1. The man wanted $1,000 compensation from the groomer.

A "Be Kind To Pets" community education story for secondary school children, sponsored by www.asiahomes.com


"I want $1,000 or I will send the CD of clipper wounds around my baby's private parts to the New Nation tabloid and Straits Times Forum," the broad chested man with an ear ring in his left ear said. "My wife screamed and cried when she saw six wounds on our dog."

He patted his dog's head as I examined the almost identical 4.5 cm long brown clipper wounds on the male Jack Russell's genital and belly area. Mr Barrymore wrinkled his forehead, "This is the second time the pet shop had groomed my dog. It was groomed at another branch. However, I expected the same high standard of care from the company."

Clipper wounds are probably caused by an inexperienced groomer.

I let him rambled as I asked about his occupation to get to know more about his background. He was selling food at a food court in Chua Chu Kang Hawker Centre.

Mr Barrymore stared at me in the eyes like a lawyer who had won his court case, "I shall get the pet shop delicensed by the AVA (Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority). I will inform the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and to the pet internet forums to prevent other dogs from suffering the same fate!"

Why was I, a veterinarian at www.toapayohvets.com, involved in this case? The pet shop operator had requested me to go to the owner's house to examine the Jack Russell to confirm whether the wounds were clipper wounds or self-inflicted.

I tried to get out of this litigious situation. It would be time-consuming to do a house-call and it would be costly for Mr Formicelli.

I asked Mr Formicelli to settle directly but he asked me to examine the dog. He had pictures of the clipper wounds e-mailed to him and given to him in a compact disc.

"All right, I would examine the Jack Russell at my Surgery," since Mr Formicelli persisted. His driver drove the complainant and the dog to the Surgery without charge. I must say Mr Formicelli provided excellent post-sales service.

I put the Jack Russell on the stainless steel examination table.

"Yes," I examined the almost healed 4-day-old scars caused by heat of the clipper blade of a busy groomer who was most likely inexperienced or had too many cases to handle. "These are clipper wounds. However, $1,000 compensation is too much considering that the grooming fees plus transport were around $40.00."

"What's the company's compensation policy?" Mr Barrymore wavered. I looked at the pet shop manager who had accompanied the owner from his apartment. The manager made an "O" with his lips, "We return the grooming fees and pay for the veterinary treatment."

"Not much in view of the emotional suffering and distress caused to my wife when she saw these clipper wounds," Mr Formicelli replied. "She lost her mind. She was crying and hysterical when she turned the dog upside down and saw those wounds. She screamed so loudly that our neighbours rushed out of their apartments to see whether her life was in danger. They must have thought that I am a wife beater. Therefore, I want not a dollar less than $1,000."

I estimated that Mr Formicelli would probably pay Mr Barrymore the $300 veterinary fees paid to the most expensive veterinary surgeon in Singapore. Mr Barrymore's vet had given him a tube of cream and the clipper wounds were fading 4 days after grooming.

"You want $1,000? This is too much," I said stopping the pet shop manager from inflaming the owner. Mr Chan had politely explained that as a dog himself, he was was speaking from his personal experience, "The newly groomed dog could have laid on a dirty and wet floor and got itchy in its belly and genital area. Therefore it licked the areas to relieve itself of the intense itchiness."

He continued, "I am not implying that you had put the dog on contaminated floors..." I had to interrupt Mr Chan's speech making as his example was not helpful in negotiating a settlement.

The man with the ear ring rubbed his goatee and listened to him with arms folded. Before he could reply, I said, "Mr Chan, you are digressing...." Mr Chan had given illustrations that would not help his company to win the case.

"Even if the dog had licked itself, the skin wounds would not be sharp lines and almost identical in length and width." I stopped his elaboration. "These are more like cut wounds made when the hot clipper blade burned the skin."

I did not want the manager to say something which would cause the owner to ask for more compensation. I offered, "$150 would be a reasonable amount of compensation."

The man with the ear ring smoothed his moustache, "I want $1,000. I entrusted "All Pets Big and Small Professional Groomers" with the grooming of my Jack Russell grooming because it is well known nationally. It has many branches and should be more professional compared to those mom-and-pop operations."

