It's just a flesh wound...

Anyways, that sucks. Especially since the dog can't tell you how much pain he's in.

It would help to know which Petsmart we're talking about... this could be one in Mumbai, India for all we know.

Very unprofessional of them. Petsmart should have had some styptic powder on there and had your dog fully bandaged before you even arrived.

As for a discount, it's hard to say... if they had handled it without incident by taking care of the injury properly, then I don't think there is a need for a discount. However, considering their behavior and how they attempted to sell you a product that their vets *have* to have on hand, well... screw them right in the ear. You certainly do deserve something for it.

I definitely advise going with a local groomer, though.

What constitutes a professional groomer? Is there some sort of training or certification or something for it? I would have been worried that the groomer at petsmart was as unqualified as the kid that stacks the dog food on a shelf.

I'm not sure what the groomer does to our dog's nails but I just saw this thing on tv saying that the actual clipping of the dogs nails hurts anyway, granted it was on a commercial trying to sell something to file/sand down the dog's nails but the pain involved with clipping the dog's nails seems plausible.

I suggest everyone learn to trim their own animals nails. Either that or let a vet do it. I do it so I can examine my animals feet for any problems. I am not blaming the OP, just suggesting from now on to do it yourself. It's easier to get a dog or cat calm at home than in a new enviroment.

Wow, this lady totally overreacted! I've spent years in the grooming industry, and things like this just happen. Some dogs have unusual quicks that are longer than they look. Her dogs just needs a little quick-stop and it will be fine. The groomers did nothing wrong, and even went above and beyond the call of duty taking it to the vet. The toenail started bleeding on the walk again probably because the quick-stop was knocked off. Again, very common. I say this woman needs to be grateful they offered her a discount and she should be happy they didn't tell her not to come back!

I'm shocked that the groomer didn't have a styptic pencil ready to go. That's a pretty standard tool in the groomer's arsenal. It's also not that unusual to make the mistake of cutting too close. That's why they sell those little nail clipping kits with the pencil.

The groomer failed miserably if they did not have the standard tools in hand. And asking the owners to buy a product that the groomer should have available is insulting and cruel to the dog.

In this case, Petsmart should comp the whole thing and offer a gift card as an apology as well as instituting a policy to make sure groomers have the necessary equipment to stop minor nail bleeds.

If the groomer had been properly trained and equipped, all that needed to happen was to tell the owner what happened, ask them to keep an eye on the injury and offer a discount.

With my wife being a manager at Petsmart, I know for a fact that a discount would have been offered and customers would have not been charged for a product that is needed after the groomers mess up.

fwiw; cutting the quick is bound to happen, it takes me a good 30-45 mins to cut the nails on my boxer (with her in a leg-lock) because she only has so much patience.

That sucks. We take our English Bulldog to a groomer to get his nails clipped because he, too, has black and white nails. On the black nails, it's nearly impossible to tell where the quick is. I'm afraid to hurt him or make him bleed, so I pay someone else to do it.

Petsmart screwed up royally in trying to sell the OP the styptic stick for the dog-- when you're taking your dog home bleeding, that's something that should be thrown in.

[www.wikihow.com]

I *don't* think that the OP needed/deserved a discount, however-- it's pretty normal for dogs to bleed from their nails when they get cut and it's not so much a problem as it is an inconvenience. If groomers gave the service away for free every time they made a dog's nails bleed, especially a dog with BLACK nails, they'd all go out of business.

That is appalling! I may not have a dog, but I have a bird who needs to gets his nails trimmed. I bring him to the local pet store that has been around since I was a kid when it's time for it. If something like this ever happens to me, I'll be tempted to seek legal council. I wonder if pain and suffering applies to animals as well.

If you charged this to a credit card, I think you should do a chargeback. Considering that Petsmart doesn't give your animal back until you pay the bill, and they were still going to charge you for everything but the nail clipping, I can understand why you actually paid. I would hope Petsmart doesn't have something in small print making the customer liable for injuries to their animals. If they don't, you didn't get what you paid for. I'm sure this story would win over any credit card CSR.

@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity: I know you think it might be easy to do a cat's nails, I have tried a few times, and after it looked like I lost a fight with a razor I just take them to the professionals.

