Natalie K.
Yelp
We used to love coming here. Juniper loved it too. Unfortunately, we had to look elsewhere for grooming services because the groomers cut off some of her tongue.
We had been going to Dogma since Juni was a pup. She's friendly, wiggly, and loves people. We always felt good dropping her off for grooming because the front-of-house staff was so friendly! They really love dogs and they loved Juniper.
There were, however, a few red flags we should have been paying better attention to. Even though we came in monthly and asked for the same service each time, we were never charged a regular amount and her grooming was inconsistent.
At first, it was ~$30 for the basic package. Then it became ~$50 for the same package despite her being a consistent 20.5 lbs. They would add services they thought she needed despite us being clear at drop off what we wanted to pay for.
Then they buzzed too close to her little puppy parts and left a rash. Next, we found fleas on her immediately after pick-up. Then, one of her sanitary cuts went south and she was given a Brazilian. She had a full to-skin shave from her puppy parts to her bum. She's a Mini Aussie with a curtain for a butt, it looked awful. We expressed we didn't want that in the future and the front of house was very understanding and it never happened again.
After that, there was an issue with her paws. She wouldn't let us near them anymore. Again, right after grooming. It took us a long time to get her used to her paws being touched again. They then forgot to let us know that she was ready for pick up. I dropped her off around 8:30-9 am and never received a call. At 4:30 I checked in and they said they had forgotten to let us know she was ready.
The final straw was the TOUNGE CUTTING:
It was a normal Saturday pickup. I paid the hefty $50+ fee despite asking for fewer services that month and took her to the car. That's when I noticed blood. Every time she licked her lips she left a bloodstain. I checked her mouth and found a curled cut on her tongue that created a separate flap.
My partner went with me back inside to ask what happened. The front-of-house staff had no idea what we were talking about. Someone went to check with the groomer. Meanwhile, one of the employees was trying to soothe me saying it "looked worse than it was," "it didn't hurt her," and "in a day it will look better." They did offer to help in any way they could, but at the time I just wanted to make sure she was ok and find out what had happened.
Turns out the groomer cut her tongue and decided not to let anyone know. They said she "licked the scissors." I understand this is possible, and accidents happen, but that was no scissor lick! If it was, isn't it their responsibility to make sure dogs don't hurt themselves around sharp objects? Also, Juniper wasn't supposed to get any sort of haircut other than a sanitary cut around her bum! When we got her that day (again charged more than last time despite asking for less) we noticed they had also cut her whiskers and ear hair. They shouldn't have been near her mouth with scissors regardless of whether she licked them or not because we hadn't approved a haircut.
My biggest issue is that they made it seem like it wasn't a big deal, that she didn't feel the pain (she did, she didn't eat normally for several days and kept licking her lips), and most importantly that the groomer didn't feel it was important to let the front know that they had hurt her.
They still charged me the full amount and didn't offer a refund until after I left an email. They did offer to do everything they could to get her back in there, but as a dog mom, I honestly felt like I let her down allowing her to keep going back to this place despite a few flags along the way.
I still love the front-of-house staff there and love their idea, but we can't bring our little girl her again. She's still terrified to walk down that street months later.
HEALTH UPDATE:
The dead part of her tongue fell off. She got colitis from the stress and pooped bloody diarrhea for a few days. She's finally eating normally and back to normal weight and did great at her new groomer, Critter Wash. She is now permanently missing a piece of her tongue and we can no longer show her.