This was the 3rd time we used Boulder Falls to board our 12 year old Bearded Collie. I have to be clear here. I actually give the boarding staff high marks. We can tell our dog has a great time there. This last trip in early in Oct 2016 was a longer one, boarding him 11 days. We dropped him off just a week after a bath and a few hours after he had been completely line brushed. We chose to have him bathed and groomed since he would be outside several hours playing all 11 days. What a horrific mistake. He is a pure bread Beardie with his lineage going back to the Britannia line in Europe. The groomer literally hacked apart his coat, removing most of the fur on his legs, removing his 10 inch white mane, leaving his coat uneven and a complete disaster. He doesn't have enough years left for his coat to heal. When I called for an explanation, I was promised the owner would be contacted at home and I would receive a call back immediately. She never called. The next day the groomer did call me. The dogs play outside and he apparently matted. They are sometimes taken back to their pens wet. Not good. She tried to call me but the front desk gave her the wrong phone number. What?! She spewed out her credentials of 25 years of experience and had the gall to ask me if I had ever owned a Bearded Collie before. Uh, have been bathing him and line brushing him for 12 years. She said she had no choice but to cut out the mats. There have been times when our dog's coat got in bad shape with my travel schedule and my kids playing with him in water. I have had to deal with huge mats in his fur. There are products and techniques to address that. Did she use a slicker product like Cowboy magic? Did she try to loosen the mats with her fingers? Did she try to pick them out? Did she get a consultation from the owner before she hacked away his coat? Nope. She hacked his coat apart. Another question is did she bath a matted dog? I bet she did, which would have tightened the mats. She didn't know what she was doing. Remember this was our dog's 3rd visit to Boulder Falls.
In conclusion, shame on the owner for allowing this to happen and not following up with me. Regarding the groomer. I strongly recommend that you avoid her at all costs, especially if you have a long hair dog that you really care about. She has terrible judgement. My wife, kids and I are crushed. We are so angry and upset about this. This should have never happened. It will live on too. I will be explaining to people for the rest of our dog's life why he looks the way that he does. How shameful is this?