Pug almost died!

[Whipple]

A few days ago we were cutting a pugs nails after bathing. This guy *HATES* his nails and ears done. We had to muzzle him for his ears to get done. They were nasty and we had to do some heavy duty cleaning. They were sore, Im sure not from us, just from being so grossly dirty in the first place.
The thing is he will lunge at you and keep coming. Unlike most dogs he wont stop after trying the first time. Its scary. And he's a big pug, over 20lbs at least.

So then we got his ears done, he was fine and breathing good so we moved to his nails. His muzzle came off (Damn short noses) so one person held him as I cut his nails. She's been grooming for years, so I figured I could trust her, that he would be fine as would I. I'm not bad at cutting nails, I rarely quick them.

So on I go cutting his nails. He's flailing and trying to eat me as the other groomer has his in a full body/neck hold. She tells me to keep cutting the naisl and get it done. I am quicking nearly every one of them, as he has insanely long quicks. I really wasnt cutting much off.

So he let loose and peed all over me and he's bleeding and then his anal glands go. She tells me to just keep going. I get one more nail done and look up at the dog. He's going limp and his tounge is blue. (Im getting shivers remembering this). We call over our boss and she comes over and takes him off the noose. She starts pushing on his chest and shakes him and pushing again. Finally he takes a breath!

I feel so stupid cuz I didnt notice that noose. He was choking himself and we did not notice! Ugh! He's fine now. He walked out of the shop. His owner came in just as we cleaned up the blood and pee. We made him smell better (This is after he was breathing of course) and finished his nails. He was fine for his nails with the owner there.

So now hopefully the owner will bring him in often for nails and he WILL stay with him. It scared the **** out of me, I was shaking for the rest of the day. Now we are all supiad cautious of watching the noose and breathing, especially old dogs and short nosed dogs.

All in all: Lesson learned!

[LexPauline]

Wowww

Lotsa red flags there doll! I'm gonna keep this short because I have a good feeling your about to get a good ear full. Do not EVER muzzle a short muzzled dog some muzzles even have warnings on the packaging that state this. If the dog struggles and is aggressive then the professional thing to do is send the owner to a vet. You are lucky ...very lucky this wasn't worse. Under no circumstances would I ever go that far even IF I was told to do so by my boss. Sometimes the right thing to do is say NO. That dog is worse off now. Next time he needs his nails done he will remember this trauma and yes it was very traumatic. Maybe you will understand the situation better after you get more responses. I'm not trying to be mean, please don't take it that way. May I ask your age?

[JOZBUG]

Wow That is quite scary! But a dog like that would be sent on its way by me. I'd tell the owner a vet needs to do him.
Glad everything worked out ok though

[stewiedog]

Before you do kill a dog send it to the vet. We shouldn't do those kind of ears anyway IMO. And a dog that bad for his nails should be handled at the vets office maybe with light sedation if he can handle it.

Please NEVER push and stress a dog out just to do nails. I have met too many groomers that take it personal if the can't get something done, like it is some control thing or they have to prove something.

[lexapurple]

I probably will get flamed for saying this but what you describe is animal cruelty and abuse!

I am sure you did not mean it and were just trying to get the job done as it was requested.
But next time please stop and listed to you heart.
It is not worth killing or traumatizing a dog over the nail trim. This dog should have been sent to the vet to deal with nails and sore ears.
I better leave before I say anything else.

[rapuzzled]

Something that works great for those short nose dogs is an elizabethan collar (e-collar). They can still breathe just fine and they can't get to you. You can try a cat muzzle too, but I prefer the ecollar, I feel a lot safer without that stubby little nose being blocked. Another thing, when you have a dog that is struggling, noose them at the waist, not the neck.

Over time I've learned that not EVERY dog can be groomed. If a dog is freaking out that much than send them to the vet and they can sedate the dog. It's not worth having the dog seizure, or pass out...

[caninecrazy]

LexPauline hit it on the nose! Ditto and then some. You must be young or very new to grooming. So Many things wrong with your post!
Thank god you and your shop mates did not kill this dog!
Ears in the state you mentioned is fine to lightly clean if the dog allows, and then you inform the owner they need to seek medical attention immediately.
Nails can be tough but you need to know your boundries. Forcing, fighting, pushing your will can cause serious damage to a dog. You need to learn when being strong is appropriate and when being strong stresses the dog.
Muzzling works within limits, you should always be checking for breathing and stress symtoms, such as red eyes, bleary eyes, or anything other than normal, which indicate high blood pressure among other things.
There are ways to get around bad behavior and they take a while to learn.
What you did was just plain wrong. You stressed the dog to nearly death!
I don't mean to hurt you, as you are probably trying to learn or you would'nt be a member to this site, but you must in all cases take responsibility for your actions when you are in the charge and care of a dog.
This is a profession, and people put their trust in your abilities when they give you their dog. You owe it to them not to do harm to their beloved pet.
Your customer would have been better served by saying "we cannot clean his ears or cut his nails because of the harm it would cause the dog" he needs to see a veterinarian as soon as you can for these proceedures.
JMO

