Pet groomers are not required to hold any official certification in most states, and grooming is largely an unregulated industry. This means anyone can buy a set of clippers and scissors and call themselves a professional groomer.
Let's imagine a grooming scenario. A new customer brings you their dog for the first time. It's a young, medium-sized mixed breed. If you were going to guess, you'd suspect there is some Dachshund and a bit of terrier in there somewhere, along with other breeds, as well. It's a cute dog with a nice coat, and you and the owner come to an agreement about how the pet is to be groomed
Grooming is an essential part of maintaining your dog’s overall health and well-being. It goes far beyond simply keeping your dog looking good—it plays a vital role in their physical comfort, cleanliness, and even emotional health. For professional pet stylists, understanding the breed's temperament, coat type, and the breeds function is crucial. This knowledge not only enhances your grooming skills but also sets the foundation for a successful career in the industry.
The dog on your grooming table is ready to be styled. Its coat has been washed, conditioned, dried, brushed, and combed. Its ears have been cleaned, and its claws trimmed and buffed. Now,you will clip and scissor to the best of your ability. Here is a question for you: have you applied coat spray? If this is a product you are not familiar with or currently using, maybe you should try some.
If you want to stir up some arguments among a group of groomers, bring up the topic of offering “shedless treatments” as an add-on service. The three most significant points that groomers argue about when it comes to this discussion are:
I do a lot of thinking when I am blow-drying dogs. Last week, as I was (endlessly) drying a Cocker Spaniel, I began to ponder some "do's and don'ts" that apply to our industry. Here arethree of each that I came up with.
As a professional groomer, I get asked a lot of questions about dog grooming, and I’m always happy to help! Grooming is about more than just a clean dog; it’s about keeping your pet’s coat and skin healthy and looking its best. Here are some of the most common questions I get asked, along with my expert answers!
If someone is said to be “sitting down on the job,” it tends to describe a person who is not working diligently. The phrase probably came about during the industrial revolution when many people worked in factories, standing for hours at a time while they worked.
Jodi is a blond cocker/poodle mix that has graced my table every three weeks for many years. She gets a full groom on one session, a bath, fluff, and brush on the next. She's a good and pretty girl, and her signature look involves long, flowing ears.
Maybe the person who taught you how to groom told you to do it. Perhaps you saw dogs that groomers had done this on a breed you were not very familiar with grooming, so you started doing it, too, thinking it was acceptable. It's possible you did it by mistake once and then continued to do it because you didn't know how to fix it.
