“Do you get bitten often?” people often ask me when they learn what my profession is. The truth is that I have not had many bite injuries in the four decades I’ve spent grooming, but I have had other grooming-related injuries. The most frequent is being scratched. Cats are the obvious source of some of my more memorable scratches because smacking out with a paw is a time-honored defense mechanism for felines, but the worst scratches I’ve endured have been from dogs.
The dog on your grooming table has been bathed, conditioned, dried, and brushed. Its nails have been trimmed, and if it was in for a haircut, you have done your best to make it look just the way the owners requested. Your work is done. Or is it?
