East Durham College Dog Grooming Service - T&Cs

Terms and Conditions of using East Durham College’s Dog Grooming Service

East Durham College will endeavour to ensure your pet is safe and cared for during their visit. To ensure this is done to the highest standard, we ask that the following terms and conditions are understood and adhered to upon every appointment.

All owners will be asked to complete a declaration form to ascertain the general health and condition of the dog before treatment. If any of the information given leads the staff (or 
students) to believe that a dog may be at risk the treatment may not go ahead.

Grooming and Handling

1. Acceptance of the dog is at the discretion of the member of staff.
2. As we are primarily a learning and training centre for students who wish to become professional dog groomers, we will only accept dogs that you confirm are fit, healthy, up to date with their vaccinations and do not show aggressive tendencies. Any dog which shows signs of aggression or believed to potentially cause injury to themselves, or others will not be accepted for grooming by our students.
3. We advise nervous, anxious dogs that may not tolerate the grooming process, visit a reputable, qualified professional groomer who will have the qualifications and experience to handle and groom your dog ensuring their welfare and safety.
4. Your dog will be handled and groomed by a student. You must be aware and accept that, a wriggly, lively dog that does not remain relatively still during the groom, accidents can happen, such as nicks and cuts from clippers, scissors or nail trimmers.
5. We will not offer grooming appointments to dogs whose coats are unkept or matted.
6. A dog’s coat should be maintained between grooming appointments to ensure matting does not occur.
7. We ask that we can style your dog to the criteria required.
8. For students to successfully complete their qualification they are required to carry out specific grooming styles on breeds and certain coat types. This means we only accept breeds/coat types which are stated in the qualification criteria. Dogs which require clipping off short do not meet the City & Guilds criteria and will not benefit student learning and progress.

Ear Plucking

1. Removing the hair can irritate the delicate skin of ear canals and lead to ear problems.
2. Plucking the hair from the ear canal leaves tiny openings in the skin where bacteria can settle more easily. We will only pluck ears if requested and where it will not cause harm to your dog.

Anal Glands

1. The college students or staff do not perform anal gland expression.

Health and Safety 

1. We cannot accept sick, elderly dogs or bitches in season/pregnant/recently had puppies.
2. We do not accept sedated dogs.
3. We reserve the right to refuse a dog which presents fleas.
4. If we find that your dog has fleas, we will stop the groom and treat them with a flea repellent shampoo. There will be an additional charge of £10. This covers the costs of the specialist shampoos, and the cleaning and disinfection of the salon. We reserve the right to decline any other service until your dog has been appropriately treated.
5. You must feed your dog at least two hours or more prior to visiting the salon
6. You must ensure that your dog has relieved itself prior to arriving at the salon.
7. We do not accept liability for any pre-existing illness or health conditions such as skin irritations and conditions, abrasions or hair loss.
8. We will not accept liability for any effects that may occur following removal of mats. This can include irritation, redness, abrasions or nicks to the skin.
9. If your dog requires medical treatment whilst in our care, we reserve the right to take him/her to the college vet. By signing the consent form below you agree for medical treatment to go ahead if deemed necessary and agree to pay any medical costs. We will make every effort to contact you if medical treatment is required, however if it is urgent we will go ahead without verbal consent.

Accommodation

1. Your dog will be in a kennel before and after their groom. Clean bedding and fresh water will be provided.

Collection after Groom

1. You will be contacted by phone when your dog is ready to collect.
2. In the interests of your dog and students’ safety please collect your dog only after you have been contacted by the student or member of staff.
3. Please collect your dog within 20 minutes on receiving notice. Due to being a busy salon, we have limited space to safely accommodate and attend to dogs after their groom.
4. We require a minimum of 24 hours’ notice if you are unable to attend your appointment.
5. A small fee may incur if no notice is given as this can disrupt the students learning progress.

General Protection Regulation (GDPR)

1. We will take photographs of your dog before and after the groom for our students’ portfolios and assessment purposes. Photographs may be used on the college website or other printed materials.
2. All dogs attending the salon will have a Client Grooming record on file. This will be updated upon each visit. All client data is treated in accordance with the GDPR.
3. Customer contact details may be shared with students to enable them to discuss and arrange grooming appointments as part of their course. Data is not shared with any third parties. All records are kept as a hard copy and filed by your dog’s name and secured in a locked cupboard overnight.
4. Any non-returning clients record cards will be destroyed by shredding 1 year after their last visit.