My beautiful longcoat was shaved :-( - Page 1

I am just sick about this. I would never allow any of my dogs to be shaved, longcoat or otherwise. I'm not even sure what happened because I wasn't there. All I know is that I allowed my ex to bring my boy Trigger to the vet for vaccinations and this is what walked in my back door 3 hours later.

My ex says the vet offered to "trim Trigger up a bit" but never said they would shave him. The vet says Trigger was so matted they had no choice but to shave him and my ex gave permission. I included a recent picture of Trigger. I have no doubt they may have found some matting. It's impossible to avoid with a longcoat. But there was NOTHING that warranted shaving my dog. And doing such a piss poor job. Look how they left his tail. WTF is that?

I have Trigger professionlly groomed several times a year I would never shave him. I take the blame for allowing Trigger out of my sight without me. Never again.

I am wondering now if anyone has any advice for when Trigger's coat starts to grow back. It will probably look like hell due to the shaving hack job. And if anyone is curious, I was charged $113 for that hack job. I gave the ex a blank check :-(

Don't be too hard on me. I feel pretty bad about this.

Yup, that's the reason my ex is my ex. But I thought he at least cared about Trigger.

Based on the first picture, a Furminator brush would make short work of cleaning up his coat. Honestly, it looks to me like they had a new groomer- in-training and your dog drew the short straw. Personally, I'd call the vet's office and tell them they'd be hearing from my attorney unless they resolve this complaint satisfactorily...insist on speaking only to the owner/head of the clinic.  At the very least they owe you a refund, since I assume they know the dog belongs to YOU, not your ex...therefore they needed your permission NOT his.  I'd also insist that they pay for at least one trip to a groomer of your choice.  No way I'd role over on this one, but then I show my longcoats, so I'd take SERIOUS offense if this happened to one of my dogs. 

holy friggin &^%*@!!!   Poor dog!

1. bitch slap the ex.
2. raise hell with the vet's office with a serious screaming fit.
3. demand full refund plus at least one (I would go for 3...or 6...) trips to your own professional groomer's (over the next 1-2 yrs.)  If they don't then you may want to consider small claims. 
4. maybe find a new vet's office, particularly if the vet doesn't give the refund and profuse apology. 

May want to take your dog to the groomers whom you have been using, just to get their statement. 

It will take years for your dog to get his nice full coat back, if ever.  Likely there will be permanent damage and the texture/thickness/color of the coat will probably never be the same. 

Brushing, lots and lots and lots of brushing, is the best way to "treat" this coat castastrophe.  Way more brushing than he needed before he was shaved. 
reason for this is because the undercoat grows way, way faster than the top coat, and the undercoat mats REALLY easily.  So without the topcoat providing a moisture and debris barrier to the undercoat the undercoat will collect everything and get gnarled very fast.  Most animals that get shaved end up in a shaving cycle for the rest of their life because it's so difficult to maintain the coat after the first shaving. 


I would be so incredibly pissed if someone shaved one of my dogs, especially my longcoat.  The dog's appearance would be permanently changed. 

poor Trigger.. they "feel" it when they get shaved too..! that is crazy.. you are more tolerant than I would be.. my ex would probably be missing! those are some serious fighting actions!! my heart goes out to you!! I guess you know where your trust level is with your checkbook and your prize posession with this "ex" !! argh....

Maybe the groomer was trying to make it look like a gsd and went too far. Sorry, had to.

From the look of it, your dog was clipped down with a #7 blade, which is about as short as you can go without leaving nothing but skin.
As a retired groomer I'm had tons of people in florida actually request the sort of cut. And they liked it.
But if you were not expecting a total shavedown then it would be quite a shock!
The bald spot on his tail is "Stud Tail" usually only found on male dogs. Not always on studs. It's actually totally natural but most people don't ever see it. Long coats matt in a way that normal coats can never do. The matts start at the skin and that is why you see patches of hairlessness. Because the coat was already damaged. That's not the groomers fault, no matter what their skill level.
My advice is to call and bitch about not being consulted. (I rarely trusted husbands and never Ex husbands because of this very reason, they always got me in trouble if i did.) Tell them for their horriable hack job, you expect them to make it up to the dog by giving him at least 2 free baths and brush outs while his coat recovers. Since he looks like he was already blowing coat in the photo. (brown turfs of undercoat sticking out on his sides) He will need gental brushing to help stimulate his new coat to regow. Or he may have a bout of "Post clipping Alopecia" Because the topcoat which would be hot is no longer there to stimulate the dog to drop the undercoat.
He should be almost fully recoated by about 6 months but he's going to look funky in the mean time. At least for 3 or 4 months while his undercoat sprouts back up and makes his look like a badly styled troll doll. It takes the guard hairs much longer to replace so don't be shocked if they are not the last thing to recover and look normal.

I do slightly disagree with Euroshepherd, i've shaved long coated GSD and they were not ruined and they did not take years to regrow.
But my personal recomendation was alwasy to offer to hand scissor and remove undercoat rather then shave. But some people just couldn;t deal with the hair. Course they should of though of that before the went and got a GSD and sepecially a long coat!
Hope he at least enjoys swimming because now he will dry in no time!
He'll be ok, just don't make him feel bad because someone shaved him. He's still a good dog.

I really feel for you and Trigger. But when all is said and done, they WERE given permission by your ex.  I guess since it was your ex taking care trigger to the vet, they assumed that you trusted his judgement to make decision concerning Trigger.  I can only imagine how you felt when you saw your boy.

I cried when I saw Trigger yesterday and  screaming at the ex whio is taking no responsiblility at all. I talked to the vet who is also co-owner of the clinic. She doesn't understand why I am upset, telling me how they only charged me half price because I'm such a good customer. She told me how Trigger will be much happier and cooler for the summer. I kept asking the vet did she actually LOOK at Trigger???? She says she helped and complained how much work it was. They shaved Trigger everywhere, his ears, face and I think they even got part of his whiskers. I accused them all of being stoned and asked if the Lion tail was their way of telling me to get screwed.. I let my dog down, how much worse can I feel?

Will post more later. It's a zoo here right now......