I take Tinsel every 2 weeks to the groomer for a full brush out, toe nail trim and any "personal" tidy up. Last time he was in she trimmed his breeches and front leg furnishings and they look odd to me so I will discuss it with her next week when he goes back. I suspect she did it so that it is easier for me to do the work in between - he is not enamoured with being groomed although he is much better for her. It took about 5 months for his original scalping done by the humane society - scissored right off from the rib cage back - to grow in enough that he no longer looked like a refugee and his coat blended enough that you wouldn't know he'd been chopped. I'm sure you will be fine for the summer, just frustrated.
Terrible haircut - owners need reassurance
- Thread starter Mark M.
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fuzbuttsheltie
Forums Enthusiast
Terrible haricut - owners need reassurance
I will admit this, it's happened to me as well. Fortunately I had only taken one of my shelties in for a grooming.
Not to say there aren't absolutely wonderful groomers throughout the country, but none of them seem to live in my area. How I resolved this was to locate a sheltie conformation handler who also grooms. All of my shelties are stunningly beautiful after a grooming with her. Through her I found a back up sheltie handler who also grooms so I have a back up groomer.
Dani
Staymat Magnificent Journey UD
Armitage Dazzling Spun Gold CDX, RAE
Double Dare Derrick CD, RAE
Blackmyst Poker Face
I will admit this, it's happened to me as well. Fortunately I had only taken one of my shelties in for a grooming.
Not to say there aren't absolutely wonderful groomers throughout the country, but none of them seem to live in my area. How I resolved this was to locate a sheltie conformation handler who also grooms. All of my shelties are stunningly beautiful after a grooming with her. Through her I found a back up sheltie handler who also grooms so I have a back up groomer.
Dani
Staymat Magnificent Journey UD
Armitage Dazzling Spun Gold CDX, RAE
Double Dare Derrick CD, RAE
Blackmyst Poker Face
corbinam
Moderator
So many of us have (unfortunately) been there.
We had a similar experience. My husband took the dog in with explicit instructions not to trim ANYTHING but feet. The dog came back looking ridiculous. I was so sad for him that I cried! (Bentley didn't know the difference, thank goodness!)
We never went back and I learned to groom them myself.
We had a similar experience. My husband took the dog in with explicit instructions not to trim ANYTHING but feet. The dog came back looking ridiculous. I was so sad for him that I cried! (Bentley didn't know the difference, thank goodness!)
We never went back and I learned to groom them myself.
Oh, yes. The exhausting Quest for a Sheltie-Savvy Groomer. So frustrating. We've been fortunate in that the cuts-gone-wrong were all relatively small in scale... feathers botched once, over-zealous sanitary trim another time... never the whole dog getting the Edward Scissorhands treatment. But over the course of these mishaps, we've gone through several groomers. Like you, I was always very specific in what I did--and mostly what I didn't--want done. Very simple things, like "no scissoring." And yet...
I agree with the others... no need for you to feel guilty over this. You were very specific in your instructions, and that groomer should have at least written them down somewhere, if not entered them into a computer database somewhere. I know at Petsmart, they've got our grooming instructions right there in the computer, alongside our contact info and Lerwick's rabies vaccine info. I also hope you guys didn't pay for the botched groom... they didn't earn the fee!
Best of luck finding a new groomer... one who can at the very least write down instructions!
I agree with the others... no need for you to feel guilty over this. You were very specific in your instructions, and that groomer should have at least written them down somewhere, if not entered them into a computer database somewhere. I know at Petsmart, they've got our grooming instructions right there in the computer, alongside our contact info and Lerwick's rabies vaccine info. I also hope you guys didn't pay for the botched groom... they didn't earn the fee!
Best of luck finding a new groomer... one who can at the very least write down instructions!
BarbV
Forums Celebrity
I'm on Happy Street! I finally was able to hire a groomer for my store! Yippee! Now I get free grooming and on my terms!
I've so many bad groomings I can't count them. Now, I can actually fire the groomer!
(though I truly hope this is years from now!) 
