Petsmart Nail trim

Every place is different.  It all depends on the individual employee. Judging someone in another state for one person's mistake isn't really fair.

 Most places don't file nails unless you specifically ask for it. I work at a vet's and I know we only dremel there if an owner requests it.  If it were up to me, I'd do it on far more dogs, but I don't get to make such calls

 It's too bad Petsmart gets such a bad rap (though I can understand).  I would like to remind everyone that it really depends upon the individual store.  I worked for the grooming department in Petsmart for a number of years and we had a great dept.  We didn't have dremeling service while I was there - probably b/c it wasn't quite as known/popular then.  I would NEVER have an owner hold their own dog, unless I trusted them.  I nearly had my face bitten off by an owner who claimed their dog was fine with nail clippings (lie) and they would prefer to hold (I said OK).  After the incident they then admitted he hated having his paws touched and that's why they didn't do it themselves because they were afraid of being bitten (ugh).  I preferred to hold the dog myself - or if need be have a coworker hold so I could clip the nails. 

I will clip as close to the quick as possible, but I found many owners would let the nails go too long then expect me to just be able to cut them all the way back.  I did offer (much to my store owners dismay heh) to do regular clippings for free until the quick was back to a decent level.  Managers hate giving away services for free hehe.   

The first time we took Dahlia to Petsmart to get her nails trimmed, they did a wonderful job.  They said she was easy to work with (though she wouldn't hop up on the table on her own) and they clipped them without any problems.  They WERE left a little sharp, but I figured most places did that.  Her nails got filed down on the concrete sidewalks pretty quickly.

 The second time we went was a disaster.  Different woman this time and she was HORRIBLE.  I went back after 15-20 minutes and found Dahlia was still on the table and the woman was looking horribly frustrated.  She told me Dahlia hated having her back feet picked up, wouldn't let her cut them, and the lady just sounded MEAN.  Dahlia's ears were back and this was making me really nervous.  Not that I expected her to bite, but I knew she was really uncomfortable and unhappy.  I offered to hold her and pet her while she did it.  The woman got snippy with me and told me "we don't allow people back here."  Ok.  Fine.  Then she basically just turned her over to some guy saying "I just can't cut this dog's nails."  He looked at her back nails, said "they look fine anyway" and turned her back over to me.  I was definitely not happy and decided I wouldn't take her back there for grooming or anything.  I didn't want to risk getting that woman again.

What dog DOES feel comfortable having a back leg lifted up?  She can't balance properly, she's up on a table looking FAR DOWN, and having someone she doesn't know mess with her feet.  I thought it was their job to alleviate these fears or do it quickly so the dog isn't afraid for too long.  But the woman was just rude and gave up and clearly had no affinity for dogs. 

We took her in for grooming to a local place and they did a great job with her, had no problems with her, and really liked her a lot.  I was able to trim out the hair from her pads and between her toes without any problem.  Sure she didn't like it, but I got her to lay down and stretch out so I had easy access to all four paws.  She tried to pull her paws away (especially the back ones) and I just soothed her and she was fine.

 So my opinion on Petsmart?  Maybe talk to some people and find out how yours is.  Some folks are good.  Some folks aren't.  Just like their trainers, it's a hit or miss.  (Our trainer at Petsmart is great).

 You can ask for a certain groomer, in any shop. You'll always be obliged, because groomers live on commission and tips. Getting "requests" helps us out, tremendously!