'It's just a lot of confusion': Dog groomers ask for more clarity when it comes to the care of pets

Grooming allowed for health and welfare From CTV Kitchener's Leighanne Evans: Dog groomers are closed during the lockdown, but can offer services necessary for health and wellbeing.

KITCHENER — Dog groomers are calling for more clarity when it comes to the care of pets during the current lockdown.

Pet grooming services were ordered to close when the provincial lockdown took effect in late December, but the services are allowed when required for the health and wellbeing of the animal.

“I think it’s just a lot of confusion,” said Shona Wise, a dog groomer and president of the Ontario Dog Grooming Association. “What we’ve been trying to get from the very beginning since the shutdown is clarity on where we stand. For some reason dog grooming is left out completely.”

The City of Guelph has given pet grooming services the green light saying the city consulted with local public health officials.

“This was a very important issue, the amount of calls we had into bylaw, into my office, into the mayors office, was just overwhelming. It was important to people and we feel this is fair and is reasonable,” said Scott Green, manager of Corporate and Community Safety with the City of Guelph.

The Region of Waterloo says it is not considering allowing groomers to open at this time, explaining it can’t override provincial legislation or regulations to make them more permissive.

“We are contacting MPPs from every area that we can and basically just get sort of a standard answer ‘well it’s up to the different areas to interpret the laws as they see,’” said Wise.

The uncertainty is ultimately leaving many groomers hesitant to open out of a fear of being fined.

“Until we get some kind of clarity how can we say, ‘oh well I’m just going to open up?’ A $10,000 fine is a big fine,” said Wise.