We Need To Hold Pet Businesses to Higher Standards

When we learnt of the corgi's death at grooming salon Pawkins two hours after it happened in mid-July, we were spooked. The CCTV footage was heartbreaking. Then it hit social media fully and major news outlets. This isn't the first case of neglect by groomers. There have been runaway dogs, many more dead dogs, injured cats and all that we don't know of.

Here is a 'home-based' grooming salon with five-star reviews on Google, and seems decent enough, yet the three groomers at the salon thought it would be a great idea to all go out to lunch together, leaving all the dogs tethered to the high grooming tables by their neck, and every other dog unsupervised.

How do you even teach common sense? Can a grooming salon be bothered to implement SOPs when the industry isn't regulated, or licensed? Nobody requires a grooming business licence to set up shop. Nobody needs to prove that they can groom a pet. If an unfortunate incident happens and a dog dies, the penalties are simply a slap on the wrist. It's not a big deal. An errant salon pushes a groomer out to the rap. It's a fine and a ban from doing pet-related businesses for less than a year. The salon can go on or open up at a new address with a new name. Pawrents will never know even if they do some research. They need to know the humans, ask around and get some gossip to get the full picture.

A dog trainer, who trains and boards dogs for a living, could forget about two dogs in the boot of her car for 1.5 hours. They died from heat stress. She was fined $8000 and banned from running any animal-related business for six months. That's ONLY six months.

AVS must be aware that nowadays, the death of a pet by accident or neglect is now weighing heavier in everyone's minds. Basic regulation of the industry must exist and not 'reccommended guidelines' or strongly encourage business owners to adopt principled and good practices. That's bollocks.

It is imperative for AVS and NParks to hold pet-business owners to higher standards. The licencing and penalties must be stiffer in accordance to society's expectations. Humans can always be trusted to assholes and dumb. TODAY summarized it for us in this article by Renald Loh published on 4 August, 2024,

In response to TODAY's queries, NParks said that people working with animals in relevant businesses, including those in the pet grooming sector, are expected to uphold higher standards of animal welfare since they are entrusted with the care of the animals by their clients. 

Any person who is found guilty of animal cruelty while operating or under the employment of an animal-related business will face a stiffer penalty of up to two years' jail or a fine of $40,000, or both.

I can understand why pawrents want to stay to witness their pets being groomed. The problem is, our salons are currently not outfitted to have a viewing window for humans. Neither do they have the space for us to do so. The other floofs go crazy in there when they see their owners or other humans. 

I drop off Choya at the groomers, and return to pick her up in 1.5 hours when she's done. I'm thankful that the groomers are punctual and manage their time well. Choya never has to wait at the salon for me to come pick her up. As far as I can, I take the after-lunch slots. I'm just glad none of the groomers at her salon goes out for a smoke break.

However recently, Choya's groomers are also embroiled in a she-say-she-said, but a groomer and a cat are both injured in a clipping session that went terribly awry. I'm not bothered to repeat the details here. TLDR, nobody is at fault and nobody is right. Cat and human are both injured, no thanks to skittishness on both sides. One shouldn't have sent the newly adopted cat in for grooming at an unfamiliar salon, and the other shouldn't have accepted this job, and not advise the groomer to wear protective gloves. The entire thing is an unfortunate incident.

I could groom Choya myself. We'll see. A Shiba Inu's fur doesn't need trimming. She's easy to handle. She only needs a bath once in four weeks. After having a whirl about it, I decided to continue sending Choya there. After all, there isn't a matter of neglect or cruelty. The groomers at the salon have been kind to Choya. It shows when she is happy after grooming and she isn't too frightened to be dropped off. She's due for a bath at the salon next week. Please wish her well.