[PuppyFluffer]

Go easy on her, folks

I got chills reading that, but I'm not going to point out what you have obviously already learned. Instead, I'm going to say that for those of you who might be getting ready to take Whipple to task (and this is a huge assumption on my part, I'm merely going by what I've seen in the past), there were TWO individuals working with this dog.

He's flailing and trying to eat me as the other groomer has his in a full body/neck hold. She tells me to keep cutting the naisl and get it done.

So he let loose and peed all over me and he's bleeding and then his anal glands go. She tells me to just keep going.

Responsibility lies on more than one party in this case. Yes, it was [I]lax [/I]for one person not to notice (or in your case, not trust your gut that something was wrong), but for BOTH to be unaware a serious problem was developing is very worrying.

Whipple, I'm very glad you didn't end up with a dead dog on your table. I KNOW you've learned a valuable lesson and hope that you continue to educate yourself, albeit not in such a scary fashion. Expand your understanding of animal behavior & psychology and practice safe and proper handling techniques. Troll this board, there's lots of valuable information available from those of us who have been there.

[furrybestjob]

Please NEVER push and stress a dog out just to do nails. I have met too many groomers that take it personal if the can't get something done, like it is some control thing or they have to prove something.

I know a few groomers that are that way and it scares me.

[Whipple]

I'm 22. I just started grooming at this shop, and I was just doing what I was told. If it was upto me it would not have been done.

I've never dealt with this sort of situation before, and so taking my superiors word on it was all I could do. I can't afford to lose my job. I know better, and I will refuse if that ever came up again. And I won't be muzzling a short nosed breed again.

I just did not know, and now I do. Unfortunately I had to learn a hard way. I hope you all can understand that and not bash me for it. I feel bad enough as it is.

[SpikeyTheYorkie]

I would have fired the girl who said "Keep going." That is a job for the vet.

Unbelievable. What you guys did is NOT ok. Not one bit.

Tammy in Utah

[SpikeyTheYorkie]

Well, I certainly wouldn't let the other groomer off easy---I'd be like Donald Trump to her! "You're fired!"

You wanna come work with me? You'll get lots of nice dogs and a few naughties to practice on, but nothing like that!

Tammy in Utah

[Jedd]

I'm new to grooming as well. Not quite as young but anyway....

Everything worked out.
But just remember that a haircut or nail clipping is not worth that kind of stress on a dog.
My son, yes. A dog, not so much.
So don't let it discourage you. You learned a valuable lesson today. And don't let a 'more experienced' groomer ever force you to do something that you don't feel right doing.

Sounds like you'll be a good one. Keep learning and maybe one day you can have fancy business cards like me.

[sittingpretty]

You have already heard from others on what you "should've done" so all I'm going to add is this... pugs are stinkers about their nails, real stinkers! My best friend has a pug mx, that I got for her, and I told her I'd always do the nails for her...arghhh. What I finally found was that by dremeling them it is less of a struggle. I have a cordless dremel, I set it to "low' then do them. The dogs fusses at me but not too much anymore. I slightly scold her them "shush" her while I continue.

Ears can be hard too, because their little heads are so hard to hold. If you find alot of ears debris try to put soem cleaner into the ear and massage it down into the ear. This may comfort a nervous dog as well as get the cleaner into the crevices. Allow the dog to shake his head. Then you can swab the debris out of the ear.

relax and chalk this up to a learning experience NOT to be repeated.

sittingpretty

[PAWS]

I'm not going to pick on you anymore than has already been done. You now know and the dog is fine, so that is what is important. Unfortunately I was a tech once at a vet clinic with an associate VET that used that approach, too. He actually LET a dog pretty much faint while choking him with a leash and telling me to 'hurry up and trim those nails!'. I did as told. Then told him how I felt. Then I reported the incident along with other incidents...this man quit his job and he worked there for over 20 years! I cannot believe people in the care of animals could possibly act this way, but it happens. As mentioned, ALWAYS go with your gut. As a newbie, without knowing your superiors' abilities/intentions, that is all you may have to go on for awhile.

I did want to mention something that I didn't see posted: if a pet has nasty ears, especially if they are painful, please leave them to the vet. You may have done a beautiful job getting them clean, but that dog needs medical attention.