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A 24-year-old pet groomer was rushed to Changi General Hospital after she was badly scratched by a dog during a grooming session on Sep. 17, 2022.

She was less than two weeks into her job at the salon.

Dog known to be 'aggressive'

Annie (not her real name) told Mothership that this was her first job as a groomer after successfully completing a pet grooming course at Animal Arts Academy.

At that point, she had also been working part-time as a grooming assistant for more than a year.

Annie started work at the salon, located in Tampines, on Sep. 5 2022, and was able to groom some dogs by herself.

On the day of the incident, Annie's colleagues requested her assistance in grooming a dog which was known to be aggressive. Apparently, it scratched the face of another groomer during a previous grooming session.

Although she had concerns about her safety, Annie told Mothership that as a new staff, she did not feel comfortable to voice them out to her boss or colleagues.

The grooming session

Annie claimed that when the dog arrived, the salon owner was in another room, while she assisted two other staff to groom the dog.

As the dog was "uncooperative", they did not move it to a grooming table.

Instead, they groomed its fur and cut its nails while it was on the floor.

Annie said that when another staff tried to carry it to the shower area, the dog struggled a lot.

When she bent down to carry the dog, it scratched her face, inflicting some deep wounds.

Resigned shortly after

The sudden turn of events shocked Annie.

She recalled the salon owner rushing into the room and apologising repeatedly to her.

After the bleeding had been stemmed with a tissue, the owner booked a Grab and accompanied Annie to Changi General Hospital's A&E.

Annie was given stitches on her upper lip, below her mouth and inside her nose.

Over the next few weeks, she went for medical follow-up appointments and was given a two-week break from work.

She resigned shortly after the harrowing experience, on Oct. 7.

Salon: Annie offered to help

When Mothership contacted the grooming salon, a representative admitted that the dog was known to be aggressive, but said the groomer was not assigned to groom it due to her inexperience.

According to both the groomer and the salon, the case was made known to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and has since been closed with the appropriate workplace injury compensation disbursed.

While Annie said that she was asked by her colleagues to help with the grooming, the salon claimed that she had offered her help instead.

The representative claimed that Annie was on a break, but when she returned to the salon from the toilet, she passed by the assigned groomers, who were having difficulty handling the dog. She then allegedly offered to carry the dog.

As the situation was rather chaotic, one of the groomers casually accepted Annie's help.

The salon claimed when Annie bent down to pick up the dog, her face was left vulnerable to the dog's claws.

"Afterwards, it all happened so fast, and in a split second, she was injured," the representative shared.

Since Annie's injury, the salon has stopped taking in the dog that injured her.

The representative also told Mothership that as the dog in question was known to be aggressive, the owner was at the salon to assist the staff.

Safety precautions were also taken, such as putting a muzzle and dog cone on the animal.

Have started turning away "aggressive" dogs

The salon added that it was never their intention for Annie to handle the grooming of the dog, since she was still on her probation.

They pointed out that grooming is an injury-prone job, and that other groomers have sustained small injuries and bites in the course of the work.

However, they admitted that the injury Annie sustained was "really quite serious".

To protect the welfare of its groomers, the salon stated that they have started turning away dogs that they are not comfortable working with.

"We are aware that some dogs feel constrained in [smaller areas] and require ample space to be groomed," they stated.

Apart from advising the owner to try other salons, the salon also now encourages owners of more difficult dogs to stay with their pets during the grooming session.

Employer liable to cover medical bills for work injury: MOM

In response to Mothership's queries, MOM stated that they are aware of a workplace accident that occurred on Sep. 17, 2022, when a pet groomer was scratched while assisting in the handling of a dog.

MOM also affirmed that under the Workplace Injury Compensation Act, the employer is required to file an incident report within ten days from the date of work accident in the event that their employee is injured in a work accident and given medical leave or light duty.

This applies even if an employee is under probation when the workplace injury happens, Mothership understood.

As per the same Act, MOM instructed the employer to pay Annie's medical leave wages up to one year from the date of accident and medical expenses related to the work accident up to S$45,000 or one year from the accident date, whichever is earlier.

How the accident has affected Annie

When speaking to her in May 2023, Annie said to Mothership that though the case has been closed by MOM, the whole incident still affected her a lot.

"It bothers me because a scar is still a scar at the end of the day, and even if it heals, it will never be the same," she shared.

Despite the incident, Annie still wants to be a pet groomer, and is currently working at a different grooming salon.

"[I guess it's] passion," she explained.

"It's something I wanted to do from young...and I actually pursued [the training], went for school and got a cert. So I don't want to waste my effort, just because of one accident."

Annie acknowledged that as a fresh graduate, she was quite inexperienced in her role at the previous salon, and that she would have to improve her grooming over time.

Next time though, she will definitely be more careful.

Top image courtesy of Annie.