K9 Splash and Dash actually lost our dog!

our Reese somehow escaped from K9 Splash and Dash and was missing for 36 hours. Thankfully we (and some very special friends) had posted about 100 flyers in the neighborhoods that Reese could have gotten to after running through the cemetery. We also had many shared Facebook posts including on the List and Found Pets of Gulf Breeze page. Many of their supporters were out in the trenches looking for her. The owner said that our 50 pound, 11 year old dog pushed the very heavy door open on her own. Extremely unlikely. It’s more likely that somebody was entering or leaving and Reese saw her chance. As somebody said to me, shouldn’t the door pull open rather than push to be sure that no strong animals could ever push it open. Precautions should be taken proactively not reactively. A most valid source shared with me that our dog has not been the first to escape from this grooming facility. I guess that one escape didn’t teach the owners anything. Although there were a number of sightings of Reese, she proved to be hard to catch. A sweet couple called our friends’ number (one of the numbers on our flyer) at 10:30 saying that they had Reese. Be still my heart - prayers had been answered. My husband called the owners on Thursday since we hadn’t heard from them and nine hours had passed since Reese had ‘dashed’ away from K9 Splash and Dash. The owner wanted nothing to do with accountability and called my husband a liar when he said that Reese wasn’t a ‘runner’. Sometimes in life we all have to own things that happen on our watch. Accountability; it’s the adult way of handling things. Owning a wrong likely leads to some easier things in the long run too. Owners messaged me the next day to say that they were putting lots of flyers up and searching the neighborhoods. Seems that they merely copied the flyer that I made. Seems to me that they would have wanted to provide their contact info too. But no, they didn’t. Isn’t it better to have more contacts thus more people available to hurry to get the missing dog while some kind person is holding her for pick up? Another example of lack of accountability. Saturday morning I messaged them to see if they could bring Reese’s collar and leash to our home so that we could walk her. We live about two miles from the groomer. The message that came back said that we would have it by 5 pm! Gosh, don’t go out of your way or anything. A friend of ours picked them up Saturday morning. The owners also have boarding facilities in Navarre and, I believe, Pace. Our pets are part of the family and if we can trust a groomer to hold on to them safely for three hours we sure wouldn’t trust them to board our pets. This likely looks like a ‘rant’ and it is I guess. But imagine getting a call 30 minutes after you dropped your dog off for a routine grooming like we did - “uhm, your dog took off and we don’t know where she is. You probably should start driving and looking for her because we haven’t found her yet”. Really? Unwritten contractual agreement there that holds the groomer accountable for my dog’s safety. K9 Splash and Dash should have insurance coverage of various types for their grooming business. One is ‘bailee ‘ coverage for a dog that bails while in their care. Not sure if they have this coverage or any other but they best look into it quickly. Thrilled to have our Reese home and we feel so much gratitude for so many folks that helped in the search for her. No gratitude to the owners though - the completely blew it in our minds. I’ve asked several people involved why they thought that so many people were looking for our dog and why all of the local vets had been contacted and why a few other things happened. The answer was that this was ‘novel’. This was more than a lost dog; this was a dog lost while in the care of a paid groomer. I was told that this just doesn’t happen very often. Stay away from their three facilities if you cherish your pet. And feel free to contact me if you’ve had a bad experience with them. The more cases the merrier in a situation like this.

Sep. 27, 2018