The reputation of the national chain now loaded onto my shoulders. If Mr Barrymore walked out of my Surgery with an unsatisfactory resolution of his problem, I would get the blame. I know tabloids love such sensational news and I would be infamous by association.

Other dog owners outside my small consultation room of less than 10 sq metres were pacing like bored white Tigers at the zoo in an afternoon with nothing to do. Two owners had gone outside to relax their dogs as the consultation room was really small. I had already spent half an hour with Mr Barrymore and his face blushed redder every minute as he thought of his wife screaming loudly in distress.

The other pet owners dared not enter the Waiting Room but waited outside the Surgery, at the pavement and car park, leaving the gentle canine giant alone, as Mr Barrymore stuck to his demand for $1,000


Now, how do I resolve the problem for the pet shop operator? Should I pass the buck back to Mr Formicelli and appease my other clients who had prior appointments and were not too happy to wait.

Mr Barrymore finger his the ear ring, scratched his ear and stretched his broad chest. He held up his hands at right angles. He flexed in tattooed biceps bulging from his sleeve-less white singlet with "Be Kind To Pets" embroidered in the front and back. His left palm swept his bleached golden hair tinted with black in the centre, backwards from his forehead.

"I lived in Aspen Heights, Colorado, U.S of A.(United States of America) for the past years. I returned to Singapore recently to spend the last few years of my aged parents," he voluntered this information. As if he had read my thoughts querying why he would want to clip a short-coated dog's hair short. Not only once but twice.

This Jack Russell was a short-coated one. No Singaporean, as far as I know, would want to pay money to clip a short-coated dog. Singaporeans are pragmatic and price conscious in this era of price cutting and price wars started by the discounters like Wal Marts in U.S.A

But I could be mistaken as pets are family in a country that had gone from 3rd world to first in the new millenium.

"I had Milo clipped to keep him cool. Singapore is such a hot country and Milo pants when he goes out for walks at the Botanic Gardens with us."

It would be a very long consultation. Though I do not charge Mr Formicelli $500 an hour unlike the lawyers. I could have consulted four cases as one hour had slipped by.

I should have given my diagnosis and asked the man with the ear ring to go. I just needed to give Mr Formicelli my diagnosis of clipper burns. How he resolve the problem with Mr Barrymore was none of my business if I were to be mercenary. Time is money for service providers.

There was a problem. But could a veterinarian resolve this quantum of compensation problem? A lawyer might be the appropriate profession to counter this $1,000 claim.

The only thing is that the sensational tabloids would have a field day. The lucky reporter would have a type of story that readers all over the world love. A David against Goliath story. One man against a national chain of pet shops. Cruelty to animals stories always elicit the anger of women and maybe some men and increase tabloid circulation by some 30%.

The AVA would receive the written complaint and would have to send its officers to investigate and would dutifully give explanations to the owner and the newspapers. The police might be involved in criminal cruelty to animals if a police report was made. Mr Barrymore would ask CASE, a consumer protection agency to help get fair compensation.

My name and practice would be dragged into the mud of bad publicity in the tabloids and the internet forums as readers would associate me with "cruelty to dogs". The pet shop operator would not pay $1,000. This was not a simple case as Mr Barrymore was a man who knew his rights as a consumer. Rather, he knew about his animal's rights to not to suffer pain.

What should I do? Get rid of him as an unhappy or as a happy ex-client of Mr Formicelli?

"$150 would be a reasonable compensation," I said to Mr Barrymore. "It is nearly 4 times what Mr Formicelli received for grooming your dog."

Mr Barrymore slanted his eyebrows, tucked in his lips and shone his big eyes of disgust at me for repeating the same offer and not a dollar more.

Mr Barrymore was prepared to go all the way to the media with his lawyer, "My lawyer will subpoena you and the other veterinarian to give evidence as expert witness in the courts." Probably legal fees of above $10,000 would be spent by him and Mr Formicelli for a Jack Russell with clipper burns by the time the case went to the court.

