I have been boarding my four dogs at The Green K9 for several years now. I always had a good experience and felt that my dogs were being well looked after.
However, when I picked up my dogs on Friday, February 26th, after a three-night stay, I noticed on the
ride home that my lab mix Bonnie's snoot was horribly swollen and there was a line of hair rubbed off her snoot.
As soon as I got home, I called back to TGK9 and got Jessica, who I believe is fairly new, and with whom I had had a less than pleasant phone conversation when calling to see if I could pick up the dogs an hour earlier than originally planned. When I asked if Bonnie had been involved in an incident, Jessica said she didn't notice anything and that my dogs had not been outside or around other dogs that day because they were being bathed and having their nails clipped. I told her that quite clearly my dog had been injured and I wanted someone to look into it and call me.
Amy called me back in about ten minutes and said that no one had noticed anything but perhaps Bonnie had been stung by a bee. She suggested I give her Benadryl and wait.
I took as many pics as I could, but honestly, trying to take clear photos of a black dog is like trying to photograph a big black hole. As I was taking pics, I noticed that the injury matched perfectly the imprint of a too-tight muzzle. The more I looked, the more I realized that someone had muzzled Bonnie with an incredibly tight muzzle and left in on for FAR too long. It had cut off enough circulation for the end of her snoot to swell terribly, and rubbed hair off in a line above her nose where the muzzle would have stopped.
Let me say here that neither my groomers nor my vet have ever had to muzzle Bonnie. She is a licker and a barker, but NOT a biter.
I made the first appointment I could with my vet, not because I thought the injuries were life-threatening, but because I wanted her opinion on whether this was likely caused by a muzzle. Of course, she could not definitely say because of the time that had passed and my crappy photos, but she agreed with me that improper muzzle use was most likely the issue.
Amanda from TGK9 called and asked how Bonnie was doing. I told her that whomever had bathed Bonnie had injured her from using a too-tight muzzle. Here's where their story started shifting around. Initially, Amanda said "the only time we use a muzzle is when we are doing nails" and that it shouldn't have been on too long. Then she said that Jessica had bathed and done nails for my dog and that she would ask her about it. She called back and then said that Jessica claimed not to have used a muzzle at all. I told Amanda this was obviously injury from a too-tight muzzle and that I would never ever bring my dogs to them again. I never heard from TGK9 again.
I debated about posting this experience, but then I thought I should because I would want to know if a business had a propensity for injuring the dogs they are caring for. My fur babies are my entire world, and I need to know that the people I entrust them to when I am traveling are treating them carefully and well whether they are on camera or not.
So please be careful. If they have injured my dog, they might injure yours. read more