Can dog groomers restraints hurt small dogs.?
Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at
8:50 pm
i have a 4.5 pound yorkie that after comming back from the groomers coulndt walk or function properly. the vet says that its severe neck trama and it dosent look good for survival. Beings as it happend after the trip to the groomers i wonder if the restraints for the dogs can cause this problem.
There was X rays done, at first it was thought to be a broken next, now its severe trama, Two doctors have looked at it. The dog was limping when my wife picked him up and she thought his hip was out of place so we didnt go to the vet till the next day when the situtation got worse.
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It is possible as the groomer has to put the grooming arm strap around the dogs’ neck to keep it from jumping off the grooming table. Most dogs are not bothered by the strap, some that are not quite leash trained will pull and jump around until they get use to the feeling of the restriction. A small dog may pull or jump and actually injure itself. Most groomers are careful with the dogs and try to prevent any injury but some dogs can be quick and twist or jump around before the groomer can get hold of it to restrain it tighter.
Remember, the groomer has clippers, comb or scissors in one hand most of the time so when a dog begins to act up, they don’t have two free hands to get hold of it immediately.
Is your dog leash trained? Has it been to a groomers before or was this it’s first visit? Have you ever trimmed it’s toenails at home and if so, how did it behave? All of these things can be a factor that would contribute to the dog accidentally hurting itself. Was it acting alright when you left the shop with it? You state the injury ‘happened’ after a trip to the groomers’ so I am just guessing that it acted ok until sometime after you got home with it. You may want to get another opinion, as it could be just sore muscles, if your Vet has diagnosed it as possibly terminal without even X-rays.
I do know the smaller dogs like a Yorkie can be fragile and anything is possible but you need a thorough examination to determine just what is wrong, not a ‘guess’.
I will keep my fingers crossed that it turns out not to be anything serious and your little dog is back to normal in a day or two.
I have seen dogs that were left unattended, or just jumped off the table and got hung up in the loop. It can cause damage, but usually it is designed for quick release if the dog does jump. Some, however, do not release and can cause trauma to the dog.
YES - although I believe most professional groomers don’t mean to cause pain or injury - that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
Small breeds are especially prone to restraint trauma, they have smaller fragile bodies, and it doesn’t take much force to cause injury or even death. A small 4lb yorkie wouldn’t take much force to cause trauma to any part of their body, from simply holding it too hard or tightly (as a form of restraint) to have the the slip lead on the wrong spot and keeping it too tight.
Believe it or not, many small breed, brachialcephalic dogs (short snub nosed dogs) can and have had their eye balls pop out of their socketts from too much restraint around their head and neck areas.
So a wide variety of trauma may be caused by faulty restraint from large to small dogs.
I am very sorry this possibly happened to your dog. Double check your grooming contract -look for a injury liability clause, and have your veterinarian give a report on the extent of the injuries to your dog. You might have a legal aspect to persue, or you can take it straight to the groomer and have this issue resolved at that level, which ever way you wish to persue, I hope all goes well for you dog, and he/she recovers well.
If this was noticed when you picked up the dog from the groomer’s then you took dog to the Vet, immediately after the groom, get the Vet’s written report and be prepared to litigate against the groomer/facility. Sounds like serious negligent behavior and the groomer/facility needs to be called on it.
It sounds like a groomer left the dog on a table and went and did something and the dog hanged itself, mabye not quite quit breathing. Or could have jumped out of the side of a tub if restrained by the neck, hanging itself. In either case, see if you can talk to people who work at the grooming office and if they can tell you what happened to your dog.
This mode of restraint and lack of supervision or mode of restraint without other restraint in case the dog got excited and tried to jump, was negligent. Not to mention improper use of a mode of restraint could have caused it.
The burden of proof would be upon you, but if you took your dog to the Vet, straight from the groomer’s, then you have some significant documentation.
First of all, if a groomer uses anything to secure a small dog, they should have a hand on the dog at all times and in most cases, something that slips on the other end of the dog, in front of the hind legs so that the dog can’t jump off or strangle itself. There is NO REASON other than neglect or, I hope not the case, but there are some BAD groomers out there, outright abuse of the animal- that your dog left the grooming shop in this shape. Further, if the injury occurred at the groomer’s it was extremely negligent of them to give you your dog, injured as it was and not tell you about it or actually, as soon as anything injurious happened, rush it to their Vet and call you immediately telling you what happened.
YES, restraints could cause this if only a neck restraint was put on the dog and the dog was not supervised at all times, was put on improperly, OR if there was a neck restraint on the dog and whomever handled the dog got angry with it. Shouldn’t happen but it has been known to happen!
yes if the dog was not watch dogs have been know to choke to death from trying to jump off the table witht eh restaint.
but it could also be a number of other causes
Sue those groomers!! They shouldn’t be hurting dogs in order to groom! The only restraints they should use is their hands very gently not a machine!