# Horrible Grooming Situation



## pipermarie (Feb 10, 2018)

Hello all,
My golden, Piper was given a hack job at the groomers about a month ago. They cut her hindquarters unevenly, thinned out her coat, hacked up her chest, and cut two of her nipples to the point of bleeding. The fur still doesn't seem to have grown out at all. I am very upset as her fur was long and beautiful before the trim. I expected a little growth by now. Her cut still looks like that of a poodle, and she's been such a trooper through the whole situation. Could the fur be damaged? Is there anything I can do to treat it or help along the growth? 
Thanks


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## Sweet Piper (Jan 26, 2018)

*Golden Mom*

So sorry to hear about this. Never fear, the fur will grow back in time. Good quality diet and lots of love is the answer.


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## jdavisryan (Jan 28, 2018)

I eventually learned to groom my companion Goldens for just that reason. I was always unhappy with the job the groomers did and they charged a fortune. My work certainly wasn't show ring quality, but I got better with practice and I never, ever nicked one like the groomers frequently did. The dogs always enjoyed the extra time I spent with them on grooming day. Daisy would anticipate what was coming next - when I finished cleaning up one paw she offered the other, knew when to stand for me, etc. It's a great way to bond with your dog.


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## pipermarie (Feb 10, 2018)

jdavisryan said:


> I eventually learned to groom my companion Goldens for just that reason. I was always unhappy with the job the groomers did and they charged a fortune. My work certainly wasn't show ring quality, but I got better with practice and I never, ever nicked one like the groomers frequently did.


Thank you, did you have any specific websites or videos that helped you learn how to groom your golden?


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

Morningsage Goldens Home has a wonderful 4 page tutorial


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## Goldens&Friesians (May 31, 2014)

The page Prism gave you is an excellent tutorial and also Megora made a post with details about grooming on this forum (http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/golden-retriever-grooming/484650-grooming-stuff.html). It may seem very overwhelming at first, but its really not that hard once you get the hang of it to get a golden to look decent. They aren't after all a poodle or terrier or shih-tzu or something that gets a full body haircut or pattern cut. I'm a professional pet groomer and I trained for over a year to learn how to groom(actually still learning, lol!), granted I was learning to groom dozens of breeds, but it does take a little bit to get used to handling scissors and stuff. And I will also say that pet grooming and show grooming are totally different and most pet groomers (myself included) are not trained to show groom (although that's no excuse for a sloppy job or a shave down when you only wanted a brush out). Having groomed dogs for 10 years, accidents do happen and you will nick or cut a dog from time to time-they are capable of making unpredictable or sudden movements; so unless this groomer is frequently nicking or cutting dogs, I would cut her some slack for that. They say if you're a groomer and you haven't cut a dog yet, you haven't been grooming very long. What is bad is if the groomer nicks your dog and doesn't let you know about it. Pet groomers at many places, especially places like Petsmart, are often trained to groom as many dogs a day as possible as fast as possible. Price may or may not be cheaper, but quality of their work suffers because of this. Also I know that a lot of groomers will shave your dog if you even mention the word "trim" because its faster and easier than actually doing a nice tidy trim. 
Without seeing pictures of your dog's coat it would be hard to judge what exactly was done-like how short it is, etc. There are occasionally dogs whose coats never grow back, but the vast majority of dogs will grow back a nice coat so long as they aren't repeatedly shaved. Every dog is different in how fast their hair will grow. The undercoat will grow back much faster than the topcoat, so until the topcoat (the shiney hairs that protect the undercoat) grows back, the undercoat will appear dull and may be very greasy/nasty to touch. It could take 3-6 months to grow back depending on how short it is. There is an excellent product out that is originally designed for horses, but I have used it on my horses, dogs, and my own hair, called Mane-ly Long Hair. They have a shampoo, conditioner, and polisher/detangler. I use just the polisher on my horse once a week for the last year and a half or so to grow back her mane which she had rubbed out-its about 3/4ths of the way grown back now! (Horse hair takes an average of 6 years to grow to full length, so I'm amazed at how fast its growing back in!) Anyway, the lady who owns the company could probably help you set up a bathing regime to promote hair growth on your dog-she is very helpful and happy to give tips and advice on how to best use the products. Its just a small company so I usually order online at www.manelylonghair.com.