@Fly Girl: The discount I am referring to should not be for an honest mistake. However the cut was on a non-black nail.

Protip: use a dremel tool to trim your dog's toenails.
It takes a little bit of time to get them acclimated to it, but you will never have to deal with a bleeding quick.

Accidents happen, most dog owners have hit the quick while trimming nails before.

But to use that as an excuse to upsell? That's pretty twisted.

As for everyone saying the OP didn't deserve a discount: why the hell not? Sure, these things happen, but the way it was handled was appalling! Would any of you go to this groomer?

I think if they hadn't taken the animal to the vet, the owner wouldn't have reacted the way she did. If they'd just said, "Oh, a little quick-stop, he'll be fine.", she would have had no reason to assume it could be a big deal.

When you go to pick up your pet from grooming and find out he's at the vet's instead, well, that sets up some red flags.

Don't go to Petsmart for your veterinary needs. Take your dogs to a real vet's office where they will most likely develop a more personal and caring relationship with you and your animals. Now, I'm not saying the vet in Petsmart isn't qualified, its just that with the volume of animals they care for, the animals become numbers on a page and receive much less attention. Most vet offices realize the competition with Petsmart and the cost difference for those services is negligible or nil.

Ok a tad off topic, but I think I'll ask since there seems to be some in the know people responding to this thread. This happened at home w/ our pup this weekend (as we were walking out the door for a 10hr drive with her in tow)we called the vet and they said use flour or cornstarch to stop the bleeding. It worked but anytime she would get excited or ran outside it would start again. So going with stories I've read about using superglue to stop bleeding we put a small dab of superglue after the flour had stopped the bleeding. Have I endangered my dog at all?

@deadspork: The "vet" was in the store.

@tiatrack: Are you kidding!? They wounded the animal, they should fix it at no cost. If that includes providing bandages or styptic for free, then that's what they need to do.

That's just the reason why you dont take your pets to Petco to be groomed. It is like an assembly line, and for the most part, the groomers are the "rejects" that no one else will hire. I have heard time and time again about horror stories from them. It may cost a bit more, but from now on I would bring you dogs to a groomer who has their own business, some of them run them out of their houses and for the most part, take great care in handling pets. The dog sounds stable for now, but I would contact your own vet for an evaluation and send Petco the bill. You may also want to contact an attorney since this may domino into other issues the dog may have in the future. This could have gone very bad very fast. Good luck to you.

People take their dogs to a groomer for nail clipping? Just chew it off yourself at home. That product to stop the bleeding is called flour.

@tiatrack: I don't think its so much a case of her overreacting as of the groomer and store handling what should be a simple situation badly. Assuming that everything happened as stated, the dog should have been kept quiet at the vet or groomer until the styptic pencil or powder had worked. Or it opened again on the walk to the vet, then same thing. They wait for 15-30 minutes and then all is well.

I suppose they could have been doing everything right and the woman just freaked. The groomer might have simply said that there was a chance of it opening again and that she should take a styptic pencil home with her in case it does. Reality is a bit hard to read in an emotional posting.

Quicks are hard to judge, sometimes its a shot in the dark and you only know where it is buy cutting in to it.

I'm not sure a refund is the appropiate response here. I think an apology and a full explaination and maybe a bandage is the way to go.

I completely disagree about the various posts about the nail trimming.
1. Petsmart said they could do it. Not half-assed, not trim the toes off, none of that. They presented a claim that they had the expertise to trim dog's nails.
Note: sure, most dog owners have hit the quick. But Petsmart was doing this as professionals.

2. Bleeding is NOT normal when you cut nails. It may happen- but to chalk it up to "normal" is untrue. See #1- Petsmart said they could do it. If you make a claim that you can do it right, you should do it right.

3. Give the lady the damn discount already. They didn't do the job they said they did.

@booksy: I have 5 cats currently, and do all of their nails and have done all of my cats nails. If you use a proper cutter(the one that looks like scissors) that is sharp, get the cat relaxed, and regularly touch their feet, then it's quite easy. One lesson I have learned is never baby/coddle them, b/c that makes them stressed. Just relax w/ them and do it nonchalantly.

