Legacy Grooming

On March 12 at 11:15am I took my 1 year old dog, Reese to the groomers for the very first time. Upon arrival and during my initial phone conversations with them, I informed the owner this was my dogs very first visit to the groomer. I was reassured that they would take their time and be gentle with her as the first time at the groomers is very important and it was their primary goal to create a positive experience for her. I was told when dropping her off that she would be ready for pick up in about 2 ½ to 3 hours. At 2:09pm I received a call from the groomer stating they would be finished with Reese in about 10 minutes but if I could please come sooner rather than later since Reese didn’t like being in the cage. Since my husband and I were already in route it took us about 5 to 10 minute to arrive. When we arrived we saw Reese waiting for us in the main grooming area. Nothing out of the ordinary seemed apparent until we got home. That’s when we noticed her hiding in the corner of our living area away from our other 2 dogs and acting very strange. At the time my husband and I just thought she was stressed about the grooming experience. It wasn’t until around 8pm that my husband noticed blood pooled in the bottom of both of her eyes. We found the nearest pet emergency clinic put her in the car and took her to the 24 hour animal emergency care. And then again back to our personal veterinary office on Monday March 14th. To sum it all up, it was determined that Reese had been choked. It is unclear how specifically this happened, but we were told by our vet that she had to have been without oxygen for a “length of time” to have caused the blood vessels in her eyes to pop which caused the bleeding. This has been a very traumatic experience for her (AND US). We have made several attempts to speak to the owner by going to two of her grooming locations on 3 separate occasions but have been unsuccessful in speaking to her directly. Please help! This is absolutely unacceptable. We are so very thankful that Reese does not have lasting injuries (or even killed) from this.