Our family has been taking our Irish Wolfhound to Wheeling Animal Hospital to get groomed for a few years now. When we first started going, there was a male groomer who did an outstanding job. He was always pleasant, patient, never complained and knew how to give our dog a summer cut so she would be cooler in the summer months.



Recently they changed groomers to Jo Marie, and boy does she have an attitude that comes through in the way she speaks. For a while it was going ok, but unlike the previous groomer, Jo Marie complains A LOT. Not only does she complain, she complains directly to the client (us). "You don't brush properly", "The lumps on your dog make it so difficult to groom her", "You have to use a comb!". Just to let you know, our dog has a skin condition where she has sores and lumps. We're treating her, but there isn't much we can do to get rid of them as it's a rare condition based on the several vets and specialists we've taken her to. We do brush her and comb her on a daily basis, but we can't always get the knots out, hence why we send her to the groomers.



Recently, we dropped our dog off and we received a call letting us know that it would be shorter than normal. We thought ok, shouldn't be that bad, maybe they'll take 1.5" off versus the 1" that we requested. She came back SHAVED, the hair was only 1" long all around her body, if that. Now a professional groomer should know that you NEVER cut an Irish Wolfhound's hair down to the undercoat. The hair is literally shorter than when she was a puppy, and there is NO top coat. I called to complain and the receptionist was very nice (Sue), but it took 2 days for the manager to call me back. In between the time I called to complain and the day the manager called me back, the groomer called the house and spoke to my mum and said "I told you it was going to be short!", in a very curt voice. I tried to setup a conference call between the manager, the groomer and myself, but they seem to be avoiding my calls.



If you're ok with having a groomer with an attitude, not knowing what she's doing, then yes, you should go to Wheeling Animal Hospital. If you want a groomer that is patient, knowledgable, understanding, has great customer service, go somewhere else.

The last thing that makes sense is to listen to a review by a former employee. If anything they were probably fired and felt the need to have "revenge". I have been using this facility for a few years and I can say that I never had a problem with it and even say it's better then before. Why? Because recently the cleaned house and got rid of the negative employees that were spreading their cancer. Everyone is so pleasant, and you can tell they are happy to be there.