Healthy Spot Founders Issue Statement Following Lawsuit

We founded Healthy Spot in 2008 to create a best-in-class, pet- and people-friendly grooming resource. As pet lovers, we believed we could set a new standard for excellence, quality, and safety in the grooming field. Today, with 20 stores across California, we are proud of what we have built.

Despite our best efforts, we are not perfect and two terrible separate incidents occurred this year when Healthy Spot team members did not follow our protocols while handling our clients’ dogs. One injury was fatal. Both were tragic. We are especially devastated by Charlie’s death and wish his pet parent comfort in navigating this painful loss. Our entire team is heartbroken by what happened.

These were two very rare cases when a Healthy Spot team member did not follow our safety protocols and made tragic and inexcusable mistakes. We have a zero-tolerance policy for the mishandling of animals under our care, and as a result, these staff members were no longer employed by Healthy Spot immediately following these unfortunate events.

We accept responsibility for these incidents and are using this moment to continue to reflect and strengthen our grooming practices. We have since conducted an in-depth service-wide review of our grooming protocols and have implemented additional training for our staff.

Healthy Spot uses industry-leading training, equipment, and grooming practices that prioritize safety above all else. This is reflected in our record of successfully serving hundreds of thousands of pets and loyal customers. To be clear, we do not monitor how fast groomers are working and have never prioritized speed over safety and quality. Our grooming salons have large viewing windows and we film throughout our facilities to ensure safety and transparency. Healthy Spot does not use nooses or any equipment not recommended for grooming professionals. Unfortunately, our 13-year history of safely grooming pets in our salons is now being completely misrepresented by this lawsuit.

Our guiding vision that led us to open our doors 13 years ago remains the same. The entire Healthy Spot team truly believes pets are family and we strive to treat animals as if they were our own. Our mission has always been to deliver the highest quality of care with compassion and integrity, and it is our greatest honor to continue to be trusted by our incredible community of clients.

For more information about our industry-leading safety practices, please see here.

Sincerely,