmdenn said:


> I don't really get the "some people don't want their Goldens to look like show dogs" remark when my grooming for my "show dogs" is literally a bath, blow dry and tidying up feet, ears and tail. No sculpting, no shaving, no excess scissoring etc.
> 
> Goldens are NOT hard to keep clean, a correct healthy coat will not hold onto dirt or dust. A good bath and blow out and tidying is all you need for a golden to look nice.
> 
> I'm sorry they did this to your girl. She appeared to have a nice coat (albeit heavy) in the photo of her running photo, and does look to have a spay coat in the more recent one...they didn't even do a good job with the blow dry or combing her out. I'd be finding a new groomer --OR learn to do it yourself. There are many great videos on YouTube of trimming golden feet and ears.





Morningsage Goldens Grooming



Great tutorial here as well.


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

The thing about the mats- they do not have to be shaved if one is patient, and unless that was a carpet of matting under her arms, it is unlikely this groomer took her time, choosing instead to just give her that ugly shavedown.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Prism Goldens said:


> The thing about the mats- they do not have to be shaved if one is patient, and unless that was a carpet of matting under her arms, it is unlikely this groomer took her time, choosing instead to just give her that ugly shavedown.


My sisters collie gets mats from time to time because they have a lot of fuzzies around their ears which does not get removed like we do with goldens.

using stripper helps break the mat so you just brush away


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