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## pipermarie (Feb 10, 2018)

Thank you so so much. I will definitely check those out. The horse shampoo seems to really work miracles!


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## pipermarie (Feb 10, 2018)

Thank you! I will check it out


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## Catgondek (Jul 3, 2017)

If I learn to trim ears, legs and paws, and also tail, will I ever need to trim any of the main body fur?


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## Goldens&Friesians (May 31, 2014)

Catgondek said:


> If I learn to trim ears, legs and paws, and also tail, will I ever need to teim any of the main body fur?


No, you won't! A golden's hair is not meant to be cut-the hair serves a purpose-insulating the dog from both cold and heat. It does need to be brushed frequently though and the more often you brush, the less hair the dog will be shedding in your house!


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## jdavisryan (Jan 28, 2018)

I watched several YouTube videos before I started, and only did their ears and paws until I got comfortable handling the scissors and thinning shears. I hope I didn't offend any groomers with my comments and I see there are lots very qualified groomers out there, based on all of the beautifully groomed dogs I see on the forum. I just never found a groomer that didn't shave the butt and cut the feathering short, even when I tried to describe what I wanted. I always preferred my dogs in a more natural coat with lots of feathering but they seemed to look more like a Lab after a trip to the groomers. As for the nicks, I'm sure my dogs were more wiggly with the groomer, making it hard to avoid nicking them. Good luck if you decide to give home grooming a go.


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## jdavisryan (Jan 28, 2018)

Wow! Your beautiful dog is what I always wanted my dogs to look like after grooming. I never achieved that level at home but that's exactly what I think a Golden should look like.


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## Goldens&Friesians (May 31, 2014)

jdavisryan said:


> I watched several YouTube videos before I started, and only did their ears and paws until I got comfortable handling the scissors and thinning shears. I hope I didn't offend any groomers with my comments and I see there are lots very qualified groomers out there, based on all of the beautifully groomed dogs I see on the forum. I just never found a groomer that didn't shave the butt and cut the feathering short, even when I tried to describe what I wanted. I always preferred my dogs in a more natural coat with lots of feathering but they seemed to look more like a Lab after a trip to the groomers. As for the nicks, I'm sure my dogs were more wiggly with the groomer, making it hard to avoid nicking them. Good luck if you decide to give home grooming a go.


I'm not offended at all! You are absolutely right that there are many groomers out there who aren't that good at what they do. I actually worked with one-she always crammed too many dogs into her schedule to make more money (we got paid commission) and ended up having horrible quality grooms. When my son was born, I quit working, and I gave all my clients recommendations on which groomer to use-I did not recommend this groomer to any of my clients. My other co-worker got all my clients because she is an excellent groomer. So yeah, definitely no offense taken! Also, I totally agree with you about grooming being excellent bonding time with your golden-mine gets all excited when I ask, "do you want to get brushed?" Lol!


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## Catgondek (Jul 3, 2017)

Thinning shears scare me ... are they difficult to master?


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## jdavisryan (Jan 28, 2018)

Catgondek said:


> Thinning shears scare me ... are they difficult to master?


It took me a little while to get used to them. It helped that my dogs were very patient and willing to sit still for me. I used one hand to hold the hair away from the dog with my fingers against their skin, then closed the blades of the shears and flicked to pull away. Sorry, not a very good description but there may be some videos online that will demonstrate their correct use. My dogs were heavy coated and the thinning shears were great around the ears and the feathering under the tail where mats were a problem.


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## Catgondek (Jul 3, 2017)

Well, I sent my kids to school with some funny haircuts before I figured out how to cut kids’ hair, so if I mess up I guess it will grow back!


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## Wicky (Aug 27, 2015)

As well as the morningsage tutorials I bought The Ultimate Golden Retriever by Valerie Foss which was helpful.


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