@FunPaul: and if you're skiddish, they make a guard to fit the dremel: [www.peticure-grooming.com]

I inherited a couple of dogs when they were 15 years old -- both very sweet, and not aggressive at all. Because their usual groomer was all the way across town, almost an hour away, I tried bringing them to PetSnart once. I told the groomer that both dogs were elderly, and rather than trying to get all the grooming "perfect," they should focus more on not stressing them out (i.e., if the dog is struggling -- which they were not likely to do -- it's OK if the cut's a little uneven, the nails don't need to be clipped as short as possible, etc.)

When I picked them up, there were fortunately no issues such as with the OP here, but both dogs just seemed so freaked out that I decided it was worth taking the 50-minute drive to the local, non-chain groomer rather than go back to PetSnart.

Yeah as a dog owner for many years, I can say, this stuff happens, and is more likely to happen when you as a owner doesn't keep up on trimming, which is why the quick grows so much. I'm going to assume that since she pays someone else to do it, it's not getting done often enough, (learned from first hand here so) and if it doesn't get done often enough, the quick and nails will become un-healthily long and has a better chance of bleeding.

BTW- put some flour in a tuppaware, and put your dogs paw in it, and poof- problem solved. (that was vet-reccommended btw)

@tiatrack: Let me get this straight - a grooming job is botched because of an accident that occurred under their watch, and they would feel even the remotest entitlement to tell the customer that their animal is "lucky" to be "allowed" back?

There's no evidence that the dog was unruly. Even if these things happen on a somewhat common basis, that suggestion is outrageous.

If it were my animal, I'd be infuriated. A professional pet groomer poisoned (and ultimately killed) one of my cats during a routine flea dip. They're damned lucky I didn't sue.

Not to blame the victim or anything, but unfortunately having worked in a vet's office all through high school (where my job was frequently to hold a struggling animal) even with experienced groomers and vets a too-closely-clipped nail is an accident that can happen.

What happened after that in the store of course was not at all appropriate, but I'm hesitant to say that the injury was a product of pure carelessness.

Most of all, it's not a mortal wound and is no worse than if you made the mistake while trying to cut the nails yourself (this sort of accident is frequently how people would just give up and go to the vet, no big deal). It sucks and it happens, but as long as you follow up appropriately with care it will be okay.

I used to work part time at Petsmart. Their groomers have to go through training and get certified before they are allowed to groom animals. Most of the groomers that worked at my store were very good but accidents do happen and some groomers are not the caring people we wish them to be.

I think Petsmart should have ponied up and given more of a discount and most certainly not told the OP to buy something to stop the bleeding. The groomer could have give a discount off the service, they would do that regularly at our store for regulars and what not. Whenever our groomers nicked a nail they would take care of it right then and there, no questions asked.

To help prevent this in the future ask for the dogs nails to be ground instead of cut it only costs $2 more at petsmart and is much less traumatic than cutting.

I have a peticure trimmer for my animals' nails and it's a godsend. www.peticure.com

what's really great is if they cut the nail so far there's nerve damage i doubt what they were trying to sell you (which i assume as styptic) would have actually stopped the bleeding.

this was handled pretty badly. in the future, most vets will do nail clipping for a really nominal fee. mine does my dog's for $10 or we try and take him for more walks on pavement in warm weather since that wears at them naturally. you can also just file them a little bit (enough to round the edge and flatten the curve a little) once a week with a regular old nail file instead of waiting for a grooming appointment for the nail care. the upside of the filing is even with a hyper, squirmy animal there's very little chance you'll do any harm to you or it and it's easy to come back to and very very difficult to screw up.

I agree she should have received some sort of discount for the way the whole thing was handled.

BUT animals are unpredictable. Professional pet groomers can easily make a mistake if there's a squirm at the wrong minute. It happened to my dog when he was getting his clipped at the vet.

This doesn't make me doubt Petsmart's grooming skills, only their customer service.

@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity: Exactly what I was going to say. If you start off when they're puppies, they get used to nail trimming as part of their normal routine.

PetSmart is clearly at fault; from the OP's description that "there was very little (nail) left", it sounds like the groomer was either inexperienced or in a hurry and cut off too much. They should have comped the entire bill and apologized profusely.

