Groomer May Be Charged After Severing Dog's Ear and Supergluing it Back on

[AmyN]

GIG HARBOR, Wash., Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A Washington state dog groomer, who allegedly used Superglue to reattach a shi tzu's ear after cutting it off, may face criminal charges.

Anni Sherrifius of Gig Harbor told KIRO-TV that she only realized how her dog had been mutilated when she tried to wash what appeared to be dirt from its ear. The dog, Jasimine, was treated for an infection resulting from the cut.

The television station said that the dog-grooming company appears to have closed and Pierce County sheriff's investigators are trying to determine what laws might have been broken.

"Once they tried to hide it and glued the ear back on, that's not good for the dog," Detective Ed Troyer told KIRO. "There are all kinds of things that can happen ... It's cruelty to animals."

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/20070215-033622-2245r/


That has to be one of the most shocking things I've ever heard. How did the groomer expect to get away with it? Supergluing any body part could obviously never work, and the dog must have been in a lot of pain. I wouldn't be surprised if there were severe penalties for trying to cover it up in such a ridiculous way.

 

[Zoom]

Superglue was actually invented as a way to close battle wounds in war before the medic and his needle could arrive. But it still shouldn't have been used to glue a dog's ear back on...what the heck was that groomer doing to completely sever it anyway?? That takes some doing! Nicking I could see, but severing? Eish.

 

[SizzleDog]

You'd be surprised, Zoom. I've never done anything that severe (maybe one or two small nicks inmy entire grooming career) but dogs have been known to *suddenly* jerk or flail violently... which can be very dangerous when a groomer is working on, say, "rounding out" the edge of an ear. Severing an ear is completely possible, even for good groomers. A sharp movement paired with a VERY sharp set of shears can cut through flesh like nobody's business.

All the more reason to train your dog to tolerate grooming.

BUT - the groomer shouldn't have hid it, the owner should have been called immediately!

 

[StillandSilent]

When I was at the vets office, we had a shi-tzu whose owner accidentally cut the tip of her tail off while grooming. I have also nipped Radars ear when trimming it. He is usually great for grooming, but apparently he heard a doorbell on TV and jerked his head.

 

[adoptashelterpettoday]

People are completly NUTS!!

A professional groomer should be more careful. I would be very pi**ed off if someone cut my dog's ear off while grooming and then superglued it back on.

Poor dog..The owner is lucky she figured it out or else that dog could have gotten really sick because of the infection

 

[SharkyX]

Wow...
Anyways yeah super glue is great for pulling wounds closed and holding it. It works great on the pads of a dogs feet if the happen to crack or split... but re-attaching an ear??
That requires some fairly serious medical attention... the dog should have gone to teh vet right away... not just super glue back into place.

I could see that happening though... especially if the persons mind is not completely on what they are doing and the dog jerks at the right moment. Then of course you panic... although how you come up with super glueing the ear back into place I'm not sure!

 

[jason_els]

I've always been surprised nobody's thought of a better design for grooming scissors. There has to be a better way. I hope they catch the alleged groomer.

 

[mojozen]

Wow... this story makes me all the more glad that Mojo is a short, smooth haired dog. I only take him to get bathed professionally maybe twice a year... and even then that and clipping his nails are the only things I will let another person do to him. Heaven help the person who ever did that to one of my dogs...

 

[Zoom]

You'd be surprised, Zoom. I've never done anything that severe (maybe one or two small nicks inmy entire grooming career) but dogs have been known to *suddenly* jerk or flail violently... which can be very dangerous when a groomer is working on, say, "rounding out" the edge of an ear. Severing an ear is completely possible, even for good groomers. A sharp movement paired with a VERY sharp set of shears can cut through flesh like nobody's business.

All the more reason to train your dog to tolerate grooming.

BUT - the groomer shouldn't have hid it, the owner should have been called immediately!

Oh I know that "sh*t happens", we have a professional grooming Spaw at work and I watch the groomers as they work all the time...I've seen a couple of nicks happen unexpectedly. I don't know the set up at the place in question, but if there's a dog that is so squirrley it's at risk for cutting off it's ear, our groomers get someone to help hold the dog.

 

[Laurelin]

Wow, that's horrible...

I groom my dogs myself, thankfully. And none of my dogs need ear trimming. I've only ever sent Trey to be groomed once and vowed never to do it again after they nearly shaved him.

 

[Doberluv]

That is horrible....downright scary to have a dog you entrust to someone with sharp scissors in their hand. I toss around the idea of having a Poodle some day. This makes me think twice. Gawd! Scary. That poor dog. I wouldn't think of using any glue in my dog's skin. It's probably dangerous....it's a petrolium thing. I think it's only for emergencies when you can't get to a doctor in a reasonable amount of time...like in war.

 

[SharkyX]

That's not entirely accurate.
There are multiple types of glue designed to be used on wounds, such as liquid skin and dermabond.

 

[Boemy]

They MAY be charged? Only MAY be?

If it was an accident and they quickly called the owner and took the dog to the vet, the okay, that would be one thing. But they glue the flipping ear back on . . . That's so messed up.

 

[SharkyX]

For some reason I can't edit my post above.

At any rate, Doberluv using these various types of products has proven to be very useful in all types of situations other then just in battlefield emergencies.

Dermabond is particularly effective on the pads of a dogs feet, in the event a split occurs the glue is durable enough once it has set that it can withstand the everyday wear and tear dogs put on there feet until such time as the split has healed, or at least healed well enough that they can walk without it re-splitting and causing discomfort.

These types of glues are also very useful for minor cuts and such in things like camping, hiking, construction work environments and underwater use(depending on the glue selected) as they will hold the cut closed for you and prevent any infection from forming allowing it to heal quickly, in some instance a better quality then can be attained by use of a normal bandaid (especially in a construction application as dirt and other small particles can work there way under the bandaid.

Some types of super glues shouldn't be used, but to say all glues are dangerous is the equivalent of saying that all dobermans are vicious.

 

[misticaleclipse]

This is terrible

Here is a video about this story. The dog is long haired and a beautiful baby.

Video

 

[Cassie Abbott]

I worked in a grooming salon as well and all kinds of unfortunate things happened. Actually, it was primarily the fault of one groomer who has since been demoted to a position not requiring scissor-work. One dog got the tip of it's tail cut off, another's dew claw, and several got nicked or cut. Fortunately the vast majority of groomers at Petsmart are actually skilled at what they do, and accidents seldom happen. When they do the owner is immediately called and the store pulls out all the stops to keep the owner happy (from free groomings to paying medical bills).

I wonder if any dogs ever get accidentally castrated?

What I find most creepy about all this is that it's just a 30min drive from where I live! That was a nice looking little Shih Tzu too.

 

[squirtsmom]

I h ave a great groomer f or my tiny toy poodle, but God help the idiot that would hurt her, and not have the guts to be honest with me and try to hide it. It would definately be too bad for them.