Hi Alan,
First of all, cocker spaniel cut required clipping half of their body, 1/3 of their ears and little bit of trimming on their legs (if required, but usually if owner want to leave their fur long, so no trimming required). If you all don't believe, can view the link below, which show how to groom a cocker spaniel for show quality:
www.megacom.net/~damboise/english/grooming/index.html Do u have a pic taken right after her grooming? Let us all judge whether your dog looks like a mad dog. I don't think any groomers would want to look a dog looks bad. Maybe lack of communication with the groomer before the session might cause unnecessary prob like owner doesn't like the final look, but definitely no groomers would make a dog look like a mad dog. Else, why are they in such a profession for? Money? Do u think a few hours of job with big risk of getting bites and infections from dogs worth just merely below hundred?
Don't get me wrong, I'm a groomer myself. I go into this profession for the love of dogs, not for the money. I have close knit friendship with other groomers here in Ipoh, because we all love dogs and we wanna groom them to make them looks good, so that owner will shower them with love. I have got serious worm infection from a dog I groomed weeks ago, which left me in pain, limping around for one mth, hundred of ringgits spent to cure it. So why am I still in the profession? If u don't like the grooming job, go to the groomer directly and tell him/her so, maybe he/she can do something in return for u rather than have it publisize here. If i'm wrong in any way...then deepest apology.