I went to a new grooming parlour yesterday, being new to the area in which I live. Asked all the relevant questions and checked the place out and finally decided to trust them with my Bichon Frise. To my absolute shock and horror when I picked him up they had shaved him almost completely bald (its the middle of winter) and left his ears and tail bushy. I have not been able to stop crying, they have completely butchered him, I wanted him to look so beautiful for Christmas and he now doesnt even look like my dog. I am just wondering if there is anything that can be done about it.....?

Did they offer any explanation as to why they shaved him i.e. too knotty etc? I always ask my clients how they want the dog done. If I can't and have to so something drastic then I usually phone them and advise them before starting it so they can decided what they want to do. I think the best thing is to go back and complain to the manager. Ask why they did what they did after all the usual Bichon cut is not a complete shave! I think in some salons they have so many dogs going through that instead of taking time to do them properly its a production line of comb, bath, dry, shave not always being completed by the same person. Ask for your money back or at least the loan of a coat until the coat has grown back properly.
All the best
Bec

I am so sorry that you went through the upset of this. I am a groomer and there is no way that you would even think of shaving a bichon, I can only thnk that they have done this because it was too matted, but even so if I have any dogs brought to me that are matted, but so matted that the only thing that can be done is for it to be shaved, then before this is carried out the owners have to sign a form to authorize me to do this.(fortunately I have not had to shave any dog because of excessive matting),

If I was you, I would go back to the groomers and ask for an explanation on why this was done.