@tiatrack: Thanks for the "insider" point of view. Would you really tell a customer who was upset that you injured her dog not to come back? What if you went to a nail salon and in trimming your toenails they cut your skin and it led to an infection? Would you just figure it was OK and let it go? It is sad that someone with so little compassion is trusted with the care of our pets.

This is why you never have your pet groomed at Petsmart. Any big box place like this is going to be questionable. Take it to a real groomer who you can get to know personally.

"or we try and take him for more walks on pavement in warm weather since that wears at them naturally."

This is actually the best advice on this whole thread. Walk your dogs on the pavement, 30 minutes per day and they will rarely need to be clipped. It seems like a lot of time, but 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes after work is totally manageable. It also keeps them from being nutcases the rest of the day.

@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity: It's easier to get a dog or cat calm at home than in a new enviroment.

This is actually not true for one of our cats. He's comfortable enough at home to scream, holler, and scratch us all to bits when we try to groom him. But at the vet he's so scared he just sits there and lets them do whatever they want. Much easier all around, I think.

It's pretty unprofessional for a "professional" groomer to not have a supply of Kwik-Stop at their work station. It's down right thievery for them to charge for a product they should keep on hand just in case these very common accidents occur.

It's like going to a Tattoo artist and having him tell you that you need to go out and buy a bandage to cover-up your new fresh tattoo that's still oozing blood.

On a personal note being the owner of a cat, dog and a cockatoo, I stay the hell away from Petsmart. And so should you!

I've only been a dog owner for 8 months, but I'm fully in the (That guy needs to get over his dog) club and this is fucking bullshit. They need to fix the situation for free and severly discount that grooming. Also, please, what Petsmart are we talking about, my dog is going into one in two weeks to be groomed.

Nothing pisses me off when children or pets are left in someone's care and fuck up and dont have the balls to do what's right.

Question - I know that if you let a dog's nails grow long the quick also grows long. Is there any way to reverse that process? I've got an elderly neighbor who I help with household and pet issues and her dog's nails are super long. I'd like to cut the dog's nails but I'm worried about that quick.

It sounds like Petsmart fumbled, recovered for an 6-yard drive, but was still short of a first down.

Petsmart eventually gave her the product to stop the bleeding for free (as they should have) and they did offer to credit the nail clipping. But she refused the discount because "just wanted to get our dogs home." That's is the part I don't get. They messed up the nail clipping, so not charging for the nail clipping is sounds fair to me.

Discounting some or all of the bath would have been nice, but it was by no means necessary. I've read just enough about clipping claws to know that hitting the quick happens. Blood is involved, it can hurt, but he'll be fine.

@SadSam: A little at a time (once a week) and walk them (like another poster said) at least 30 mins a day. If you do cut to far, put some flour in a bowl, and dip your dogs paw in it. That will stop the bleeding, and was recommended to me by my vet, when I once clipped too far.

My dog, like most dogs, HATES it when I clip her nails. I invariably get too close to the quick on at least one, so I decided to take her to PetSmart to get it done a few months ago. The tech started to do it, but she was wiggling way too much so she asked me to come hold her. I didn't mind but it seemed kind of strange. Anyways, she clipped a couple of her nails too close and they bled, but she had some of that clotting powder right there and it stopped immediately.

Bottom line: not worth the hassle for me. I just do it myself.

Also, corn starch works just as well as the powder you buy. And it's a whole lot cheaper!

@krispykrink: That's exactly what I was thinking. It should be standard equipment. Trimming dogs' nails is tough and getting too close is going to happen, no matter how often you do it.

BALME THE DOG! That seems to be what Petsmart tried to do.

"The vet said that nobody was at fault except the dog for "wiggling.""

WTF? That line threw me for a loop. The OP should have turned the dog loose in the vet's office and blamed all damage on "wiggling".

I clip my cat's claws myself, and once I accidentally cut into the quick. She whined for about five minutes then started running crazily around the house, just as crazy as ever. I understand that it hurt the dog, but it's a comparatively minor wound that will heal quickly.

While Patsmart did give her the product and the nail clipping for free, they probably should ahve thrown in the bath too. When you injure somebody's pet, there's no such thing as overcompensation.