Bichon freeze! Dog’s shave causes parlour row
AN ANGRY dog owner smashed a window at a grooming parlour after his fluffy bichon frise was given a “skinhead” haircut.
Adrian Wolfenden, 59, blew his top at salon staff when he saw how his pooch Rosie had been shaved.
Despite being offered money back he stormed out.
And after the shop had closed for the night he returned and smashed one of its glass panes with a brick.
He initially denied the damage – even though blood linking him to it was found at the scene – but earlier this week he admitted the offence in court.
Magistrates heard Wolfenden regularly paid to have six-year-old Rosie trimmed. But he and beautician wife Georgina, 44, were distraught when great swathes of her hair were cut off.
The bust-up happened last September in Holmfirth, the West Yorkshire town famous as the setting for TV’s Last of the Summer Wine. Wolfenden paid Holmfirth Dog Grooming a £30 fee to have Rosie spruced up.
Next morning parlour owner Vickie Cahill, 35, found the broken window and told police about the run-in.
Wolfenden pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage when he came before Kirklees magistrates on Tuesday.
Mike Sisson-Pell, defending, said he realised he had acted like “a plonker” but told the court: “He was in distress at what happened to the dog.” District Judge Adrian Lower called it a “stupid” offence, adding: “If everyone who disagreed with a business took the law into their own hands by smashing windows we’d be in a terrible state.”
Wolfenden was fined £80 and told to pay £100 compensation with £85 costs.
Yesterday he said: “When I went to collect Rosie I didn’t recognise her as my dog. She had a skinhead.”
Ms Cahill said she and a young assistant had been “really frightened”.