Posted on 12/15/2004 10:05:30 AM PST by CovenBuster
ABC13 Eyewitness News (12/15/04 - HOUSTON) A Richmond couple is upset at a Sugar Land pet store they say gave away their beloved Pomeranian to a stranger.
Jana Brown says she dropped off her purebred Pomeranian named Mercedes to a Sugar Land Petco to get groomed more than a week ago, just as she has done dozens of times before. But ...
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I've owned really big dogs and pretty small ones and I've loved them all dearly!
Carin's are super dogs!
Until I had a JRT (that's Jack Russell Terrier) that chased the Rottweiller away, I would have said the same thing), but now I like little dogs much better. Less poo, same amount of spunk.
Yea, I had a Cairn as a boy. They're great. perhaps it might be necessary to have two dogs, on smaller and one bigger..... that'll keep the cat busy :)
1. The only hourly-paid folks you'll see in most pet grooming facilities are bathers. Full-fledged groomers work on commission, usually 50-60% per dog. This can translate to a very good income for a fast, efficient groomer in a busy shop, and those who operate mobile grooming businesses can earn six figures. Even bathers usually make well above minimum wage. Grooming is highly skilled work that generally doesn't attract stupid people. (However a lot of groomers are quite eccentric, but that's another story entirely.) So the comments made by a couple of people about grooming shops being manned by "minimum-wage" (and therefore, stupid) workers is really, um, uniformed. With the following exception, which is about corporate shops like PETsMART and Petco:
2. Having worked in a corporate shop and by comparing experiences with a lot of other groomers and customers, I will go out on a limb by saying that mistakes seem more likely to happen in the high-volume corporate environments. The corps, looking to maximize profit, will hire inexperienced people as bathers for lower wages. Their turnover is usually very high, as bathing is an arduous and thankless task. In any corporate shop bathers with more than a couple of months' experience are in the definite minority. The bad thing is that corporate shops also use bathers as receptionists and customer service reps, which frequently causes chaos as people who don't know what they are doing are thrown into positions of responsibility.
3. An incident very much like the news story occurred at the PETsMART where I was employed, some years before. I was checking in a lady with a golden retriever who told me she hadn't been to this shop in four or five years because she'd had a bad experience. I asked her what happened, and she told me her dog had been given to the wrong customer at pick-up. She said that when she arrived to pick up her own dog, she was brought another golden which she immediately realized was not hers. Forunately, this dog had a tag with its name and owner's phone number, so the other customer was located quickly. The scary thing is, the other customer hadn't noticed that she had taken home the wrong dog.
4. People get their chihuahuas bathed all the time. I don't know why either, but they are usually delightful little dogs and I enjoy doing them even though I don't make much money off 'em.
5. Pomeranians have a thick double coat, the undercoat which is tight and a longer outer coat. If they aren't given a thorough brushing on a regular basis, they can get very tangled and matted espcially if they play outside enough to get wet. And since most people don't brush on a regular basis, grooming shops see a lot of poms. I like poms myself, most of 'em are very sweet.
I don't use him except to clip my dogs nails, but a couple of people on my street use a mobile dog groomer who comes to them. He has a truck and pulls what looks like a small horse trailer. After dark he even set out cones and lights. I can get his name and number if you like.
Wow - does he work outside the Mo City area?
How about mud wrestle ... and you need not even bring Clay!!!
Please tell me what kind of dog you have. I found a little lab looking dachsund back in April and we thought she was the only one in the world like that. She is quite possibly the cutest dog in the world.
I must ask, did your customer look anything like her pups? I trust she didn't nip at your heels, however. lol
(I have a family member with a bunch of mini-rat dogs, and I think she looks just like her pets. She's cute and has fluffy hair.)
oh my. if you hadn't pointed them out, i never would have read them.
Only when necessary
JRT's rule!
Do you have a standard-size Jack or a puddin?
Our little guy's a puddin and can hold his own against our 80 pound lab-mix.
They're both 'real' dogs to me.
Obviously, that would be clay wrestling.
If you think of it, that'd be great! We could use some help with the terrier's toenails.
I have been posting as I have been reading, but as the former owner of nothing but "big dogs", I can tell you that a Jack Russell is not just a dog per se, they are much more. Gracie has cured me of ever having a "big dog" again. That being said, they are rather hyper-active and need alot of attention but if you want a big dog in little dog skin, get a Jack Russell. They are extremely loyal and tough.
There is also a vet on Dulles across from the HS and a block south who clips nails, often for free, and is open most of the day on Saturday ......... if you happen to be visiting mom over Christmas. (You think she would pay me to keep reminding you)
She is pretty much the standard size. Her mom was a short legged broken coat and her dad was a long legged smooth coat. She got the best of both, brown and white with nice straight long legs with a little bit of broken coat that really comes out when she gets her bath.
Even my husband who at one time said that any dog under 80 lbs was not a real dog agrees that there is no tougher breed in the world.
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