I have a 2 year old spayed female Pomeranian. I do a lot of her grooming at home, but I like to take her to a professional groomer now and then. The place I go to has always done a great job. She gets a bath, facial, blow dry, brush out, ears cleaned, sanitary clip, nail trim/file, light face trimming, paws cleaned up, and her teeth brushed. I don’t like getting a full body cut as I love her natural hair length, and I don’t want to risk her double coat getting damaged.
Back in December I took her for a last minute groom at PetSmart and she was groomed at our normal place just this last week. Both times, her sanitary clip seemed to have been done with just scissors? Her hair was just trimmed out of the way around her butt and legs. There was still longer hair covering and around her genital and anal areas. The way I learned how to do sanitary trims (I worked at a vet clinic years ago) was with clippers. I use a #10 blade, hold the skin taut, trim around the genital area, and then trim the rear. I personally still use clippers and clean up any longer hairs with scissors, which I ended up doing both times.
I want to add that my girl is really good during grooming sessions. She’ll stand still and cooperate with everything. You can tell that it’s not her favorite thing, but she tolerates it very well. She’s a huge people pleaser, so as long as you have some treats and give her affection, she’ll do pretty much whatever you want. I don’t think this was a situation where she wasn’t letting the groomer use clippers. There hasn't ever been an issue before, and the groomers never said anything.
To my understanding, sanitary clips have always been done the way I was taught, as that’s how you keep everything clean. Has the standard for sanitary clips changed? Or was it just some weird coincidence that this happened at two separate places? I’ll definitely make sure to double-check with the groomer before the appointment to confirm how they do their sanitary clips.
Dog tax included.
Edit:
I want to add that I still very much love her normal grooming salon. They're a small local business that is absolutely amazing. I started taking her to get groomed as soon as she turned 6 months so that she would be desensitized. They’ve always expressed how much of a joy it is for her to be there. As I said, she is very cooperative. At home, I bathe her about every two weeks since she goes hiking with me, or she’ll spend time out on a ranch. At that frequency, it's much cheaper to bathe her at home and go to the groomer now and then for a more professional look. In the past, her sanitary trims have always been clipped and trimmed. It just so happened that these last two times were just done with scissors. I’ll definitely make sure to let the groomer know from now on that I want her butt practically bald.
Edit #2:
Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond. I really appreciate your input. I’ll definitely make sure to communicate better with her groomer about how I’d like her sanitary clip to be. ☺️