Hi TwoNewfies, I totally agree with you, that groomers should know better. The question if a newf 45 lbs heavy is 8 months old, kinda makes me wonder if the groomer really is a groomer. Well you know what I mean. You have a lot of people that call themselves a groomer, just because they work as one, and know how to give a bath and somewhat knows how to work a clipper.
I did work as a groomer for almost 10 years, granted it was not my first occupation, But I had all the schooling and training to become a licensed groomer, in Sweden which there takes proof, not just to get a licens for your company and then open the doors. Okay so even though you are a goomer you can not possibly know every detail about every breed. There are breeds that are more or less common in a certain area and for obvious reasons you just dont know as much about the breeds you hadly or never work with as the ones you work with if not daily on a weekly basis. BUT the basic info about breeds, you SHOULD know, no doubt about it. There were times when I got a dog in for the first time, and I didnt feel very sure about it, I went back to all my books, to internte, or in some cases to groomer friends that were a whole lot more experienced than me. But the more common breeds (and yes lol...... the newf is a rather common breed) you should know about. After all when an owner turn the dog over to your care, you MUST know how to take care of that coat, the different particulars with that certain breed, regarding skin, coat, general health issues, and things to look out for. If you dont know that, it would be very hard to do a good job on a dog I'd think.
When it comes to people "on the street" well hehehehe, Galahad who still has pretty big ears to grow into, has heard more than once "ohhhh he is such a pretty bloodhound"
It kinda offended me at first, but now we make jokes about it. After all a lot of people you meet, really have no idea what a certain dog is supposed to look like, so I can live with that, but I would have a hard time with a groomer who thought my 13 week old newf was 8 months
Marit