“I hate to clip poodle feet.” I’ve read this on internet grooming forums many times. And when I do grooming demonstrations at trade shows, countless groomers will approach me and ask, in a whisper, “Can you show my how you do feet?”
Last week I groomed a very nice, well behaved dog. I complimented his owner on his excellent grooming manners and she said, “When he was a puppy, the groomer where I used to live had me bring him in every week for a while. They would put him on the table and play with him, trim his nails, give him a little brushing.
Grooming Matters
When working with people and animals, amusing things can happen. Sometimes those things don’t seem so funny at the time, but given a little space and room to breathe, they can become great stories.
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?”
The All Breed Dog Grooming Guide 4th Edition
By Sam Kohl
Sam Kohl has been an industry legend since before I was even old enough to hold a dog brush. Earlier editions of his All Breed Grooming Guide were the standard “bible” for groomers for a great many years. Not one to leave well enough alone, he completely revamped and updated the guide in 2012.
Drying cats can be particularly challenging because they tend to curl their legs up to their bellies while we work on them. It’s the rare cat that will stand up to be dried. Time spent wrapped in a warm, dry towel is particularly effective for the felines on your client list. I like to wrap them up and cuddle them, gently squeezing their legs and tail through the towel to remove water.
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.
“It’s All About the Money.”
Just as the styles for grooming pets has changed over the years, the way we get paid to groom has changed as well. Card readers that allow you to charge customers with a swipe through your cell phone or tablet, chip card technology to reduce theft, Paypal… it can all be a little confusing.
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.