I've so many bad groomings I can't count them. Now, I can actually fire the groomer!
(though I truly hope this is years from now!) I went to upload some pics, but but our little-used photbucket account isn't recognizing my log-in information. Sigh. I'll probably have to set up something else. The pics don't really look that bad. He doesn't look like a long-haired sheltie, but he doesn't look bald or scalped either.
Wife and I both feel terrible, but we've settled down a bit. Murphy still seems happy and healthy and he's not bothered at all by the haircut. We humans worry about that stuff more than the animals do, I guess. He's been his normal self since the cut. Even jumped up on the bed and slept with us the past few nights, even though it seemed a bit too stuffy for him Friday (he mostly sleeps at the foot of our bed, but the top floor seems a bit too warm for him, so he sleeps on the lower levels some since the weather warmed up. He followed that same pattern with his previous owner, my sister-in-law).
We dropped by our vet with him yesterday. Vet thinks he'll be fine. Coat will grow out after awhile, he still has enough fur to protect him from the sun, etc.
Wife and I both feel terrible, but we've settled down a bit. Murphy still seems happy and healthy and he's not bothered at all by the haircut. We humans worry about that stuff more than the animals do, I guess. He's been his normal self since the cut. Even jumped up on the bed and slept with us the past few nights, even though it seemed a bit too stuffy for him Friday (he mostly sleeps at the foot of our bed, but the top floor seems a bit too warm for him, so he sleeps on the lower levels some since the weather warmed up. He followed that same pattern with his previous owner, my sister-in-law).
We dropped by our vet with him yesterday. Vet thinks he'll be fine. Coat will grow out after awhile, he still has enough fur to protect him from the sun, etc.
I uploaded a few pics to photobucket. Album can be found here:
http://s1255.photobucket.com/albums/hh640/markmathew262/
I'm not much of a photographer. Not sure pics really show how short hair is. From some angles, the coat looks worse.
Think his fur has already grown out a tiny bit (may be wishful thinking). He doesn't look quite as ragged as he did Thursday.
http://s1255.photobucket.com/albums/hh640/markmathew262/
I'm not much of a photographer. Not sure pics really show how short hair is. From some angles, the coat looks worse.
Think his fur has already grown out a tiny bit (may be wishful thinking). He doesn't look quite as ragged as he did Thursday.
It's interesting to see what they look like with shorter fur! Using flash can sometimes wash out detail so that's why its hard to tell exact length detail but it's an interesting haircut that's for sure. It looks like they left more fur on his butt and the shortest fur is on the chest and back? At least they left the feathers on the legs alone. He's a handsome dog either way! Hope his coat comes back in a timely and healthy manner.
Toffee's Mom
Forums Sage
no idea what they were thinking, lol. It's a ridiculous cut. BUT not as bad as a real shave, so now just have to sit and wait for it to grow again 
the poor dear, he's a handsome dude, so it's good to hear he doesn't mind his haircut as much as you guys
the poor dear, he's a handsome dude, so it's good to hear he doesn't mind his haircut as much as you guys
He seems fine. I almost wonder if he's not cooler. He didn't seem bothered by the heat with a longer coat, but he's coming upstairs more even though it's just a touch too humid for him. Even with the ac running, the bedrooms get stuffy a lot of evenings. I was really surprised he slept on the bed Friday evening.no idea what they were thinking, lol. It's a ridiculous cut. BUT not as bad as a real shave, so now just have to sit and wait for it to grow again
the poor dear, he's a handsome dude, so it's good to hear he doesn't mind his haircut as much as you guys
Anyway, he seems unbothered. He'll probably make out well while his coat grows back. We feel bad for him so we're having a lot of trouble telling him no when he begs for treats
Went back to the groomer yesterday to gripe some more. Talked to the actual groomer. She was mostly apologetic, but she also kept insisting that he'd be cooler the next few weeks and she really did us a favor, so I dunno if she just made a mistake or she just went off script and did what she wanted.
We've been assured it should grow back in without too much problem, but, yeah, he'll look a little funny for a while.