A Canberra pet groomer who admitted that one of his employees inadvertently burnt dogs with a dryer has now had his business accused of losing a treasured pet owned by a family for 11 years.
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Sarah Meadows, of Melba, said her papillon Genie escaped from Animal Attraction in Macquarie on January 3 and had not been seen since.
She said she was treated aggressively at the salon, with a person telling her it was not their fault because a customer had opened a door and the dog escaped.
''I told him that our dog was in his care,'' Mrs Meadows said.
The dog's collar had also been removed at the salon before she escaped, leaving her without identification, although she is microchipped.
Mrs Meadows said she started to worry when 11-year-old Genie had been at the groomers for 2½ hours, much longer than usual. She rang the business and was told her dog was just being washed then. But after another half an hour, she decided to drive to the groomers, when she received a text message asking her to come in because they had lost her dog.
She said there appeared to be no remorse from anyone she dealt with at the salon.
''They have done nothing to rectify the situation,'' she said.
The family had printed off hundreds of flyers and spent hours driving around the suburbs trying to find Genie, with not a trace of her. They had also listed her at outlets including the RSPCA and the pound.
The family, including children Callum, 6, and Claire, 3, missed Genie dreadfully.
''There's no sign of her and I can't understand why,'' Mrs Meadows said. ''She's an old dog and the chances of her finding her way home are pretty slim. We're just a wreck. The children are devastated. She was our baby before we had babies.''
Lance Baker is the owner of Dog World in Hume and Animal Attraction in Macquarie. The salon has been contacted for comment but Mr Baker has not returned phone calls. In November, Mr Baker apologised for an employee inadvertently burning a number of dogs at Dog World. The person is no longer working there. A complaint was also lodged about a dog burnt at Animal Attraction but at the time Mr Baker was at a loss to explain that incident. The RSPCA was also investigating at the time.
