A caution for what it's worth from my vet

It seems like you are being a little defensive about the whole thing don't you think?  You presented an idea and others added....both groomers and non groomers.  Of course when your whole post is about grooming and the "perils" there is going to be a response from those that are "involved", if only to present their side and their concerns or questions.  That is how people learn, how people get a variety of information, and how people can intelligently decide what is right for them.  If people are to take the post at face value without questioning it could be unnecessarily detrimental to their dogs.  Look at the people who have long coated dogs, don't get them groom because of some unfounded fear and end up doing much more damage.  People hear one thing, that may not even be related to them, panic and start thinking...."  I mean, look, from your post people started saying things like they were going to bring their own shampoo, or stop going to the groomers.
 
I think people need to question what vets say as well as any other profession.  Just look at the dog food question.  How many times, on this website included, do people make the comment that vets know near to nothing about nutrition for dogs.  If we all listened to what the vets say everyone would be feeding Science Diet. (And please don't take that to mean its bad, just that that's what most vets push). 
 
I'm sorry that you took offence.You really shouldn't have.  The things that you presented were things that you said that your vet had said.   No one was bashing you.
 
 

No, I'm not being defensive - but what I said wasn't being read, but instead being mis-interpreted and taken out of context.  The fact that MY particular situation is with an extremely mmune-compromised dog was extremely critical to what I said and yet it has been ignored repeatedly.  I went to great lengths to say I wasn't bashing groomers.
 
This is particularly NOT an "every groomer does this wrong" thing.  NOT AT ALL.  But it would seem to me that it would have been more helpful if the groomers could post how such things SHOULD properly be done, and what things/questions to ask your groomer about procedures and what should be expected by a decent grooming salon.  It's like any other "profession" (as in "professionAL" -- person who is trained and good at what they do) -- there are those who do it well and those who don't but the average guardian on the street probably doesn't know WHAT to look for. 
 
This wasn't a case of a vet bashing groomers in general.  Simply a case of a vet cautioning a guardian with an extremely immune-compromised dog on how to help avoid serious 'risks' that I wasn't even aware WERE risks.  This wasn't a case of a vet bashing groomers -- and I made that pretty clear I think.
 
And if you were at all familiar with me and what I post routinely, as well as my personal dog experience, you would *know* beyond a shadow of doubt that I'm the first to tell people to think beyond what they think a vet has 'told' them and to question.  But I'm also smart enough to listen to good teaching.  From many different sources.
 
However, more than a few  of the groomers who posted responses here gave pretty much an 'anybody knows THAT' type of response - particularly about shampoo being diluted.  And you know what?  NOT everybody knows! 
 
No, I'm not being over sensitive.  Nor am I bashing anyone. But my dog wouldn't be alive now if I hadn't learned to be his advocate, push for the best care and be gosh darned careful of every single aspect of his care.  And yep, even a right royal P.I.A. occasionally when the situation warrants it.   If I stomped on your feelings inadvertently I'm sorry.  However, do read what I type.  I may not be brief, but I DO go to great lengths to be clear.
 
And btw ... for whatever it's worth -- my majorly immune-compromised dog who is still on MEGA steroids (but by gosh he IS alive and we ARE weaning him off them, and we're still holding the IMHA at bay!! RAH!!!) he **is** battling staph infection right now --- and I HAD to have him groomed last weekend just so we could get the hair off so i could get close enough to the skin to impact it topically.
 
(That is, btw, a big huge mega deal -- typically when you get this sort of an infection you'd put the dog on antibiotics -- but not in this particular case.  The vets don't WANT him on antibiotics because they can cause a relapse of the IMHA so we have to do all we can possibly do topically to avoid having to do anything systemic, and that includes the advice of the U of Florida vet we went up to see this morning). 
 
GRANTED -- This is an unusual situation -- and I"m not saying anyone else should do what I do.  But I've been around here long enough that I know by posting what I've done and what creative solutions we have had to come up with, winds up helping other people.)
 
Marilyn did an AWESOME job.  She didn't take offense in the slightest and the skin is getting *better* not worse after the groom.  And yeah, I took the shampoo prescribed by the vet and the essential oils prescribed by the vet and it's helping enormously.  NOT your normal 'groom'.  But she is absolutely masterful at what she does.
 
At this particular time, my dog is one of those you don't want groomed next to YOUR dog.  Not only is he able to 'catch' any and all from another dog, right now his skin IS infected so I wouldn't want him to communicate that to anyone else's pet.  So I'm super blessed to have a groomer who will do him at home for me. 

I've been working with dogs as a groomer/boarding for 26 years. I've really shaped my business to where I go six months with out taking new clients because I have such loyal ones. In other words I'm a talented, compassionate, hard working groomer. I believe as in people a lot of illness comes from stress and is the same in dogs. So I'm looking at all the things I've learned over the years and then comes Cesar Milan (dog whisperer) and what he teaches just backed what I had learned from experience also in that for example seperation anxiety has a lot to do with the way an owner raises their dog, it's common sense. I've gotten to know so many people with their dogs and believe me, you can know a lot about an owners life just by their dog having anxiety etc.. People that are calm and relaxed usually have the same in their dogs unless the dog was adopted late in life and has prior issues. This is not an every dog example but if you put in the years of experience that I have you would see that the majority of dogs stress issues come from their owner and the owner does not mean to do that to their dog because the owner is living it and doesen't know how to calm down for theirselves. I have a theory that a lot of the "new allergies" are coming from the stress of the owners hectic life. If people would learn to relax through meditation for example their energy would change so their dogs would change. One has to change their energy. Owners energy goes right over to their kids, pets, spouses, family and friends. I think food and other issues of course cause allergies but I would love a study on people with hectic lives who's dogs have wired up health issues like allergies (I had allergies and wired up scratchy restless feeling is the description). I think if the owner calms down it would help their dog tremendously. If more people listened to Cesasr Milan and practiced manipulating their energy in a good calm way maybe ones dogs health would improve. I'm really not accusing anyone here either I'm am trying to pass along what years of everyday observing dogs and people have taught me. Best wishes to all your dogs!