Grooming Matters
May I ask you something? You take care of pets all day, and maybe a partner and/or children, or other family members. Who takes care of you? Often that job falls to us, too. Have you ever heard the expression, “If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it?”
Let me tell you a little secret. I don’t like drying pets. After over thirty years of grooming, I can still honestly say that I love my work, but that drying part? It blows. I know perfectly well how important a properly dried coat is. It looks better, is easier to style, and stays looking nice longer than an improperly dried coat. Since I don’t enjoy this aspect of the styling process, but want it done right, I have learned to get dogs and cats dried well, and quickly. Here are the tips and tricks I have learned over the years to help this process speed along.
Take a moment to be brutally honest with yourself. Are you being compensated fairly for your work? Pet grooming is a task that requires a great many skills. Groomers must be endlessly patient, able to work with sharp tools and moving animals, have a strong artistic leaning in order to make pets look their best, have talent with time management to make all the magic happen on schedule, and have the business sense to bring home a decent income at the end of the week.
Recent conversations where groomers gather to share their thoughts found me reading about how frustrated stylists can be with pet owners who do not understand our work. It made me think about other service providers who must sometimes find their customers to be vexing. Then it occurred to me that I bet the folks that sharpen our scissors can find we groomers a bit annoying.
It is a sad fact that many hurt feelings are caused by very simple miscommunications. One person says something, believing that they are being crystal clear with their words. The person they are talking to misunderstands what was said and feels unhappy. In our line of work, misunderstandings can carry additional emotional weight because people love their pets very much, and can become very sensitive if they believe their pet care professional harbors negative feelings about their dog or cat.
There are approximately 78.2 million dogs and 86.4 million cats owned in the United States. And we pet stylists take care of the grooming needs of many of them. For groomers who work in a shop situation, this means that sometimes we are working on cats and dogs in the same building, often at the same time.
Sometimes a customer is unhappy with your grooming. In my experience, a huge percentage of the time this is due to the pet owner having an expectation of what the end result of the groom is going to look like, which is different from what the experienced groomer knows the pet will look like. Here is an example: A customer comes in with a 9 month old Shih Tzu puppy for its first groom. The dog has not been brushed or combed since birth and is encased in some very impressive matts and tangles.
Back in ancient times, when I was a new groomer, the variety of shampoos and conditioners designed for pet use could be counted on one hand. There were just a few brands, and those brands had a very limited variety of products. They could be depended on to get dogs clean, keep static down and maybe help a bit with detangling…
Groomers do a lot of their work standing up, and there is a good bit of walking involved in our work as well. Did you know that with every mile we walk we experience 200,000 to 300,000 pounds of stress on our feet? Considering that in our business we are often carrying a dog when we walk, you can multiply those numbers.
The old expression “time is money” certainly applies to the job of pet styling. Groomers walk a fine line, trying to groom pets in an efficient manner, without cutting corners or rushing in a way that can cause stress or accidents. After more than three decades in this industry, I have learned to streamline the way I work so that I groom pets rather quickly.
As a professional pet stylist, what does the word “success” mean to you? I asked this question and got some really interesting responses, which I wanted to share. “I found a niche that suits my grooming skills, personality, and passion for helping pets and their guardians,” says Renee Pierre, owner of Joyful Grooming House Call Pet Service
What is it that makes some people able to maintain a sunny outlook while others seem to become mired in the negative minutia of day to day existence? Believe it or not, happiness can be a choice. This idea was first introduced to me when I was a sullen college student. “Man is master of his mood,” Dr. Ken West told a full classroom. I was dumbstruck. Until that moment I thought my hormone driven moods were the master of me.