Dear Editor:
Dog grooming is indeed an essential service and if some allowances are not made immediately, dogs will have a pandemic of their own to endure caused by human neglect.
Grooming is not just about making a dog “look pretty”; it is about health and welfare. Many breeds continuously grow hair. They have been bred by people and created to require routine and regular maintenance. This maintenance includes: removal of hair between the pads of the feet, around the groin, bum, armpits and in between the eyes to name a few.
Their nails need to be trimmed at least every six weeks. If they are not they can grow to become so long that they curl into the dog’s foot pad or grow long enough that they start to push the dog’s toes upward and make walking painful.
Groomers are have knowledge beyond just “cutting hair”. There are many accidents and trauma that can occur when an inexperienced person tries to clip or scissor a dog. Bulgy-eyed breeds for one, can experience their eye ball popping out simply by having pressure placed too hard or in the wrong place when trying to hold their heads for trimming.
It’s about knowing the dog’s anatomy, using specialized tools that could potentially harm or kill a dog without the proper training, knowing how to navigate the dog’s body in order to safely remove hair.
At first we were told that any dog could go to the Vet clinic to be groomed or have its nails done. That is not the case at this time and people are being turned away for nail trims until the dog is in emergency condition. That is just cruel and not necessary.
If we continue to prevent groomers from working we will all be overwhelmed with critical cases once the ban is lifted. Even when the ban is lifted there will still be a COVID-19 threat around for a long time and it can lead right back to isolation again.
We need to keep everyone safe at the same time as avoiding a backlog of critical grooms. We need people to let Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health officials know that dog grooming needs to be on the list to open in the first stage of reopenings.
We need to let Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott know that grooming needs to be focused on. If it doesn’t get approval on the first stage of openings, then it’s going to be months without professional groomers operating and that is crossing the line in animal health and welfare.
Cindy Hopkins,
Guelph