Mr Barrymore's ear with the ear ring twitched a few times. His forehead vein throbbed and pulsated like a water sprinkler suddenly switched on and had lost control of its movement. I was surprised that human ears could twitch. Seeing is believing.

The only good thing was that Mr Barrymore did not lose his temper or raise his voice. He was as cool as a cucumber. My other clients were getting restless. I had to do something. But what could I do to get Mr Barrymore to go home?

"1,000 and not a dollar less," Mr Barrymore stood still at the other side of the consultation room. "Or I would go the Channel News Asia or Animal Planet to ask them to produce a video of cruelty to dogs by the top pet shop chain in Singapore."

Should I call his bluff? The television people would interview me. My professional reputation was on the line if I associate myself with such infamous situations. More importantly, I do not have time.

"$300," I said.

"$800," Mr Barrymore countered offer.

"$350. I would tell Mr Formicelli that I would not charge him my consultation fees for this case so that he would pay you $350." Sometimes I should lose to win back my precious time and reputation of not being associated with this unpleasant case of grooming went wrong when the tabloid and TV media reporters zoomed in. "Let me telephone Mr Formicelli to seek his agreement to pay $350."

I dialled my mobile. Mr Barrymore stood still. The clients outside were getting restless as one Alaskan Malamute was barked at by a Miniature Schnauzer puppy. Mr Barrymore's Jack Russell joined in the barking at the big dog.

The Alaskan Malamute ignored the little ones. The owner of the gentle giant dog came first and so he sat inside the Waiting Room which was only 9 sq metre in area. The other owners had to wait outside the Surgery, at the pavement and at the car park.

Nurse Ann gave me those looks that say that I was taking too much time in handling this case. The patients were agitated by the delays as it was hot outside and they had prior appointments. More than an hour had lapsed.

Mr Formicelli was not agreeable.

"$350 or Mr Barrymore would go to the regulatory authorities." I said to Mr Formicelli. "That would mean you had to give explanations in writing and suffer more inspections by the enforcers of animal welfare and health."

Mr Formicelli objected to the high offer.

"I will not charge you the consultation fees in this case," I said. "The tabloid reporters would have ruined your company's reputation of incompetent grooming. You only pay $350 and no veterinary bills from me."

My consultation room now felt crowded with Mr Barrymore, myself, Nurse Ann and Mr Chan inside. It was only 8 sq m or 80 sq feet in area. The consultation table of stainless steel and a hole at one end took quite a bit of space. The Jack Russell spread his legs and snoozed on the cool stainless steel top of the table. He was having none of this nonsense.

Mr Formicelli relented. It was the least expensive option. Least damaging to his company's name and brand built so hard over the past 30 years.

Now, I had to get Mr Barrymore to accept this offer. It was not $1,000 but that was the best he could get. He knew the cost of litigation. He would relish the stories of the media as his hawker stall would get free publicity.

For some reason I have never understood, he accepted the offer. I quickly wrote him a cheque of $350. I learnt this from my real estate agency operations. When the client is hot, close the deal quickly.

In real estate, a contract is valid only if there are at least 3 factors.
An offer. An acceptance. And a "consideration."

In this case, the $350 was the "consideration."

In addition, all these must be in writing. I gave Mr Barrymore a piece of paper to write and sign that he would accept the $350 compensation and would not pursue the matter anymore.

Mr Chan received Mr Barrymore's letter, opened his big eyes wide showing the eye whites and said, "Compensation is mis-spelled as 'compension'.

I wanted to say to Mr Chan, "Stop being pedantic," so as to stop him provoking Mr Barrymore. Fortunately, Mr Barrymore was not provoked to take back his letter. If he had done so, we would be back to square one. I was so near to closing the case for Mr Formicelli and Mr Chan was so near to breaking it with his English grammar corrections!

This was a win-win solution for the dog owner and the pet shop operator. I did not make money out of this case but sometimes you cannot win all the time. Sometimes you have to lose to win.

However, I shall never get myself involved in such cases anymore, I say to myself!