RiverDog Studio

Our 11 year old cocker spaniel had the best cut ever. He is often nervous with groomers but Saskia and Basia took time to put him at ease and he came out calm, happy and very smart. The environment is clean and bright and the service is efficient and professional. We will definitely return.

Had a frightening experience at Riverdog Studio which wasn’t handled at all well by the owners. Took our 7 month mini schnauzer puppy on his 3rd visit. As explained to the girls, he is rather nervous, especially around bigger dogs. The studio is very small and they treat 2 dogs at a time. Dogs aren’t separated and are left to roam free in the furnished, narrow corridor space behind the till. On arrival there were 5 dogs behind the gate at the studio. When we collected the dog he was much more distressed than on previous visits but they reassured me that everything went well and he had had a “lovely play” with the other dogs.

I got the dog back home and as I was trying to calm him down I noticed that his right eye was completely purple, no white of the eye, with a bulging purple sack protruding out of the side of the eye. We struggled to examine him and photograph the eye then spent time on the phone trying to get an emergency vet appointment. We tried calling the groomers but they didn’t answer and eventually sent them a text asking them to urgently call.

We saw the vet that evening who informed us that this was a recent blunt force trauma injury that had caused haemorrhaging and conjunctival swelling. She said she sees these types of injuries when dogs attack / try to bite and hit the other dog with their skull or if they are pushed into something or fall off something. We were given medication and told to come back in 3 days when the swelling had gone down to do a full eye exam as he was at risk of other complications such as retinal detachment. The dog was obviously quite traumatised by the whole incident.

When the groomer, Saskia called back her response was shocking. She admitted that they cannot supervise the dogs 100% of the time as they are grooming and bathing and that he was left to interact with multiple other dogs in the corridor unsupervised but said that I can’t prove it didn’t happen in the 1hr 45 mins between me leaving the groomers and speaking to her! That I should have brought this to their attention in the shop! It is ridiculous to expect that an owner can spot an eye injury in the chaotic 5 minutes during pick up with other dogs around, with your own dog distressed, you are being asked to pay and are actively discouraged from being in the shop. During that 1 hr 45 mins following the appointment we were doing nothing but attending to a distressed and injured dog.

I was looking for reassurances that they would take this on board and change their procedures to try and prevent anything like this happening again. Employ a third person to supervise the dogs, make appointments and answer the phone etc. They should space their appointments out more so that they don’t have so many dogs in such a confined space at once. Or allow owners to stay with their dogs in the shop front until the earlier dogs are collected if there are delays. They need to find ways to keep the dogs separated if they cannot keep them safe and fully supervised at all times. The groomers do not know these dogs well, know their triggers, how well socialised they are, how aggressive they are, how they may react in a confined space close to other unknown dogs etc. It may be ok for owners of large, dominant adult dogs but for small, anxious puppies like ours it clearly is a risk. I bitterly regret allowing them to rush me out of the shop when I had my misgivings at drop off and pick up.

Sadly as a business, I am very much left with the feeling that they put profit above the dogs’ welfare which is very sad and not expected from a business of this nature. Their response was all about absolving themselves from blame rather than concern for the dog. And sadly because of their physical set up and procedures, my dog was badly injured in their care. Be warned..

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